Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
I was too embarrassed to eat in the street or buy chocolate
Woman transforms her life after shedding seven stone in nine months ‘I wouldn’t have wanted to go into bridal shops knowing they wouldn’t have my size. I still go in now and look at plus size dresses, completely forgetting I’m no longer big’
An obese woman mistaken for being pregnant has shed an astonishing seven stone in just nine months.
Katie Phillips, who last year tipped the scales at more than 18 stone, was mortified when a child made the passing comment.
Now, more than a year later and significantly lighter, Miss Phillips, of New House Close in Canterbury, is organising her wedding and has launched a new career off the back of her incredible weight loss.
The 27-year-old – who dropped from a dress size 22 to a 12 – admitted she was at breaking point when at her heaviest.
“I was on a very high dose of anti-depressants and going through a very low time,” she said.
“I was a PA but I didn’t want to go to work. I realised a lot of my problems were coming from my weight. I was so unhappy with how I looked.
“I felt like I couldn’t eat anything walking down the street in case people thought I shouldn’t be eating and I thought twice about buying chocolate because of what the shop assistant might think.
“A child even asked her mum if I was pregnant.”
Miss Phillips said she had reached breaking point until her friend, who had lost 10 stone, told her about the Cambridge Weight Plan.
“I decided to give it a go but didn’t think it would work,”she said.
“But I lost five stone in five months and two more in the next few months. I started in March 2015 at 18st 4lbs and by December 2015 I was 11st 7lbs.
“Of course, my weight loss and time frame is particular to my journey and everyone’s weight loss is unique to them, but I was so impressed by it.
“I knew I wanted to do it as my career so I left my job and set up. I’m now an accredited weight loss consultant for the Cambridge Plan.”
Miss Phillips said she is getting married next year to her partner Gary Cogger, who runs Canterbury business Plateau Property Services, but would not have previously had the confidence to do so.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to go into bridal shops knowing they wouldn’t have my size,” she said. “I still go in now and look at plus size dresses, completely forgetting I’m no longer big.”
She said she now helps others by offering one-to-one support – even going so far as talking someone out of buying a Mcdonald’s.
“It’s a very personal service,” she said.
“People come to my house. I’m always on the phone giving advice. I’ve had to talk someone out of going to a Mcdonald’s Drive Thru before.”