Catching Covid convinced me to tackle my demons

Fiona Downing, 44, an autism adviser, lives with her police officer husband Steve, also 44, and their two children, Alex, 14, and Isabel, 10, in Chesham, Bucks

“As I approach my first Christmas since overcoming my comfort-eating habit, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

From cooking meals to entertaining relatives and going to social events, it can be a stressful time of year. In the past, I always used eating as a way of unwinding from a stressful day.

I’d get home from a difficult day at work and eat a whole family-sized bar of chocolate, a huge bag of crisps or a sharing bag of peanuts.

Often I’d eat them without realising how much I’d had, until my hand hit the bottom of the packet, or reached for the last square of chocolate.

Afterwards I’d feel sick with guilt at the thought of the amount of calories

I’d consumed, but end up doing the same each night.

It was a habit I’d developed when my two children were small, and it had become worse over time.

Then last year I had a hysterectomy and was off work for three months. I felt dreadful and ate to make myself feel better.

The more I ate the more my confidence plummeted, as I blamed myself for not having the discipline to stop eating, even though I wanted to.

I hit 15 stone, stopped wearing nice clothes, started living in a uniform of tracksuits and leggings and struggled with confidence when meeting new people because of my weight.

Then in December last year, my family and I got Covid and while they recovered well, I suffered badly.

I’ll never know for sure if it was because of my weight but it was the scare I needed to finally address my comfort eating.

I started using Noom, a weight- loss programme which uses cognitive behavioural therapy to tackle emotional eating. I learned stress was triggering my overeating and beating myself up afterwards only continued the cycle. I also learned that labelling foods as good and bad was making me feel worse. Slowly, I began undoing the habits of a lifetime and lost three stone.

Now when I feel stressed, instead of comforting myself with snacks, I go to a spin class or talk it out with my husband. I still treat myself to a little of what I fancy, but now I can enjoy a few squares of chocolate or an ordinary bag of crisps without going on to finish an entire sharing bag.

This Christmas, if I start to get overwhelmed with stress, I know I have ways to combat it without overeating, like going for a walk.

Instead of buying enormous tins of chocolates and a huge panettone, I’ve bought small ones so I can still have a little of the foods I enjoy without the overwhelming guilt of knowing I’ve eaten too much.

I’m hoping this will be our merriest Christmas yet.”

HABITS With Isabel before and, right, Fiona now