Brooke Taylor, who has been overweight since she was just six-years-old, revealed on ITV's This Morning that she used to binge on unhealthy food.
"I don't like eating in front of people, I'm scared of what people say about me"
She said: "I think when I was about six or seven, I was putting it on and not burning it off.
"I'd eat chips, pizza, not healthy stuff.
"I've spent all of my teenage years [overweight] it's probably going to go on until I'm 20. This is holding me back from living a normal life. People judge your appearance before they get to know you."
Brooke, who has now cut down on fast food and adopted a healthier lifestyle, explained that she has been badly bullied all her life as a result of her size - and is desperate for a free gastric band on the NHS, to help her change her appearance.
She said: "I don't like eating in front of people, I'm scared of what people say about me.
"It's not a quick fix but it will be beneficial in the long run. I'll start to like the way I look and feel more confident with the way I look and be able to go out and make friends."
Tam Fry from the National Obesity Forum told Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley that he believes Brooke SHOULD be given the gastric band she so desperately craves.
He said: "The operation should be the last resort, you should be going through the other elements.
"They demand that you should be a certain size before you have the surgery, my view is that we should be thinking very careful about what we offer children.
"I think she is of a size now where the surgery is appropriate, what she will find, is [she needs] to behave herself once she's had the operation. It's got to be a different eating style.
"You cannot eat the wrong things and not overstep the mark."