Losing 12 inches off my waist is something to Celebrate
Nurse piled on pounds from too many thank-you boxes of chocs. Now she’s dropped 5 dress sizes and can wear her friend’s daughter’s hand-me-downs
A NURSE dropped from a size 16 to a size six in less than a year – and is now wearing party dress hand-me-downs from her friend’s 21-year-old daughter.
Lorraine Fyfe, 38, from Port Glasgow, lost 12 inches off her waist after committing to slimming when she feared she might become diabetic. The mum of one piled on the pounds when she started working at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and grateful families would leave boxes of Celebrations for staff. She said: “People are always handing in chocolates. I was always on my feet so I used that as an excuse not to go to the gym.” In 2005, when she started her nurse training, Lorraine was a size six. She recalls how a senior nurse joked, “You’ll be a 14 soon”, when scrubs were handed out. Lorraine gained weight after having her son, now seven, and while she and husband David, 42, promised each other they’d cut down on takeaways, they were still ordering fast food a couple of times a week. Lorraine came to accept her 38in waist but felt humiliated when she bought a glam dress for a wedding and David was unable to yank the zip closed.
In November 2019, she joined Slimming World after three of her close friends took steps to get in better shape.
She also started working out with a personal trainer – and she got into cooking from scratch, while the family are restricting takeaways to only one a month.
Lorraine had aimed to become a size 10 but pushed herself to keep going – and is now as slim as she was 16 years ago. When she started, she weighed 10st 13lb but now tips the scales at just 7st 6lb and has a 26in waist.
She now loves dressing up for Saturday nights with her musician husband.
Lorraine said: “I just feel like it’s a new me. I would have never thought of wearing anything figure hugging but I was given a bag of clothes by my friend’s daughter and I think they look nice on me.
“In old photos I am smiling in them but I don’t feel like I look happy. Now it feels like it’s easier to smile.”