I SHED 10 STONE AFTER HOLIDAY NIGHTMARE E
TIPPING the scales at almost 20st, mortified Karen Hume vowed she’d never go on holiday again when she had to ask cabin crew for a seatbelt extender on the plane to Majorca.
Red-faced and feeling ashamed at how big she’d become, she spent the entire two-week break dreading the journey home – because she knew she’d have to go through the same embarrassment again.
Today, it’s a different story. After shedding an amazing 10st 8lb with Slimming World and going from a size 26 to an eight, travel is exciting again, not something she fears.
And a dream cruise halfway through her weight loss journey has whetted her appetite for more slimline holidays to come.
Karen, 46, said: “I didn’t even know you could get an extender for a seatbelt until I was in the position of needing one.
“I thought there was something wrong with my belt at first because it wouldn’t meet.
“Did I have one that was shorter than everyone else’s? Then my sister-in- law, who I was travelling with, politely pointed out that I’d need to ask for an extender. I was so ashamed. Particularly since I was sitting next to my son Nathan, who was 15 at the time, and I felt I’d really embarrassed him. I’d embarrassed myself.”
With a catalogue of health problems due to her weight, including sore joints and being dependent on an inhaler because of asthma, Karen didn’t even feel relief when she landed in her resort.
Feeling overweight and uncomfortable in the heat, she hid herself away at a secluded cove beside her hotel while her family members went off exploring.
She added: “I couldn’t walk round the corner without getting out of breath. It was on that trip I decided I’d rather just not go on holiday ever again rather than putting myself through that.”
For eight years, Karen, who works at a pharmacy near her home in Slateford, Edinburgh, stayed true to her word. But in January 2016, when her sister-in-law invited her to go on a dream Greek Island cruise, she desperately wanted to go.
The only way she’d contemplate it was to lose weight and she joined her local Slimming World group that month.
With a 6.5lb loss in her first week, Karen was delighted to find an eating plan she truly enjoyed.
She added: “I realised just how
poor my diet had been. I ate virtually no fruit or vegetables but when I was shown how I could be creative with them in cooking to add flavour and try new things, I realised how much I could actually enjoy healthy cooking.” Karen reckons she’d been using junk food as an emotional crutch. After getting through a breakfast of four slices of toast then lunch of sausage rolls or burger and chips and a convenience microwave dinner, she’d slope off to bed early with a 24 multipack of crisps. She explained: “I was so utterly miserable – I had no life – and my only consolation was food. I’d shut myself away with the crisps, empty them all into a massive bowl and then hide them under the covers so my son in the room next door couldn’t hear me eating them. I went on like that night after night. “After I lost the weight, my son confided in me that he was afraid he’d lose me, that I was killing myself. He was absolutely right because that’s what I was doing.”
Karen’s job, delivering medicines to pharmacy patients, was all about looking after the welfare of others but she was well aware she wasn’t T looking after herself. otally committed to her new eating plan, she managed to shed an amazing 5st in nine months by the time her cruise came around and she felt fantastic.
She recalled: “Losing 5st took me down to a size 16 to 18 and for the first time, I could see that a smaller target weight might just be within my reach.
“I wore tankinis and bought some lovely dresses for night time and began to feel feminine for the first time in decades.
“I’d always been big, had always hidden myself away in baggy skirts and tops.
“I remember setting off on that holiday. We had to fly to Venice to meet the cruise ship and when I sat on the plane and managed to do up the seatbelt with room to spare, I actually burst into tears. I took a picture and sent it to my Slimming World consultant, I was so happy.
“I felt for the first time that all my efforts were making a real difference.”
Karen enjoyed the amazing food on her cruise and then came back to her Slimming World group when she got home to get back to her healthy eating plan.
Karen does all the cooking at home for herself and Nathan, now 24. Although she enjoys meat, Nathan prefers mainly vegetarian meals so she adds a lot of Quorn and meat substitutes to their meals.
A favourite is Cajun pasta, which is made with lots of veggies, Cajun spices, and low-fat cream cheese.
Karen also makes healthy “wraps” by cooking a super-thin omelette, allowing it to cool, and then using it in the same way as a tortilla – with lots of tasty fillings.
With her sheer determination, backed up by the support and encouragement of her Slimming World Consultant and fellow members, she hit her target in November this year – 8st 12lb in contrast to her starting weight of 19st 6lb – perfect for her 5ft 2.5in height.
Karen added: “I think as well as the physical difference in me, there’s
a massive mental difference too. I’ve got so much more confidence and I don’t feel ashamed any more. I’m far more outgoing and will try new things and meet new people.
“I’d never have done that before. I’d just go out to work, then shut myself away at home all night, just watching TV on the sofa all day on my days off.
“Now I go out much more and I really enjoy exercising. I go hillwalking whenever I can and on my days off I walk my dog in the Pentland Hills, it’s so beautiful.
“The doctor says my asthma has all but disappeared and I haven’t needed my inhaler for 18 months.
“Work is so much easier because I can get up and down stairs with no problem on my deliveries instead of having to stop at every flight before to take a puff on my inhaler.”
Single for 18 years, Karen is also now open the idea of meeting a new partner. She added: “I’d never have considered the idea of putting myself ‘out there’ again, but for the first time in years it feels like a possibility again and that’s exciting.
“Slimming World hasn’t just changed my life, it’s given me a life.”