Real Life How I lost 5st
Hayley Adams proves that if you want to lose weight, determination and hard work really do pay off
It was the photo from my holiday in Australia in 2020 that did it for me. There I was, standing next to my 23-year-old niece – and she was half my size. I was enormous and my huge arms and neck left me cringing with shame. That’s when I knew I had to do something about my weight.
It had been a long time coming. I’d always been on the big side. Growing up, I enjoyed tucking into home-cooked meals and puddings every night made by my gran – jam roly-poly, rice pudding, crumble – they were all delicious and I often had seconds.
Bad habits
Luckily I was quite an active child, always out on my bike or walking to school. But when I left school at 16 and started working in telecoms, I bought myself a moped and gradually I became a lot less active. A size 14, I was happy though, and my weight never really bothered me.
Then, when I was 17, I was diagnosed with juvenile type 1 diabetes. To begin with, as I learnt to cope with the insulin injections, I cut back on how much sugar
I was eating. But as
I began to manage my diabetes better, my diet soon returned to normal.
Over the next few years my eating habits got worse – cakes and puddings were my weakness.
In 1997 I had my son, Kieran, but being a single parent wasn’t easy. With all of my time and energy spent on being the best mum that I could be, looking after my own health fell by the wayside. For quickness and ease, when Kieran was asleep, I’d make myself a microwave meal for one.
When Kieran was four, I started working as a teaching assistant in a local school. I loved the job, but the staffroom was always full of treats such as biscuits and cakes, and at break times I just didn’t have the willpower to resist whenever anything was offered around.
Over the years, my weight crept up and by the time I met Kevin in 2003, I was a size 16. Still, I was happy and
Kevin loved me no matter what my size. Content, I enjoyed meals out with him and we often shared a packet of biscuits together on the sofa. When we got married in 2004, I had gone up to a size 18.
Still, I convinced myself that I was happy and tried not to let my weight worry me.
Though, a year later, I started to feel unwell. I suffered from heart palpitations and developed strange lumps on my legs. After tests I was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid and had to have my thyroid removed. It was a difficult operation, and over the next few months my neck was so
sore I had to take painkillers every day. While I recovered I became even less active, struggling to walk very far without getting out of breath, and my weight just crept up even more. For the first time, I started to feel really unhappy with what I saw in the mirror. Covered up in dark, drab clothes, I felt miserable and I realised I wasn’t happy with my size at all. A friend at the school where I worked mentioned that she went to WW (formerly Weight Watchers) so I decided to give it a go too. I joined my local group and was shocked to discover I weighed 14st 7lb. I was determined to make a change though, so I stuck to the meal plans and in just a few months I was thrilled to lose 2st 7lb. I decided to stop going to the WW groups, happy with the weight I’d reached. But it was a mistake, because I lost focus, and slowly old habits started to return. As years passed, I gave in to temptation – having too many takeaways and saying yes to too many biscuits in the staffroom. By now, Kieran had grown up and didn’t need me as much. So I couldn’t make the excuse any more that I was too busy to cook healthily. But still, I always found reasons to eat whatever I wanted. ‘You only live once,’ I kept saying. All the weight I’d worked so hard to lose through WW piled back on. At the beginning of 2020, Kevin and I went on a biannual trip to Australia to visit family and friends. By now I was the biggest I’d ever been – a size 22 and 15st 7lb. But it wasn’t until I posed for a picture with my niece at my cousin’s house, and looked at the image on my phone later, that it dawned on me just how unhealthy I’d become.
I looked huge next to my size 8 niece and as I scrutinised every roll of fat, I just wanted to cry. I couldn’t believe that I’d let myself get so big.
It was the awakening I desperately needed though, because as soon as we got home,
‘IT WAS THE AWAKENING I NEEDED’
I joined WW again – and this time I was determined to stick to it.
As the country plummeted into lockdown shortly after, I was worried that I’d lose motivation. But instead of going to the groups each week, I joined the online workshops, which really helped. The WW community was such an enormous support.
Because I was classed as vulnerable, Kieran did the weekly food shop, which meant I wasn’t tempted by treats in the supermarket, and being off work, I had lots of time to plan and cook healthy meals. By June I’d lost the 2st 7lb I’d planned to lose and I was so thrilled I decided to carry on.
Whole new wardrobe
Over the next few months, more weight slowly came off and I had so much more energy. I was able to walk our Corgi-jack Russell cross rescue dog, Soda, every day and do online Zumba classes five times a week. The best part though, was that I had to ditch my drab wardrobe and buy new, smaller clothes, and for the first time in years I proudly showed off my figure in bright dresses and fitted tops.
It took just over a year but finally, in April this year, I hit my target of losing 5st. I’m now 10st 7lb and I feel like a new woman – I haven’t been this small since I was 14 years old!
Now, when I catch sight of myself, I’m so proud of everything I’ve achieved. Losing weight in my 40s wasn’t easy but I’ve come so far. I’ll never be that woman in the photo again.
✱ For more information, go to ww.com