RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Despite being surrounded by cake, Lynsey Gunn, 42, from Cwmbran, managed to shed over 4st.

Baking cakes for a living sounds like a recipe for disaster when it comes to keeping slim, but luckily, I don’t care for cake. I’ve never had a sweet tooth and apart from the odd taste of cake mix, I don’t indulge in treats.

Which is why I was horrified when I saw a picture of myself in my favourite polka-dot bikini looking absolutely huge.

In July 2015, me and my husband Mark, now 42, and our kids Jamie, now 23, and Holly, 15, were just back from a holiday in Turkey.

I was itching to upload our holiday snaps to social media.

But as I began to transfer the pictures from my phone to the laptop, I saw the shot that was to change my life.

Bulging out of the bikini, I had rolls of fat around my stomach and flabby arms.

‘There’s no way that’s going on Facebook,’ I said to Mark. I looked and felt so bloated. I knew that at 5ft 6in and a size 18, I was overweight.

But even this was a shock for me.

All my life, I’d been a trim size 10.

I’d never struggled with my weight and I’d never been on a diet.

As a child, I disliked cake, and instead of eating my Easter eggs, I’d arrange them in my bedroom like ornaments.

If someone gave me chocolates at Christmas, it would take me at least 18 months to eat them.

Being active also helped me keep the weight off.

Working as a carer in a nursing home and later in a shop stacking shelves meant that I was always on my feet.

But my lifestyle changed completely when I set up my own cake-making business, Sugar Flowers Cakes.

Despite not liking cake, I’d always loved baking, and after making a novelty cake for Jamie’s fifth birthday, friends and family asked me to make cakes for their kids’ parties as well.

Word spread and orders were soon flooding in.

I couldn’t cope with the demand while working full-time, so I quit my job to make cakes from home.

But that meant I was no longer moving around like before.

To prepare and decorate cakes, I’d stand still.

The furthest I walked was two metres from my kitchen counter to the oven.

Being so busy meant that I’d forget to eat, too.

I’d skip breakfast and lunch, surviving on five or six cups of coffee a day until dinner.

And after a long day of baking, I had no time to cook for the family.

Our dinner would end up being something from the freezer – chicken nuggets, chips, pizza, or sausage rolls. I also loved nothing more than sitting down with a can of lager to

unwind after a long day.

At weekends, Mark and I would order in takeaways as a treat after a hard week at work.

Chinese or pizza, with a few cans of lager, became a habit every Friday and Saturday night.

I was definitely in denial, hiding my weight gain under increasingly bigger clothes.

Until that bikini photo shocked me into action.

‘I have to do something about my weight,’ I said to Mark.

Determined not to let things get out of hand, I signed up to Slimming World.

A friend had lost a stone and a half by following their healthy eating plan. But I was nervous. My first Slimming World group felt quite overwhelming – I was 14st 3lb and was told about ‘free’ foods and ‘syns’ – there was so much to take in.

But my consultant was very helpful and took me through everything step by step. It was so encouraging. When I got home from my first group, I decided to clear out all fast foods from the freezer, giving myself no choice but to cook fresh meals for me and my family.

Cooking every day alongside baking was a challenge at first, but the key was to plan ahead.

Every Saturday, I’d pick a menu for the next week, and using Slimming World recipes, I made Chinese dishes, pies, cheeseburgers, healthy stews, spaghetti Bolognese – the possibilities were endless.

Soon, I began to put my own spin on the recipes and challenged myself to make meals that were more flavoursome. I also started eating three meals a day for the first time in years.

It took me a while to get used to eating regularly, but even if I was rushed off my feet baking, I made sure I stopped every few hours to eat something.

In the first week, I lost 2.5lb, and over the next 11 months, I lost a few pounds every week until I reached my target weight of 10st 2.5lb.

‘You’re doing brilliantly, we’re so proud of you,’ the kids told me.

My family was my biggest inspiration.

Losing those first few pounds encouraged me to start running, too. I gradually built myself up until I was hitting 3km, then 5km. I even ran 5km for charity! By continuing to eat healthily and exercise, I shed even more weight, and now I weigh 9st 9lb and wear size 8 clothes!

Now, at 42, I can even wear shorts or a fitted skirt.

And I’m really looking forward to showing off my new figure in a bikini on our next holiday – and then proudly posting the pictures of myself on social media.

But more than anything, I’m so happy I’ve made Mark, Jamie and Holly so proud – that really is the icing on the cake!