I lost 18st after a man told me I was so big I blocked view
School meeting slur spurs Tracey to slimming prize
SLIMMER Tracey Topping lost 18st after another parent refused to sit behind her at a school meeting because she was blocking his view.
Tracey, 47, tipped the scales at nearly 30st and was so obese she struggled to wash.
But the mum of four vowed to lose weight following the humiliating incident at her son’s school.
In less than three years, she dropped from 29st 6lb to just 11st 6lb – a size 10 – and has completed a 10km run.
Tracey was named Greatest Loser of all 900,000 Slimming World members nationwide.
She swapped takeaways for home-cooked meals and snacked on fruit – and pickled onions.
She said: “My dream is to keep the weight off and be around for my family. I don’t just love the new slim me, I love the new happier me, the new positive me, the new energetic me.”
Tracey, of Northampton, says she could eat anything she liked and not gain weight as a girl but ballooned after falling pregnant with her first child at 16.
“At my heaviest, I weighed 29st 6lb and everything was a struggle,” she said. “I had pains in my knees and ankles, I got out of breath easily and found it hard to walk from the front door to the car.
“I couldn’t even fit in the bath and couldn’t work. I felt useless.”
She vowed to slim after the school incident and a family holiday with husband Jason, 47, when she was forced to nurse her swollen ankles while the family had fun. Meanwhile, the idea that people can be “fat but fit” is a myth, according to a study of 3.5million Britons. Obesity increases the risk of heart disease by half, said the Institute of Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham.