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and yoghurt – and sometimes even a healthy version of a full English.
She explains: “You can have a big cooked breakfast with no guilt at all – lean bacon, poached egg and baked beans.”
Instead of having a big sandwich and a packet of crisps at lunch, she now has a jacket potato topped with tuna or beans. And for dinner she still has her favourite rice and pasta dishes, but she has ditched high fat, creamy sauces for low-fat versions.
Instead of eating chocolate and crisps for snacks at work, train planner Jill now finds that she doesn’t really get peckish between meals. The mum of one from Leeds, says: “Your taste buds really do change. I’m finding with the meals I’m eating now I feel fuller for longer so I don’t really snack as much, but if I do it tends to be raw veg, or Slimming World high-fibre cereal bars.”
Whereas before she used to hate shopping and wore baggy clothes to hide her figure, now she loves nothing more than hitting the high street and shopping for clothes she once never dreamed she could wear.
The 50-year-old says: “I couldn’t believe it the first time I pulled on a size 14 dress. For a long time I just carried on wearing the same baggy clothes I had always worn because I just couldn’t see the difference in myself.
“When you lose that amount of weight a big psychological switch has to flick at some point for you to realise what you have done. For a long time when I looked in the mirror I didn’t see a difference at all – even when I had lost six stone. I went on a shopping trip with a friend I had made at Slimming World and I tried on things I had never tried before – it was just an UNHAPPY Jill before her diet
Jill in the dress that helped kick-start her weight loss amazing feeling to be able to try on a size 14 dress.
“Since then I’ve got into size 12s as well. I feel fantastic, I can walk into a shop and I can buy clothes that I like the look of.
“I don’t just buy stuff because it fits, I buy stuff because I like it.
“I had a photoshoot done in November which I would never have done before and I love the pictures.
“It has given me a new confidence. I go running two or three times a week and I did a 10k in November, so losing weight has completely transformed my life. I feel like a different person.”
And it’s not just Jill who is reaping the benefits – husband Andy, 57, is a fan of his wife’s slimmed-down look.
“My husband is loving it. He works away a lot but when he is at home he eats the same as me. He’s happy, if I’m happy. I feel amazing.”