Size Overrated Spotlight: Teresa Lavon Woods — Choosing Self-Love After Survival
- Size Overrated Writers
- Jan 16
- 2 min read
Written by Size Overrated Magazine
Photo Credit: Otis C. Robertson
Teresa Lavon Woods began her plus-size modeling journey this year, but her story is decades in the making.
At 43 years old, Teresa is a mother of three daughters, a proud grandmother of three granddaughters, and a woman who has survived more than many could imagine, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, rape, trauma, addiction, and years of learning how to put herself last.
For most of her life, Teresa was taught to care for everyone else before herself. Love, she learned early on, was conditional, inconsistent, and often painful. Growing up in an abusive and dysfunctional household, she was never given the tools to build healthy relationships, with others or with herself. As a result, she found herself settling for the bare minimum, loving the wrong men, and repeating patterns she never wanted her daughters to see.
At her highest weight, Teresa weighed 400 pounds, and hated herself.
“I was never taught to love me,” she shares. “I was taught to cater to everyone else.”
But eventually, something shifted.
Teresa decided she wanted more — not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. She began attending Zumba classes and boot camp workouts, losing an incredible 160 pounds in just 18 months. It was the hardest work she had ever done. And then life happened.
Depression crept in. Weight returned. Family crises, financial strain, divorce, and single motherhood made self-care feel impossible once again. After reaching 300 pounds, Teresa turned to weight-loss surgery, dropping quickly to 193 pounds — but without stability, resources, or support, maintaining that progress became overwhelming.
Still, the challenges didn’t stop.
Her last relationship was deeply abusive, filled with betrayal and emotional harm. She coped the only way she knew how at the time, by numbing her pain with drugs. When she finally left that relationship, she was 198 pounds and broken in ways weight could never measure.
Today, 2.5 years later, Teresa weighs 300 pounds again — but for the first time in her life, she loves herself fully.
“My body, my fat, my short stature, my flaws, all of it is beautiful,” she says.
Now signed with Wilson Consultant and Talent Agency, Teresa works in case management for Intuit QuickBooks and has found healing and empowerment through modeling and community. Modeling didn’t change her body, it changed how she sees herself.
She has chosen peace. She has chosen herself. She has chosen a life free from chaos, abuse, and settling.
“I’m living for me now,” Teresa says. “I’m loving my daughters, spoiling my granddaughters, and staying man-free and trouble-free.”
Teresa’s journey reminds us that confidence isn’t about the number on the scale. It’s about mental health. It’s about healing. It’s about learning to love yourself unconditionally, even when your story isn’t linear.
And if her story inspires just one person to see their own potential, then every step of her journey has meaning.
Want to be featured in our next spotlight?
Follow @SizeOverratedMagazine and stay tuned.
Also as a thank you checking out our new blog series, check out our current 2025.2026 Winter Digital Issue for FREE
