A mum had a post-divorce glow up and lost two stone by doing taekwondo – and now feels "amazing" and "strong"."

Sarah Albassri, 30, found herself gaining weight due to stress and after having her daughter, now two, she struggled to shift the pounds.

The mum, who at her heaviest weighed 13st 3lbs, had always had a love for taekwondo – learning the martial art when she came to the US after fleeing the war in Syria.

Following the breakdown of her marriage, Sarah started training two to three times a week and took up running – taking her toddler along in the stroller.

Soon she started to see results and is now a slender 10st 10lbs and a US size 8 and now feels "happy" in her body."

Sarah, a PHD student in biomedical engineering, from Irvine, California, said: "I’m accepting myself at every stage of this process."

"I feel heathier and happier."

"I feel amazing to have that mum strength."

"I feel like I’m glowing up."

Sarah took up martial arts after coming to the US in 2013 and receiving hate comments, she said.

She said: "I felt scared. I wanted to be strong."

"It took out all my stress and anxiety. I felt amazing."

"I fell in love with it right away."

Sarah, who became a taekwondo instructor in 2020, married her ex-husband in 2019 and she kept up taekwondo throughout her pregnancy.

But when the marriage started to breakdown, Sarah struggled with her weight and depression – and found herself slipping from her taekwondo training.

She said: "I felt so isolated."

"Physically my posture changed."

"I lost my self-confidence."

"I started gaining weight during the pandemic too. "

"Then after that I struggled with the baby weight."

Sarah says she tried everything from diets to weight loss pills to try and shift the weight but nothing work.

She decided to separate from her ex in March 2023 and after struggling for a few months she got herself back to taekwondo in August of the same year.

Sarah said: "It was the result of me feeling better after the first few months."

"I got into running."

"I was running with my daughter and she’d get fussy if I walked."

"I always carry her around my waist when I exercise."

"I want to be this version of myself for her."

Sarah has now lost 2st 7lbs and she trains on the days her daughter is with her ex – doing taekwondo from 2.30pm to 8.30pm two to three times a week.

She hasn’t changed her diet – eating intuitively and listening to her body.

Sarah said: "I feel so much closer to myself now."

"I wanted to go back to what I was before marriage."

"It’s that life event [separation] that I got my transformation."

"If you’re stressed nothing could help you lose weight."

"I don’t wait for something to happen to be happy."

"Find happiness in the things you love to do."