30st mum to fitness freak
Our weekly showcase of the wonderful world that is Truly. This issue, April Wood tells us about the moment that made her change everything
Sitting with her daughter Chloe, April Wood, 39, is beaming. ‘Do you want to see the video that made me start changing my life? Start losing weight?’ she asks. ‘Sure,’ Chloe grins back. Cuddling up, the pair then watch a mobile-phone video of little Chloe taking her first steps.
Only, it’s April’s mum holding her hands as she takes some of her first steps – because April can’t even get up from the sofa. She’d been obese most of her life and, at over 31st, she was simply too big to heave herself up. April says, ‘Probably around the age of 12 is when I started to go into the obese weight category. ‘I started high school weighing 200-250lb [14-18st], and when
I was done with high school, I probably weighed 300350lb [21-25st].
‘It was high-calorie foods throughout the day, and it just made the weight keep coming on.
‘Then when I was at my heaviest, I weighed 440lb [31st 6lb].’
April struggled with constant fatigue, which prevented her from being able to play with her two kids.
But the wake-up call came when she desperately yearned to be the one helping Chloe to toddle.
‘My daughter Chloe was just learning to walk,’ she says.
‘My mum was holding her hands, walking her a little bit, and I wanted to stand up and go to her, but it was just too hard to get up, I weighed so much. ‘That was the catalyst moment that got me off the couch – metaphorically and physically – and I knew the only way I was going to be able to move my body was if I made it move,’ says April. Determined to make a change, April started working out and eating healthily, and quickly began shedding pound after pound. And things really took an upturn when she met personal trainer and gym owner Matt Hoodie. ‘I lost 280lb [20st]. At my lowest, I weighed 160lb [11st 6lb]. ‘Matt has been my trainer for a very long time. He’s been instrumental in me getting to my weightloss goal.
‘Matt himself has lost 130lb [9st 4lb], so he understands the mental and physical effort that’s required for somebody who has a lot to go.’
However, losing all the excess weight did have a downside.
April says, ‘After I had successfully lost all the weight, I had a significant amount of excess skin.
‘I worked so hard for the body I wanted, but the excess skin was there.
‘It was a scar of the battle that
I had won.
‘I had two skin-removal surgeries. Then they gave me breast implants because I lost all my boobage to the fitness gods along the journey.
‘I had my third child four months ago, and now I’m battling to get back to the shape I was before him.
‘Fitness is one of
‘I lost all my boobage to the fitness gods along the journey!’
the most important things to me now. Not only did it change my life, it literally saved my life.’
However, April says maintaining her goal weight is almost harder than losing the excess weight in the first place.
‘When you are losing, you have the pay-off of seeing the scales, watching the weight going down.
‘But when you’re maintaining, there’s no jackpot like that.
‘It’s a different kind of mindset.
‘And the only way of taking care of yourself is giving your body good nutrition, giving your body exercise. So if you put yourself as a priority, you can make that happen.’
And April has three very good reasons to keep going with all the hard work
– her kids.
She adds, ‘My children are my biggest weight-loss inspiration of all.
‘I don’t want to get back to being overweight because then it’ll hamper me from being able to play with my kids.’