you’ll never believe it: I partied myself thin – how Clubbercise classes helped one woman to shed the pounds
Amanda Bays, 39, explains how having fun can help you shift those poundsé
Dancing around in a darkened room I wave my glowsticks vigorously in the air. After a long, busy day, I have been looking forward to letting my hair down.
As the rave music blasts through the speakers, I pick up the pace and join the others as they move to the beat. I’ve even managed to work up a sweat. And yet, at 39 and a mum-of-three, you wouldn’t imagine me going raving three times a week. But then, things are not quite as they seem...
When I had my son Nathan in December 1995, aged 17, followed by Naomi in November 1998, I was too preoccupied with the children to go out clubbing with my friends.
Suffering a miscarriage two years later, losing the baby hit me and my partner Rob hard. I started comfort eating to mask my pain and gradually the waistband on my size 14 trousers began to get tighter and tighter.
Comfort eating
Between meals I’d snack on crisps and pasties and at lunch I’d eat half a stick of French bread. I grew from a size 14 to an 18, too large for my 5ft 5in frame. All the while, Rob and I never gave up hope of having another child and, in June 2013, I discovered I was expecting again.
But, at 10 weeks, I suffered an ectopic pregnancy, and once again I turned to food in my grief. But as I put on weight, I grew depressed. I’d barely leave the house, and in no time I’d reached 15st.
Then, to my surprise, I found out I was pregnant again. After all my heartache, I spent most of the pregnancy terrified, but Logan arrived, perfectly healthy, in January 2015. ‘I can’t believe he’s really here,’ I said to Rob, as I held Logan in my arms.
I was truly happy but carried on eating badly because it had become a habit. Between feeds, I’d nip to the bakery to buy sausage rolls and cream cakes. And on a Friday night I settled down with a film and a family-sized bag of chocolate.
By Christmas that year, I was 15st 2lb and a size 22 top and 20 bottom. We went to our local pub for a turkey dinner on the day. As I squeezed into my place round the table, I gazed at my family – Nathan, then 20, Naomi, 17, and Logan, 11 months – and something inside me clicked.
I was 37 years old and a proud mum-of-three, and yet here I was, almost too big to get round the pub table. How was I ever going to be an active mum with Logan as he got older, taking him for walks or teaching
‘Eating badly had become a habit’
him to swim? I’d loved doing it all with my other two, yet was it fair that my youngest would now miss out because I’d let myself get so big?
Light bulb moment
So I told Rob I was going to lose weight and, in February 2016, I signed up to my local Slimming World group. The meal plans suited me and in my first week I lost 9lb. After that I continued to
lose a few pounds each week. But I knew exercise was the only way I’d ensure my skin didn’t become loose and saggy. I’d never liked the idea of the gym, but that July I spotted an ad for a Clubbercise class, saying how you could lose weight dancing to rave music. It sounded like fun.
The class was held at my town hall and I went along in a baggy T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms. As the lights dimmed and the music started up, I found myself moving along to the beat. It was such fun I forgot I was exercising, and by the end of the hour, I was sweaty but smiling.
Soon I was going every week and then I upped my sessions to three times a week. I made new friends, learned fantastic dance moves and, most of all, I saw my body becoming leaner and stronger.
Within a month, I had lost a stone, and by December 2016, I’d dropped from my start weight of 15st 2lb to 9st 8lb. I’m now a size eight and happier, healthier and fitter.
I’m proof you don’t need to join a gym to lose weight. Whether it’s dancing at a Christmas party or out celebrating with friends – make the most of every opportunity to move your body. You will never believe what good it can be doing you!