I HATED SUMMER HOLIDAYS – UNTIL NOW!
Carol Speight dreaded going abroad but, now she’s lost 4st, she can’t get enough of the sun…
While for most people holidays are the highlight of their year, I used to dread them. The idea of stripping down to a vest top and shorts, let alone a bikini, would bring me out in a cold sweat.
But now, at the age of 40, I’ve finally shed 4st – and my horror of holidays.
Unlike a lot of people, my weight problems didn’t start in childhood. I was slim and very active at school. And even after I’d had two children, Bethany and Danielle, when I was 20 and 21, I lost the baby weight without too much effort, slipping straight back into my size 10 jeans.
However, three years later, I split up with my partner and my life turned upside down. Spending my nights at home looking after the girls meant I indulged in bags of crisps and familysize bars of chocolate during the week, and takeaways at the weekends.
On the odd occasion I did get a night out, I would let myself go, drinking whatever I wanted, then getting a kebab or pizza on the way home.
By the time I was 25, I’d doubled my dress size to a 20 – although if anyone asked, I’d say I was ‘about a 14’.
I tried slimming groups, the 5:2 diet and counting calories but, whenever I lost half a stone, I’d go back to eating whatever I wanted, meaning I’d gain the weight back as quickly as I’d lost it.
So when the girls’ dad offered to look after them while I went away for a holiday with my friends, it didn’t go well. My mates were all slender and weren’t worried about slipping out of their clothes to sunbathe around the pool.
I, on the other hand, was sticky, sweaty and uncomfortable the whole time. My thighs chafed and I hated all the clothes I’d brought with me. All I wanted to do was go home.
But even that wasn’t enough to make me change my ways. When I got back, the first thing I did was order a takeaway.
In 2006, I met Martin Warsop, 36. He worked in a local shop with my friend and, after I’d popped in to see her, he asked for my number. I thought he was kidding, but the next time I went in, he asked for it again.
Martin was such a lovely man, laidback and patient, and seemed to like me for who I was. But even though he kept asking me out on dates, and we started a relationship, I could never understand why he was interested in me.
By now, I felt so down and disliked myself so much I didn’t believe anyone could love me. And when I fell pregnant with our daughter Isabelle at the end of 2010, I went on a self-destruct mission.
I ate and ate and ate – not just for two, more like for a whole family. I hit 16st and was the biggest – and unhappiest – I’d ever been.
At the start of 2014, Martin and I had a huge row and he left to go to his mum’s. He’d done it before, and had always come back. But this time, he didn’t. Not that month, nor the one after…
By my 37th birthday, in April 2014, I was bigger than ever, single, and desperately unhappy. I had a takeaway,
followed by chocolate. In bed afterwards, my stomach ached, I was so full. ‘I can’t keep doing this,’ I said to myself. So as usual, I turned to the internet to find ways to lose weight. However, this time, I remembered what a friend had told me about going to a British Military Fitness bootcamp. She had absolutely loved it, and when I found one at our local park in my home town of Sheffield, I booked a trial session before I could change my mind. I have to admit that, when I turned up on the Saturday morning, my heart sank. I didn’t have any proper gym clothes, so I’d just thrown on an old pair of leggings and a T-shirt. But when I got there, everyone else looked super-fit. And, as it turned out, they were. As soon as we set off, it became apparent I was never going to be able to keep up. So I spent the next hour chasing them around the park. But that didn’t stop me having the best time. Everyone was so positive, telling me how well I was doing and, although I was bright red in the face by the end, I signed up for six months. I went three times a week religiously, and I don’t know if it was the fresh air or the endorphin rush, but I always felt so good afterwards.
After three months, even I could see how much I was improving. My body was getting firmer, and I was finally able to keep up with the others.
‘ You know, the better you eat, the better you’ll be at this,’ one of the fitness instructors told me, gesturing to the rest of the class working out.
So I started to eat more healthily on the days I went to bootcamp. Then gradually, I began eating carefully on the days before, too, to prepare myself. Almost without realising it, by September 2014, I’d lost 3st.
I felt like a completely different person. I had a whole new group of friends to socialise with, I was full of energy, and my fits of depression had disappeared.
There was no stopping me. I started doing weekly 5k park runs and, in March 2015, I even signed up to do a 10k obstacle course with British Military Fitness, too. Because by then, I knew I could do whatever I put my mind to.
By July 2016, when I took Bethany and Danielle to Turkey, I was a size 10 and down to 10st 3lb. I’d even had my boobs lifted and my confidence was higher than it had ever been.
And when I got back, I was in for another surprise. Despite splitting up, Martin and I had kept in close contact due to Isabelle and, one day in October 2016, he texted me. ‘ You look amazing and you seem so much happier,’ he wrote. ‘It would be great to meet up for a drink and talk about what went wrong…’
Delighted, I replied and, after a long talk, we decided to get back together.
Now, at 40, I’m training for the London Marathon and watch what I eat, and I’m at my happiest ever. I don’t dread anything, least of all holidays. These days, I can’t wait for summer to come! l
For more information, visit britmilfit.com
‘I’m a different person – I know I can do whatever I put my mind to’