I was a 23st blob when I married but then lost 12st to see my daughter wed
Walking down the aisle in a size 34 dress, Angela England felt like a “fat sweaty blob” on what should have been the happiest day of her life.
So when it came to her daughter Laura’s big day, Angela was determined not to be the fat mother of the bride.
She lost more than 12 stone so she could look back on these wedding pictures with pride, rather than disgust.
Angela, 53, said: “On my wedding day I was a fat sweaty blob in a massive marquee of a meringue dress, and understandably shied away from the camera. I think I only ever got our wedding album out twice, hating to look at those pictures of me.
“With all my friends and family there it was a lovely day, but I always felt so terrible thinking how I hated people saying I looked nice when I knew the opposite was true.”
Weighing in at over 23 stone, with life-threatening diabetes and high blood pressure, Angela was gorging on greasy takeaways and biscuits in bed most nights.
She had been a yo-yo dieter in her 20s, losing – and putting back on – 50 stone over the years.
But the happy news that Laura was engaged to her boyfriend, Dan Rose, 30, was the wake-up call Angela needed.
She said: “I was overjoyed but suddenly thought how I might not be there to see any grandchildren. “I thought how selfish and stupid I’d been. I blew the dust off my wedding album and stared at those pictures and, wiping away the tears, swore I wouldn’t be the same sweaty blob at Laura’s wedding that I’d been at my own.”
From then on, Angela, who is married to Martin, 41, looked at the album every day for motivation. She began cutting back on her night-time binges and managed to drop to 9st 9lbs on her own.
But she knew she couldn’t lose much more without help, so went along to her local Weight Watchers group. Angela, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, said: “I’d tried Weight Watchers multiple times before, but it hadn’t worked because my head wasn’t in the right place. I knew the change in lifestyle and mentality would work this time. I didn’t want a faddy yo-yo diet.
“I loved the fact that I never felt deprived and could have a biscuit or a piece of chocolate from time to time, as long as it was within my points allowance.”
As well as being careful with food, Angela started exercising. Before, she would drive even short distances, but then she began walking everywhere.
She said: “When I started, I couldn’t walk up the stairs without having to stop halfway to catch my breath.
“Now I regularly walk one and a half miles into town and back. I’m so full of energy.”
Slowly but surely, the weight dropped off. By the time of Laura’s wedding, on July 30 last year, Angela weighed 11st 3lbs. She’d shed over 12 stone and dropped 10 dress sizes, to a size 14.
And Angela couldn’t wait to flaunt her new figure. She said: “I threw myself in front of the camera at every opportunity.
“I lapped up the compliments, because, unlike at my own wedding, this time I knew they were real.”
Bursting with confidence at Laura’s wedding, Angela told Martin – a
warehouse distribution manager – that she wanted to renew their vows.
She said: “I wanted a photo of the new me compared to the old me. I felt like I’d been reborn.”
Eleven days later, the couple – joined by nursery nurse Laura, 28, and Dan – renewed their vows in the same church in Urswick where they married the first time in 2005. This time round, Angela was the stunning bride she’d always dreamed of being. She said: “It was surreal to think I was the same person.
“I was smiling like a Cheshire cat with Martin beside me – the man who had stood by me through everything, supported me when I most needed it.”
Angela reached her goal weight of 10st 10lbs in December.
Laura, who lives with maths lecturer Dan in Wolverhampton, said she knew when she announced her engagement that Angela would finally lose the weight for good.
Laura said: “Unlike all the other doomed diet attempts – where Mum would start with a look of despair in her eyes – this time she just seemed happier, like she was ready for the fight and would enjoy it.
“Mum took my breath away at the wedding. It was so heart-warming knowing she’d love looking back on the photos as much as me. She got so many deserved compliments that I think some guests forgot it was me who was supposed to the centre of attention,” Laura laughed.
“Seeing mum transformed inside and out, I feel truly blessed.”
And Angela, now a trim size 12, will get to see her grandchildren grow up, as Laura is due to give birth in July.
“I cried at that final weigh-in, remembering the years of bullying as a child, the yo-yo dieting through so
I thought how selfish and stupid I’d been. I might not be here to see my grandchildren
ANGELA ENGLAND ON THE MOMENT SHE DECIDED TO FINALLY LOSE WEIGHT
many years as an adult, then how I’d finally achieved my dream,” Angela said. “I’m completely off my high blood pressure medication, I’m almost off my diabetes pills and, to cap it all, Laura’s pregnant.
“I’ll be the gran I always wanted to be – I have to pinch myself to think I used to take a tin of biscuits to bed.”
For more information, go to weightwatchers.com/uk/