Super slimmer: I lost 5st and threw out my K-cup bras!
Gemma Montague bit the bullet and lost over 5st to finally feel good about herself
My husband, Gary, leaned over and smiled. ‘Excited?’ he asked, his eyes sparkling.
I was. This trip to Iceland was one we’d talked about for years. But now we were finally on our way, in November 2019, I wasn’t really concentrating on the sights we were going to see or things we were going to do.
Instead, all I could think about was how wedged into the plane seat I was, and how I was convinced I was the heaviest person on the whole aircraft.
I’d been curvy since I’d hit my teens. I’d developed young and had big boobs and wide hips. I’d fallen pregnant to my childhood sweetheart, Gary, at just 17 and we’d married when I was seven months pregnant in January 2002.
First, we had Ellie, now 18, and Alfie, 16, and as I settled into motherhood, my body settled at a size 14. It wasn’t huge for my 5ft 7in frame, but my proportions were all out. My K-cup boobs made me look matronly and tops never fitted properly.
I did lose weight when we started trying for a third child, getting down to a size 10. But when Jake was born in 2011, my old habits returned.
Life with three kids and a full-time job was so happy – and busy – that we didn’t have time to eat well. The kids would have freezer food, I’d finish their leftovers, then Gary, now 38, and I would get a takeaway.
As I crept back up to a size 14, I tried all kinds of diets but, after a few days, I’d go out with my friends, or I’d be too tired to cook, and I’d find myself falling off the wagon.
Then, in 2016, my dad became ill. He was diagnosed with cancer, then vascular dementia. I’d always been close to my parents, and it felt like my world was falling apart.
I’ve always said I eat my emotions, and that was exactly what I did then. I could easily get through a whole packet of chocolate Hobnobs or a family-sized bag of crisps.
By 2019, I was a size 18. My body had no definition. My boobs seemed to merge with my belly and I had no neck to speak of.
And as soon as I boarded the plane to Iceland, I wished I’d lost weight. Every time someone brushed passed my legs, I’d flush with embarrassment.
Even when we got there and we saw the breath-taking Northern Lights and a perfect rainbow over the Golden Circle, my weight was first and foremost on my mind. When we went swimming in the beautiful Blue Lagoon, all I could think about was how much I hated being in a swimming costume.
‘I’m going to join Slimming World,’ I told Gary at home. I’d tried it before and, while I’d stuck to it, it had worked. ‘Come on, Gem,’ Gary laughed. ‘Not another diet.’
But I was adamant. I knew myself well enough to know that there was no point starting before Christmas, so I promised myself that I’d join in January.
And that December, when I got upset visiting my dad in his care home, a nurse came to comfort me. ‘I’d hate to think of my children seeing me like this,’ I sniffed.
‘ Why not lose weight?’ she suggested kindly. ‘It’ll decrease your chance of getting so many diseases and conditions.’
Her words punched me in the stomach. This was a medical professional, giving me advice. I had to take it.
So, after one last festive blow-out, I joined Slimming World in 2020, knowing I was going to turn my life around.
‘I have never felt happier with my body and myself’
At my first session, I weighed in at 16st 4lbs. Staying for the meeting, I listened to everyone’s experiences. One man, who had lost 5st, seemed so happy. ‘That’s what I want,’ I thought.
At home, I read the book cover to cover and got started straight away. ‘I’ll do it with you,’ Gary suggested. ‘ You don’t have any weight to lose,’ I scoffed. But he said he wanted to support me, so I wasn’t going to argue.
I started cooking from scratch, following the guidelines and going for a walk every evening. And it worked. After a month, I was down 1st – after two months, 2st!
‘ You look fantastic,’ friends complimented me at Ellie’s 18th at the end of February. But I was far from finished. Even when lockdown was announced and I was made redundant, I was determined to keep going.
I’d home-school Jake in the morning and then in the afternoon, we’d go for long walks around the fields next to our home in Rochester, Kent.
‘I’m going to go for a run,’ Gary told me in July. ‘ You should come, too.’ I was reluctant – I’d never even run after the postie before – but eventually he persuaded me. Following the Couch to 5K app, I ran for a minute and felt like I was going to have a heart attack!
But I threw the same determination I had for my eating behind it and kept going. Within nine weeks, I’d managed to run 5K. But I kept going, further and longer. Now, I can manage 10 miles and I’ve signed up for the Brighton half-marathon in February.
Now I’m 36, a size 10 (and an F cup for bras) and weigh 10st 13lbs – and that’s not all, Gary has lost 41⁄ 2st and Ellie has shed 3st! I have never felt happier with my body and myself – or indeed, prouder!