Loss of weight has given me my life back
VICKY Day makes cakes for a living – and her husband makes biscuits – but with willpower and determination she has lost five and a half stone.
The mum-of-two from Stockport says her weight loss has ‘given her life back’
Vicky, 40, said she is now able to enjoy her life with her two young daughters and husband Andrew.
At her heaviest, Vicky topped 15 and a half stone, wearing a dress size 20. She hated looking in mirrors and rarely had photos taken with her daughters Charlotte, six, and Emily three.
Now, having slimmed down with a healthy diet plan and fitness programme with the Stockport-based Lean Body Project, she is getting to enjoy her figure and can’t stop taking selfies with her daughters.
Vicky, who is 5ft 3, now weighs 10 stone and wears a size 10.
She runs her successful Queen of Cakes business from her home in Reddish.
Making extra cupcakes to snack on and licking the spoon at the end of bakes saw Vicky’s weight creep up – while husband Andrew, who makes Jaffa Cakes at the McVities factory in Stockport, would regularly bring sweet treats home.
Vicky said: “I’d overbake a few cupcakes and eat them, it is hard having cakes and chocolates around you all day and licking your fingers, it’s difficult because you just don’t think what you’re eating! It’s all about changing your mindset.
“You can easily eat an extra 1,000 calories a day without thinking about it.”
With Vicky’s 40th birthday approaching, she finally decided she had to tackle her weight.
“I was about to turn 40, but I’d not got one picture of me with my children because I hated the way I looked, I wanted to get healthy and enjoy my kids, I felt like I couldn’t do anything with them,” she said.
“After two pregnancies I’d just got lethargic.
“Because I was turning 40, my sister put me into a competition and I won a month to do personal training at Lean Body PT.
“I was out of breath after two minutes. But I stuck with it, and working out with a group of all women was incredibly supportive.”
The next thing was for Vicky to tackle her bad eating habits. Before starting her cake business Vicky had worked in the NHS and had got into the habit of starving herself all day at work and living off Diet Cokes, then bingeing on a big takeaway every night when she got home.
But her trainers at the gym advised Vicky on meal preparation, and she now eats five small meals throughout the day to keep her energy stable and not get hungry.
“Before, I wouldn’t eat anything all day, I would be absolutely starving, picking at the children’s meals, and then I’d live off a takeaway. It would be a different one every night, chips, McDonalds, Chinese, there wasn’t a limit to what I’d eat and I’d eat the same portion as a man would eat.
“Now I have five small meals a day - two eggs in the morning, protein shake and banana, lean turkey mince with vegetables, tuna wrap and salad, and stir fry with mincemeat and I’m never hungry.”
When she hit her 10 stone target, Vicky’s gym organised a glamorous photo shoot to show her just how far she had come.
Vicky said: “Doing the photo shoot was a massive thing for me as I’d always go and hide from the camera, but now I instigate having pictures taken with me, and I have loads of pictures up in my house with my children.
“I’ve been overweight all my life, I’ve been big all my life, even though I was healthy at school I’ve always been the fattest in my group and now I’m the smallest.
“It feels like I’ve got my life back, I don’t dread going out with friends, I can pick anything out of my wardrobe to wear, I can just go out on the beach and run with my girls, I don’t have to worry that I’m hiding something. Without being overdramatic it’s given me a life.”
Now, Vicky makes sure she doesn’t over-bake on her cake orders, but still has the occasional treat, and her goal now is to keep exercising to tone up her ‘mummy tummy.’
Damien Coates from Lean Body Project, based in Stockport town centre, said Vicky was a shining example of what hard work and dedication can achieve.
He said: “Our typical clients are busy women, who have previously struggled to get results or know what to do. Vicky is a great example of someone who is really busy with work and family but has still trained three times a week – and it has reaped the rewards.”