I HAVE MORE ENERGY THAN I’VE HAD FOR YEARS

CHARLOTTE MOUNTAIN, 31

Charlotte is a hair stylist who lost 3st 7lb and reversed her prediabetes after joining WW. Charlotte, who lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire, with her 29year-old husband Joshua, a roofer, and their three children, went from

17st 10lb to 14st 3lb, dropping from a dress size 20-22 to 14-16 (she’s 5ft 8in tall). She says:

‘I was really scared when blood tests showed I was on the brink of developing Type 2 diabetes. It was just before Christmas last year and my third child Effie was only a year old. I could see a lifetime of managing a scary disease stretching ahead and knew I had to act immediately to improve my health.

‘Effie was born in November 2019, only a few months before we were plunged into the first lockdown. I found this tough mentally and physically and turned to food for comfort. I’ve suffered from depression in the past and been prescribed medication on and off since the birth of my first child. After lockdown was announced I found myself anxious and low once again, and was given the antidepressant Citalopram. I ate anything that came to hand – pizza, chips, chocolate... you name it. I put on around 2st between the first lockdown and Christmas last year. ‘I’d had gestational diabetes while pregnant with Effie. This disappears once you give birth. I was prescribed Metformin to help control my blood sugars during my pregnancy and tried to keep to a lowish carb diet. After Effie was born the diabetes disappeared and I stopped taking the drug but was told I was at a higher risk of developing diabetes later in life. So I was horrified when the blood test results came through at a check-up a year later – the extra lockdown weight had contributed to putting me on the threshold of fullblown diabetes. I was determined to do something about it so I joined WW. I made sure I tracked and logged everything I ate and learnt to plan ahead so there was always healthy food in the house. I mostly ate simple meals such as pitta bread, tuna and salad.

‘I found the help of the WW community invaluable, as was the app because it gave me Smartpoints values for any packaged shopbought food thanks to the barcode scanning feature. And I was motivated because the weight was dropping off so quickly too.

‘In the first four months I lost 2½st and my blood sugar levels were back to normal. I was over the moon, but determined to carry on. As I got lighter I started running and did a Couch To 5K challenge in January. I was exhausted the first time I went for a run and barely managed 15 minutes, but by the end I was running for 50 minutes. Now I have more energy than I’ve had for years. Before I could hardly be bothered to play with the children but now I’m running around the garden with them.

‘Although I still have the odd low day, my mood has improved too – I no longer need medication and I feel so much happier in myself. When the third lockdown came around I coped so much better – I was busy exercising and it made me feel much more optimistic to know I was investing in my own health.

‘I’ve had so many compliments about my transformation and my husband says he’s proud of the way I turned my health around. I still want to lose some more weight; my goal is to get back to 12st 6lb, the weight I was after I had my second child. Above all, I’ve learnt that you can enjoy food without eating badly. I’m so happy to have this new lease of life.’

Charlotte with her daughter Effie in summer 2020