‘I lost 10 stone’

Standing in a restaurant for my friend Helen’s birthday, I didn’t feel like myself. I was uncomfortable, didn’t like being around people and it was difficult stopping negative thoughts entering my head.

‘ What’s the matter?’ Helen asked, seeing my discomfort. I was a few gins in, and I hadn’t really admitted it to anyone – not even myself… but I was huge and hated feeling like I didn’t belong in my own skin.

I got out of breath walking up the stairs and my size 26 clothes pinched my body.

‘ Why don’t you do something about it, then?’ she said gently. It sounds silly but no one had ever really put it to me like that before. It was April 2018, and I knew Helen was right. But admitting it and doing something about my weight were two entirely different things…

As a kid, I’d always been active and loved the ballet and dance classes I went to each week. At home we ate healthy, traditional, home-cooked meals like cottage pie and roast dinners, with no snacking. By the time I left school, I was a size 14, but being 5ft 11in tall meant I could carry it well.

I had more freedom then, and started making poor food choices, especially when I moved out of home. I didn’t really know how to cook properly, relied heavily on packet dinners and the freezer quickly became my new best friend. Over the next few years, I ballooned to a size 20, but didn’t think much of it.

Everybody’s shape changed and I didn’t bother dieting because I didn’t want to have to weigh my food.

Then, in 2009, I met David on Match.com. I was a size 22 then, but he didn’t care about my size. He was kind, funny and made me feel special. Sounds silly, but he really did make my heart sing.

He didn’t judge me when I wolfed down McDonald’s breakfasts and Indian takeaways for dinner.

We worked long hours and cooking was the last thing on our minds when we got home.

David, now 51, was always supportive of what I did and would only ever ask with big decisions, ‘ Will it make you happy?’ He was my absolute rock and I was extremely proud to marry him in May 2014. I had my Fifties-style tea dress wedding gown made as I couldn’t face the ordeal of boutique shopping.

‘ You look gorgeous,’ David said when he saw me. After that, we carried on, happily eating pasta bakes, enjoying a drink – and each other’s company, of course!

But I got bigger and bigger. I knew my own mind but became quite introverted and shy around others. I didn’t want to see anyone, and I didn’t want to be stared at.

But when Helen – who

I’d met through David and became firm friends with – invited me out for her birthday in 2018, I couldn’t refuse. It was only then that I started to admit how I felt. I talked to David about it too.

‘ You can do anything you set your mind to,’ he said, when I mentioned losing weight. ‘If it will make you happy, you should do it.’

But it was difficult asking for help. So, it took me four months to pluck up the courage to join a Slimming World group in my hometown of Bingham, Nottinghamshire.

When I got to the car park, I was terrified, so called David and told him I couldn’t go in.

‘ When you say you’re going to do something, you do it,’ he said. So, I steeled myself, got out of the car and weighed in