All my adult life I have struggled with my weight and after having three children the weight just piled on steadily. My weight got even worse after having my 3rd child in January 2010 and I just accepted that I was just meant to be big. No matter what faddy diet I tried nothing seemed to work. I just loved eating and would comfort eat a lot when my husband was working away from home. I’d put the children to sleep and sit down in front of the television with a cup of coffee and some sweet waffles or croissants and the tin of biscuits, and sometimes some chocolate too. I wasn’t happy with my weight.

In October 2010 my cousin announced he was getting married at the end of the month. That meant getting a couple of Asian outfits in less than 4 weeks. Every single shop I went to only did smaller sizes and if I wanted the clothes altered then I’d have to pay extra. I felt very disheartened and even contemplated not attending the wedding. Eventually I found the outfits and had to pay extra for getting the clothes enlarged which wasn’t very fair. The breaking point was when we were hosting a New Year’s Party and some of the guests thought I was pregnant again because not only was I now looking bigger then ever before but they were also shocked by the amount of food I was eating. At the time I laughed it off and even joked that I might be pregnant but deep down I was really hurt.

I knew I couldn’t do this on my own so the next couple of days I searched online for slimming groups and the first that I came across was Slimming World. I was sceptical at first when I read how much people were losing whilst still eating normal everyday foods. It sounded too good to be true and I kept searching for any loopholes! I couldn’t find any. I decided to find a group near me and was amazed at how close my local group was and the day/time was perfect for me.

I joined Slimming World in January 2011 weighing in at just over 14 stone.

The first day when walking into my new group for the first time was very scary, I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know what to expect. My consultant suggested the 12 week countdown to which I quickly signed up to keep me focused and motivated. On my first week I lost 2.5lbs but I was a bit upset as other members who’d joined the same week as me had much bigger 1st week losses. However I just continued to follow the plan and had steady losses, averaging 1-2 lbs loss per week. Take a look at my actual weight loss record below, what you see is a steady weekly weight loss (with gains here and there) which I believe is a real life method of successfully losing AND keeping weight off:

Slimming World for me has been a change of lifestyle. I have fundamentally changed the way that I shop for groceries, I have changed the way that I cook food too using methods that are healthier. This has impacted my family too, but perhaps not as much as I would like.

My husband has been fantastic at supporting me every step of my journey and cheering me up and motivating me when I was feeling down. He is extremely proud of what I have achieved. My children also noticed that mummy is taking better care of herself and I have found more confidence. I would hide away from the neighbours in the past thinking they haven’t noticed me, even though I was big and it was hard not to miss me, in my head I felt that they didn’t see me. I was pleasantly shocked when a couple of people on my road had noticed my weight loss and started asking me questions!

I didn’t think that losing just over 4st would make me look different. I’ve had family members who hadn’t seen me for over a year and when they saw me at my target weight they didn’t recognise me.

I still have my bad days, if they can be described as such, when I jut eat whatever I like or can access. However I am quickly back into ‘normal’ mode which for me now is the SW way of eating and cooking. It’s no longer a diet to me, it is normality. This is the way it should be and will be for the rest of my life, I know this now.

I owe a BIG thank you to Slimming World, in particular my consultant and fellow group members who have helped me immensely on my journey to achieve balance and good health.