I WAS ADDICTED TO 14 BARS OF CHOCOLATE A DAY
Inspirational super slimmer reveals how she beat cravings and lost 8 stone
A MUM hooked on at least 14 choc bars a day has lost 8st 3lb.
Charmaine Brooks, 34, who was a size 26, said: “I had to beat my constant cravings.”
A CHOCOHOLIC mum who gorged on 5,000 bars a year told how she lost 8st 3lb after seeing a picture of herself that made her want to cry.
At the peak of her habit, Charmaine Brooks weighed 18st 13lb.
But seeing the family holiday snap of herself wedged in a cycle buggy made her want to diet.
Charmaine, now a size 10, says: “I feel attractive for the first time. I can’t believe how many chocolate bars I used to go through. I could easily eat 14 bars a day, to feed constant cravings for sugar.”
A popular 45g bar has 240 calories, so Charmaine would have had 3,360 calories a day from this alone, almost twice the 2,000 NHS recommended intake.
In July 2014, she and roofer husband Darren, 42, checked in to a caravan in Poole, Dorset, with children Nathan, 15, and Aimee, 14. Charmaine says: “The kids and Darren went to the beach, but I stayed behind for the all-inclusive buffet.”
Later on the first day, Darren hired the pedal car. Charmaine says of the picture, taken by a passer-by: “My thighs spilled out and my arms looked massive.”
When the family got home to Southampton, Charmaine went on the Cambridge Weight Plan and lost a stone in three weeks.
She says: “I’d look at the picture to motivate me. On the diet, my cravings eased. It got easier.”
After reaching 10st 10lb, she says: “I’m so glad I learnt to love myself more than chocolate.”