Six months from death, now 13st slimmer
A MUM of four, who just over two years ago was so obese she was unable to walk unaided, has proved such an inspiration to other overweight women she now runs two slimming classes a week.
Carol Ann Curley, from Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, is convinced she wouldn’t be alive today had she not visited her doctor in late 2013, after her weight had ballooned to 24 stone.
After being told she had a number of serious health issues – including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and failing kidneys – she knew she had little option but to quickly transform her lifestyle to save her life.
In February last year – 15 months after signing up to her local Unislim class – she was crowned ‘Most Inspirational Unislimmer of the Year’, after shedding an incredible 13st and 4lbs. Last September, the 49-year-old grandmother of two decided to help other overweight people
learn the secrets of fighting the flab by training to become a leader and opening up a slimming class in nearby Ashford. But her weekly slimming session proved so popular throughout Co. Wicklow, that Carol Ann has decided to open up a second weekly class to cater for the huge demand.
She said: ‘Things have gone really well with the classes and the numbers are so big now that I’ve just started a second class. People have been coming in their droves, and I think I have well over 100 people now on my books.’
Confident Carol Ann, who has maintained her trim 10st 10lbs figure with a healthy diet and regular exercise, said her new-found positivity and happiness couldn’t be more different to the dark days when she was chronically obese and so paranoid about how people viewed her. She said: ‘I’ve no doubt that if I hadn’t done anything about my weight, I’d have been dead within six months.’