Bree Boyce, the reigning Miss South Carolina, said she was once an obese teenager who dropped more than 110 pounds over two years before she won the pageant title.

Boyce, 22, once told The Today Show that at 17, she weighed 234 pounds (the highest her weight has been) and wore size 18 jeans.

I actually confessed to my mother that when I got my license I would ride around to different fast food places and get food and sit in my car and eat it, Boyce has said. Or whenever my parents went out to a movie or to a dinner, I would order pizza and eat the whole large pizza by myself.

But around 2008, Boyce got a stern warning from her doctor that she could end up having a lot of health woes in the future ­-- besides the knee problems she was facing -- if she didn't lose the excess weight from her tiny frame. That was enough warning for Boyce to change her lifestyle and through a healthier diet and exercise she accomplished her goal.

At that moment I decided to change my life and I lost 64 pounds very quickly, Boyce said according to reports. I had so many dreams and aspirations for myself and I knew that being so unhealthy, I would not be able to accomplish those dreams.

Five years later, Boyce stands proudly as Miss South Carolina and will be in line competing for the Miss America Crown next year.

I had struggled for so many years with my weight, Boyce said according to CNN. So many girls look to beauty queens because they want to be like them and look like them. But my thing is that we're all unique and we're all different and not one person is going to look like the next. And somebody might be a healthy size 6, and an unhealthy size 0.

She added that her weight loss is about setting a good example for the younger generation.

You don't have to be rail thin to think you're beautiful and want to be Miss America, Boyce told CNN. You need to be happy and content with yourself, get your physical activity. That's what counts the most -- not starvation diets and being rail thin.

You can learn more about Miss South Carolina and see pictures of her dramatic weight loss through her Facebook page titled Bree Boyce - Eating Healthy and Fighting Obesity.

Watch Boyce's CNN interview below:

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