Lee Sun-sil loses 45kg in 10 months after cutting carbs

North Korean defector and entrepreneur Lee Sun-sil has revealed her recent transformation, having lost a staggering 45kg in just 10 months. She drew significant attention by sharing how her daily life, from her fashion sense to her eating habits, has completely changed after drastically reducing her weight, which had previously exceeded 100kg.

On the MBN show 'Dongchimi' aired on the 15th, the cast discussed weight management and health under the theme 'Are you not going to lose weight?'

Appearing on the program again after about a year, Lee captured the cast's attention with her strikingly different appearance. She revealed that she lost 45kg over the course of 10 months.

The decisive reason Lee decided to lose weight was health issues.

Having weighed only 51kg due to malnutrition at the time of her defection, she confessed that after settling in the Republic of Korea, she ate meat, rice, and pancakes to her heart's content with the thought that "it would be fine even if I died from eating." As a result, her weight increased to 102kg.

Subsequently, she experienced sudden health issues such as dizziness and shortness of breath, and through hospital examinations, she confirmed problems including high cholesterol, fatty liver, diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis.

It was a case where a person who experienced starvation in North Korea ended up suffering from various health problems due to overeating after arriving in Korea. Yoo Min-sang expressed his sympathy, saying, "Whether you die from starving or die from being overweight."

Ultimately, Lee began losing weight upon the recommendation of medical staff. She explained that after being told at the hospital that she needed to reduce her weight, she was introduced to Wegovy and underwent injection treatment alongside her efforts.

Her comment, "If I hadn't gotten sick, I might not have lost the weight," revealed that this was not simply a diet for appearance, but a choice to regain her health.

Lee stated that she currently maintains a weight of around 59–60kg with a height of 171cm. As her weight dropped significantly, her clothing style also changed.

"When I go home, my closet is full of clothes that are too big. It's to the point where I want to ask my dog or cat to lend me their clothes," she joked, saying she has come to enjoy a much more glamorous and feminine style since losing the weight.

Her diet has also changed significantly.

When Lee Hyun-yi asked how she maintains her weight after the loss, Lee replied, "I eat one egg in the morning, and I have a lot of physical activity in the afternoon." She explained that because she works a lot, she makes sure to eat one egg in the morning.

She also revealed a dietary habit where she does not eat any other food from 9 AM to 5 PM, consuming only water. However, she noted that she prefers drinking mugwort tea or barley tea rather than plain water.

She emphasized that she consumes almost no carbohydrates. While she eats meat, she has cut out carbohydrates such as rice or rice cakes.

She also disclosed that between 5 PM and 7 PM, she eats kelp strips, dried seaweed, and soybean paste. She drew laughter by candidly explaining the bowel effects of her diet, noting that drinking water along with these foods provides significant satiety.

The cast brought out clothes Lee had worn in the past to compare and see how much her physique had actually changed.

A skirt she had to have custom-made at a *hanbok* shop because there were no suitable sizes for her in the past was so excessively large for her current body that it wouldn't even stay in place. Even the belt she used back then had a massive amount of room left over.

The fact that the belt was even small for Yoo made the scale of her weight loss feel real. Kim Yong-man also expressed his amazement, saying, "You really lost a lot."

However, a massive weight loss of 45kg in 10 months is not an issue that can be viewed solely as a change in weight. In particular, since the diet Lee revealed on the broadcast can vary depending on an individual's health status and treatment process, it should not be accepted as a general dieting method.

For Lee, this weight loss is less a process of simply becoming slim and more a process of looking at her body anew after passing through two extremely different lives.

For someone who has experienced both the past where her weight decreased due to starvation and the time when her weight surged due to abundance, losing 45kg does not only signify a change in appearance. Now, her new task is to maintain her current weight and lifestyle while protecting her health.