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MUSIC TEACHER’S AMAZING WEIGHT LOSS BEFORE 20ST 9LBS
Two years of hard work and dedication have paid off for Alison Gemmell, who feels happier and healthier after dropping half her body weight and getting to a trim size 10 so she could have fun with her daughter on antidepressants and I turned to food to comfort myself.” Huge platefuls of food and outsized portions of carbohydrates such as pasta, chips and rice made up 80 per cent of Alison’s daily food intake.
Add to this a love of sweeties, chocolate and takeaways and her weight soon ballooned. When it peaked at 20st 9lbs, she decided enough was enough.
Alison said: “My weight had always been too big a problem to consider taking on. I was always going to start eating healthy tomorrow and that just never happened.
“But once I’d got to the 20st mark, I knew that I had to try to become healthier for Isla’s sake and for Robert. I had to take better care of myself.”
Alison had also booked a holiday to Florida, which was just 14 months away, and she was determined not to be too big to fit on her seat on the aeroplane or on some of the Disney rides.
She started to attend a diet and weight-loss class in Shawlands called Glowfit, run by Glow instructor Patricia McCabe. And since then Alison has never looked back.
She said: “I went to Patricia’s class with the mindset of taking baby steps. Patricia was super-encouraging and we discussed that I should simply aim to lose a few pounds at a time.”
Alison set herself targets of losing half-a-stone at a time. By the two-month mark, she had lost a stone and gained the confidence to come off antidepressants.
By six months in, she had lost threeand-a-half stone. And nine months on, she had shed an incredible five stone.
When Alison’s Florida holiday rolled around, she was seven stone lighter.
She said: “This was a real achievement and my reward was to go and buy lots of lovely new clothes for my holiday.
“I remember saying to Robert on the plane, ‘Just look at the space I’ve got’. Looking back, I hadn’t been anywhere near 13st since I was a teenager.”
Since then, Alison has gone on to lose another three stone and she now tips the scales at 10st 5lbs.
She said the tricks from Patricia have turned her life around. She swapped a large dinner plate for a side plate, she reversed her carbohydrates so they made up less than a quarter of each meal and she label-checks all of her food so that everything she eats comes under the five per cent fat mark.
Alison then fills the rest of her plate with healthy protein and veg.
She exercises every day by walking, attending a fitness class or hula-hooping for an hour in front of the TV.
And she is part of a social media group called The Trim Team who egg each other on and share healthy recipes. Patricia, of Glowfit, said: “Alison looks amazing and she feels so much better.
“She is a great inspiration to anyone who needs to lose weight. I’m so proud of her.”
Alison added: “Going to Patricia’s class has changed my life and I will always go there once a week to keep me motivated.
“I’d hate to go back to the way I was. I can do everything I want with Isla and I exercise everyday because I enjoy it.
“I’ve recently completed two 10k runs with my sister and I never thought I would do anything like that. I never actually believed I could be a normal size.
“I’m not an absolute angel food-wise and I always look forward to a 100-calorie treat such as a Freddo bar in the evening with a cup of tea.
“If Robert is having a takeaway at the weekend, I’ll get a low-calorie curry from Sainsbury’s for me too.
“Even the kids at school have been amazed at the change in me – they’ve been really positive and encouraging.
“My husband says I’m like a wee dog, ‘a wee Jack Russell’ – always up and at ’em and in at every activity.
“I was happy before but I’m so much happier now.
“If I can do it anyone can.” WEIGHT DRESS SIZE