I’M A SUPERGIRL SLIMMER!
At 18st, Natalie Wiggs felt lethargic and lazy, but now she’s shed 7st, she’s ready for anything…
I’d always been a big girl and, for years, I told myself that was just who I was meant to be. After all, I did try to lose weight, but I could never manage to lose quite enough – and keeping it off seemed just impossible.
But finally, I’ve shed 7st and I’ve become a super-slimmer – something I never dreamed possible!
Growing up, I’d always had a sweet tooth but our house rule was: you can’t get dessert until you finish your plate.
So I’d wolf down mum’s delicious homemade shepherd’s pies and roast dinners so I could get to the ice cream afterwards. And it showed.
By the time I got to secondary school, it was painfully apparent I was far bigger than my classmates.
The other girls wore fitted shirts and short skirts while I was the frumpy one in school trousers and a baggy jumper who never had a boyfriend. By the time I was 16, I was 14st and a size 16-18.
But you’d never have known how. Because, when we hung out at KFC or McDonald’s, I always refused to order anything. I was scared of being judged.
I more than made up for it at home, though, tucking in to crisps and doughnuts. My mum, Dee, worried about me but, despite trying various diets, I never managed to keep the weight off.
I’d go back and forth to the GP because I was down about how big I was, and in 2005, aged 19, I went to see him again. ‘ You could have a gastric band,’ he said. I was shocked that it was offered to me. Yes, I was 17st, but surgery was serious and I was still so young…
‘I’ve done this to myself so I need to fix it myself,’ I reasoned. So I cut down my portion sizes, tried to snack less and, over the next three years, I dropped 2st.
It was then that I met Matt, then 20, online. I’d joined a chatroom, as I was convinced no one would ever fancy me in person and I felt safer hiding behind a computer screen. I posted head-and-shoulder pictures of myself and tried to convince myself I wasn’t fat.
When Matt drove up from his home in Hampshire to mine in Shropshire, I was so nervous – so much so, Mum spoke to him more than I did in the first hour.
But I needn’t have worried. Matt was the most warm, genuine, kind person I’d ever met, and didn’t give two hoots about my size. After that, we were inseparable.
We spent every weekend going for days out, trying out restaurants and watching films. He made me feel beautiful.
Finally, I’d met someone who saw me for me, not my fat.
But my newfound happiness meant I took my eye off my weight and it began to creep up again.
By the summer of 2011, I was almost 18st and a size 22. We were due to fly over and see Matt’s parents in the south of France, and I decided I wanted to enjoy the cheese, bread and pastries.
If I lost some weight beforehand, I wouldn’t have to worry about having a blowout, I reckoned.
So when I saw SlimFast in the supermarket, I decided to give it a go. I had meal replacement shakes in the morning and for lunch, and a healthy dinner, like fish and couscous.
In two weeks, I lost 9lb. It was so easy