For as long as I can remember I have been on a diet.

Even when I wasn’t – in my head, I was on a diet, I was just failing! 

I tried Weight Watchers and Slimming World but although great for many, they didn’t work for me because I couldn’t cope with losing 1/2lb a week and pretending to be happy about it – at that rate I’d have to follow their programmes for years before reaching my goal.  Plus in those days their programs were completely different to the ones they offer today so I felt like I was starving all the time and depriving myself of everything I loved.  Too many sacrifices for me back then and far too depressing for my liking.

So I progressed to grasping at straws and tried absolutely anything and everything I heard about.  I even did some of them at the same time!  Looking back I realise how many risks I took. Slimming pills – which were literally amphetamines (uppers and downers), laxatives, food replacements, chocolate bar diets, the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet, you name it, I tried it.  I even went so far as to throw up and then stop eating altogether!

With the more extreme (always dangerous) regimes I would lose up to 3 stone, but it simply wasn’t sustainable, it was too slow, it was never enough and I made myself ill, but the worst thing, in my mind was that it made no difference to my appearance or how I felt, so the weight always went back on, plus more.

Ringing any bells?

In 2004 I topped the scales at just 2lb under 25 stone, that’s 348lbs or 157.85kgs I was wearing a UK size 30 (US size 26 or 3XXXL) And I am only 5’2”! Something had to change. For me, that change couldn’t have come soon enough. 

I HAD FAR OUTSTAYED MY WELCOME AT THE LAST CHANCE SALOON