Picture that shocked me into losing 8st… in just 10 months
A Christmas party photo made KATIE HERON face the truth about her weight. She tells us about her incredible transformation
Katie, 32, works in advertising and lives in Burton-on-Trent, Staffs, with husband Rik, 35, a manufacturing manager
IWAS SCROLLING through Facebook when I caught sight of a picture. My stomach turned over with horror. In the photo I was posing in a long red dress at a Christmas ball I’d been to a few weeks earlier. While on the night I’d felt glamorous in my scarlet gown, the picture told a different story. I knew I’d put on some weight but had no idea how much. I was horrified – I looked like a giant red whale. For much of my life, I hadn’t had to worry about my weight, as a teenager I was a comfortable size 12. But on hitting my 20s I met my now-husband Rik and quickly piled on the pounds when we moved in together. At first I thought it was normal to put on a bit of weight in a new, happy relationship. But as the years rolled by, our diet of stodgy meals turned a few pounds into a few stone. At the same time, I started a job in advertising, which meant travelling across the country to go to meetings. I spent long hours in the car and often only had a few minutes for lunch. Instead of choosing a healthy sandwich or salad, I’d eat fast food such as McDonald’s or KFC. My job meant I often arrived home late in the evening. Too exhausted to cook, I would order a Chinese takeaway. I went from a size 14 to 16, then crept up to an 18 and finally a 20. Sometimes I would lose a stone or two before going on holiday but I would always put the weight back on and more as soon as I got back. My mum and grandmother were worried and started asking me if I was going to lose weight. But as my dress size went up, my self-esteem went down. To the outside world I was a large, jolly girl who was comfortable in her own skin. In reality I was miserable and self-conscious.
WHEN I was out in public I would feel paranoid and think people were staring at me because of my weight. I was sick of wearing tent-like smocks while my slim sister and friends showed off their trim figures in the latest fashion trends. And if I went out, I’d spend the whole night fretting about how I looked. Because I was self-conscious, I used to overcompensate and crack jokes about my size in the hope that other people wouldn’t get there first. But often, people made jokes anyway. One time I was out for dinner with my brother and he asked if I was going to order everything on the menu. I laughed along with him but I was secretly mortified. And the worse I felt about myself, the more I ate for comfort. Eventually I became so embarrassed by my appearance that I started hiding whenever someone tried to take a picture. I was in denial about how big I was and didn’t want to be confronted with the truth.
Then in December 2016, a friend snapped that picture of me at a Christmas ball and posted it on Facebook. At 5ft 5in, my size-20 frame looked enormous. I was horrified everyone had seen it.
After that I changed my social media settings so people wouldn’t be able to tag me in photos without my permission.
And because my self-esteem had plummeted, I ate more than ever.
Then one day a fitness group came into my office to do health checks.
Normally I would have hidden in a cupboard to avoid being weighed but one of my colleagues had recently lost his mum after a weight-related heart attack.
Because he was nervous of being weighed, I went along with him for support and got weighed too.
I knew I was heavy but discovering I weighed more than 18st was a shock as I’d always avoided the scales at home.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. I also found out I had high blood pressure and was advised to see my doctor. That was my line in the sand. My dad had undergone a heart bypass in 2016, so I knew how serious high blood pressure could be.
I joined Weight Watchers the following week and gave myself a year to get my life back on track.
Walking into that first meeting felt daunting. I knew a lot of hard work lay ahead, and that I’d have to change how and what I ate as well as how much exercise I did.
But I was also tired of pretending I was happy when I wasn’t.
I swapped the two litres of full-fat Coca-Cola I was drinking each day for water and would eat a salad or sandwich for lunch instead of fast food.
My stodgy evening meals were swapped for healthy, veg-filled dishes with lean meat and fish.
I lost the first stone much more quickly than I’d expected, which felt amazing. But I knew I was at the start of a long journey. If I thought about how much weight I needed to lose, I’d easily become overwhelmed.
I decided to break it down into smaller goals, which made it more manageable and helped me stay on track.
Changing my attitude towards fitness was another key part of my journey.
I tried to do more steps during the day and experimented with different types of exercise to find out what I enjoyed. Now I do trampolining every week and I love it. In the first six months after joining Weight Watchers, I lost an amazing five stone.
My friends and family couldn’t believe it.
I went to meet my mum and aunt in Nottingham for a day out and they didn’t recognise me when I walked in.
After just 10 months following the Weight Watchers plan, I’d lost eight stone. I was over the moon. At a size 10, I was slimmer than I’d ever been as an adult and felt fantastic about myself.
I binned my tent-like frocks and proudly showed off my figure in tight-fitting dresses, skirts and tops.
I stopped feeling self-conscious about my weight when I was out and started to feel comfortable in my own skin for the first time in years.
Now when I look back at that photo of the red dress, I can’t believe it’s me and neither can my family or friends.
Since I hit my goal weight in March this year, I’ve managed to maintain a steady weight of around 10st 7lb. And I’m determined to keep up the good work.
When I was bigger, I felt awful about myself. But now, for the first time in years, I feel like me again.