"I was kicked off a roller coaster for being too big and now I have lost 7 stone 10 lbs with Slimming World"

Shuffling forwards in the queue, I felt nervous. But it wasn’t the upcoming thrills of Thorpe Park’s Vortex ride, swinging away overhead, that was worrying me. “You’ll be fine,” my friends insisted. “You’re not that big.” It was 2019, and that phrase was something I’d told myself my whole life. I’d been heavier than my friends for as long as I could remember.

Even in primary school, my concerned mum had whisked me off to see a private dietician to try to get on top of my growing size. But I was active too. I swam six times a week for Portsmouth and stayed fit as I went into adulthood. I met my husband Steve at the gym in 2015. But when I wasn’t working out, I’d eat what I wanted, when I wanted. Despite my gym trips five times a week I weighed 16 stone at 5ft 7in.

A few years later, Steve and I welcomed our son Ollie. Motherhood and marriage had seen exercise go out of the window, while my poor eating habits remained. I was never hungry in the day, so I skipped breakfast and lunch, snacking on Hobnobs to get me by. Then in the evening, I told myself I didn’t have the energy to cook, so bought huge takeaways three times a week, popping in ready meals on the other nights and eating portions meant for several people. I was bigger than ever but didn’t know what to do about it.

Now as I waited in the queue, I hoped my friends were right and my worries about not fitting on the roller coaster were unfounded. Once we reached the front, I climbed into the seat and pulled down the overhead bar. “Thank goodness” I thought, feeling it push against my chest. But then I noticed the safety light above me was still red while my friends’ ones had turned green. I pushed on the bar, but it wouldn’t close properly over my stomach.

The attendant came over and tried to push on it too, but it still wouldn’t close shut. Although he said he’d try again, I insisted I’d just get off instead. I was sure everyone was looking, and I felt mortified. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. Steve and Ollie were waiting for us outside, so after joining them, I focused all my attention on the baby and refused to go on any other rides.

This wasn’t enough to make me change. Three years later in April 2022, I was 19 stone 4 lbs and a size 22. I got out of breath climbing the stairs, hated clothes shopping and couldn’t see a way out. I’d tried diets and failed them all and was considering a gastric sleeve as a drastic, last ditch attempt.

Then one Saturday morning, I was just getting Ollie out of bed and had just got out of the shower when a leaflet fluttered through my letterbox for a Slimming World meeting. It was just round the corner from our home in Havant, Hampshire, and started in a few minutes. I realised the consultant must have dropped leaflets off as she walked there. Hair still wet from my shower, and with Ollie in his pyjamas, I walked us round to the meeting, walked in and burst into tears.

“You’ve done the hard part” the consultant Sam, told me with a smile and a hug and everyone else was so welcoming too. I’d fallen into lots of bad habits, and she kindly explained to me how I needed to change not just what I was eating, but my lifestyle too. It was the only way that I would be able to lose weight and keep it off.

Instead of not having anything to eat until dinner time, I tucked into fruit and yogurt for breakfast, then a ham wrap with lettuce at lunchtime. Instead of takeaways, I cooked from scratch every night, having meals like spaghetti bolognese and chilli.

There were so many recipes online and so many influencers posting Slimming World tips that I never got bored. If I wanted something sweet for dessert, I’d make my own Eton mess using a bit of meringue with fruit and Mullerlight yogurt, and I’d snack on apple slices and celery sticks dipped in marmite. I kept steadily losing pound after pound and, after a year on this healthy eating plan, I’d lost nearly 6 stone.

I have continued all the way to achieve my dream target weight of 11 stone 8 lbs having lost an amazing 7 stone 10 lbs and I plan to stay there. I walk often but haven’t returned to the gym, instead maintaining my weight loss by watching what I eat closely. I eat well all week, am weighed at Slimming World on a Saturday morning, then have a treat like a takeaway that night before getting back to it on the Sunday.

While Steve is incredibly proud of me, I think he’d rather I hadn’t rediscovered my love for clothes shopping with all the parcels arriving at home! I’m so much more confident, and although Steve fancies me at any size, I can see a twinkle in his eye when he looks at the new me.

Ollie, now nearly eight, is a real adrenaline junkie. We regularly go to trampoline parks, where I’d have been too heavy to jump previously, or theme parks like Paultons Park and Chessington World of Adventures. Sitting beside my boy as we whizz through the air is the best feeling in the world. I often think of that day on The Vortex and just how far I’ve come. I know I’d fit on it with ease now. Once Ollie is old enough, we’ll be straight back there for a whole new experience.

I can’t believe that I am writing this as I never thought I would get here to target, but after years of hard work and determination, I don’t recognise that woman who walked through the door of Slimming World extremely overweight, depressed with zero confidence. Here I am today feeling like a new woman, I have my life back and Ollie has a mum He can be proud of. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family, friends and Slimming World group. It’s been a long journey that hasn’t always been easy, but I’m so happy I finally got here. The future is bright.

Slimming world consultant Sam’s members and fellow colleagues say that she is an inspiration, watching her confidence grow week in week out has been an honour. Sam says that her members make me so incredibly proud. She run groups at St Nicholas’ Church, Bedhampton on a Saturday morning at 7.30am, 9am and 10.30am and at St Michaels & All Angels Church, Leigh Park on a Thursday evening at 4pm, 5.30pm and 7pm. Join today you will not regret it.