‘My patients thought I was having a baby’ HANNAH’S MUM TUM ‘SHAMING’
AN NHS worker who was asked if she was “expecting” when wearing her scrubs has lost more than seven stone.
Hannah Stewart, 42, was mortified when a patient noticed her tummy bulging out of her XXL, size 24 outfit. She had piled on pounds eating convenience food while balancing her job with being a mum of two.
And Hannah hit 21st as she chomped on cereal, crisps, biscuits and butter. But three years later, after overhauling her diet, Hannah is now 13st 9lb and slips into a slender size 12.
The senior clinical photographer said: “My patients used to ask me if I was pregnant and when the baby was due. I used to laugh it off, but deep down I was mortified. “I’d say, ‘No, I’m just fat’ but it made me feel awful.
“I had to wear scrubs a lot at work and I always had to get an XXL. When I got really big, my rolls were spilling out of the largest size. It made me cry. “Sometimes there wouldn’t be any [XXLs] and I would have to squeeze into a smaller size. It was horrendous.” She added: “Inside it was crushing, and mentally it would really upset me”. Hannah wanted to get fitter for daughters Evie, 12, and Lottie, eight, so in May 2017 she joined Slimming World to shift the weight.
Hannah, from Birmingham, continued: “I didn’t realise how big I was getting, but before I knew it I was 21 stone and in denial.
“I had chest infections that exacerbated my asthma, and sleep apnoea because of my weight, so I wasn’t sleeping.
“I hurt everywhere and I just thought, ‘Enough is enough. I need to be healthy for my children.’”
Hannah loved her new diet and began Pilates and walking. The weight soon dropped off.
She added: “I used to struggle to even walk to the front of the hospital from my car. I feel great now.
“Now I can slip into size medium scrubs – and thankfully no patients or colleagues are mistaking me as pregnant anymore.”