Lard of the dance!
Back in herdancing shoes, edel Quigley, , 32, from co roscommon, went from pigging out to jigging out…
Chasing after my son Alex as he sprinted towards the playground,
I had to stop to catch my breath. ‘Hang on!’ I panted. Alex, then 2, was already climbing the slide by the time I caught up with him.
Panting, I watched as he whooshed down.
Alex had so much energy, I just couldn’t keep up.
Truth is, there was more to it than that – a fat load more!
See, a size-26, I was the biggest I’d ever been.
Over the years, I’d been in denial about my size.
When I’d met my fiance Francis in 2003, I’d been a slim size-12.
But you know how it is with relationships – cosy nights in with takeaways and wine.
Francis could eat what he liked without gaining weight. Yet I piled on enough for the both of us!
Then, when I was 21 and Francis was 23, we got engaged.
But before we could start wedding plans, in 2010,
I found out I was pregnant.
And that just gave me another excuse to eat more.
By the time Alex was born in July 2011, I’d reached a size-26. And I carried on pigging out. Fast food such as burgers, pizza, fish and chips…
Now, watching other mums
running in the playground with their tots, I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.
Poor Alex was playing all by himself while his mummy could only watch on, red in the face and exhausted.
In that moment it hit me.
Enough is enough, I thought. So the next week, in 2013, I joined Weight Watchers.
I’d tried diets over the years and had never stuck to them. Will this time be different?
At the weigh-in, I couldn’t look anyone in the eye as I made my way to the scales.
I took a deep breath, trying to suck everything in.
But there was no hiding my wobbly bits.
‘You’re 18st 7lb,’ the group leader, Trisha Maher, told me.
I felt my cheeks burning up with shame.
But it definitely gave me the push that I needed.
‘No more takeaways for me,’ I told Francis that night.
He loved me whatever my size, but was so supportive.
Over the next few months I was strict with myself.
Fatty fast food was swapped for Weight Watchers meals such as lasagne.
It was really tough – but,
eight months on, I’d shed 2st 7lb.
I wanted to lose more, so needed to up my game. But I found the repetitive machines in the gym boring.
When I was a kid, I’d been an avid Irish dancer. I’d loved jigging on the stage, with my legs flying up and down.
I’d hung up my shoes at 17 to focus on my exams and career.
But now I wondered if I still had it in me to dance.
In 2014, I contacted an Irish dance teacher Brian Geraghty, on Facebook, and he invited me to a class the following week. So I went along...
By now I was 16st and still overweight – Lard of the Dance, you could say!
When I told Brian I hadn’t danced in years, he agreed to take things slowly.
I was less graceful than before, my feet thudding to the floor like an elephant.
My thighs wobbled as I kicked my legs and my belly jiggled as I jumped about.
By the end, I was sweating buckets – but I felt fantastic.
The class had reignited my passion for dancing, so I continued going.
As I flew across the floor, the weight literally flew off!
My fitness levels improved, so I started at boot camp run by a lovely woman called Sinead, pushing myself even harder. I even ran two marathons! Soon, I’d gone down to a size -14 and then a size-12…
I even took part in competitions, performing Irish dance in the traditional tights and short skirts.
But far from feeling like a dressed-up hippo, for the first time ever I felt elegant.
And, to my surprise, I even came first in a few of the competitions that I entered.
So it seemed that all the dancing definitely paid off.
By 2016, I’d lost a whopping 9st, slimming down to a size-8.
I’d lost so much weight that my engagement ring had to be resized not once but twice.
Then in September 2016, I came home to find Francis and Alex looking a little bit sheepish in the kitchen.
‘What are you two up to?’ I asked suspiciously.
‘Mummy,’ Alex began… ‘Will you marry Daddy?’
Then Francis held out a brand-new engagement ring. I agreed, of course! Only this time, we started making plans right then!
The wedding is in August this year and I can’t wait to go dress shopping.
A few years ago, the thought of trying to squeeze my bum into a gown terrified me.
Now, though, I still can’t believe that I managed to jig off 9st!
Now nothing can stop my dancing feet…