Sarah inspired to help others to lose weight
A WICKLOW woman who battled to lose weight for many years has turned her life around and is now helping others to reach their goals towards a healthier lifestyle.
Over the years, Sarah Keene from Wicklow town tried every diet going but every time she lost a few pounds, it soon crept back on.
While Sarah had put weightloss on the back-burner until after she had children, she and her husband sadly experienced three miscarriages, which in turn had an impact on their eating habits.
‘We got into the habit of treating ourselves to lots of takeaways. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream was a pretty big feature too as a real comfort food,’ she said.
The Wicklow woman went on to have two healthy sons and it was when her youngest boy was almost one that she realised she had done nothing about her weight and only had one pair of jeans that fit her. Her moment of truth came when the only black trousers she could find to wear to a funeral were maternity trousers.
‘ This was my big wake up call! I had really run out of excuses now and I decided it was time to get real about weight loss.’
Having heard about a Slimming World group in Arklow, Sarah took the plunge and went along with her friend, who had nothing but good things to say about it.
‘I couldn’t really get my head around what she was saying – it seemed too good to be true,’ Sarah said.
Sarah couldn’t believe it when she lost five pounds in her first week. She said that the support from her group leader and fellow members kept her on track when she was struggling and reach her target two stone weight loss goal. ‘It made such a difference,’ she said. ‘I would have given up if I hadn’t had that support.’
Inspired by her own experience, Sarah soon opened a Slimming World group in the Grand Hotel, Wicklow. While she still runs that, she has also taken over the Tuesday group in Arklow Rocks clubhouse.