HALF THE WEIGHT TWICE AS HAPPY
As her milestone birthday approached, Rachal Collins, 41, knew she had to change
Standing in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection, I couldn’t help feeling sad. Taking in my 5ft 9in and 21st 7lb bulk, I made a vow. ‘I won’t look like this at 40,’ I promised. At 37, I’d spent most of my life using food as a crutch. By the time I was 11, I already looked much older than my classmates thanks to my bigger build, and was bullied for my height as well as my size. ‘Fatty!’ they’d taunt as I walked down the corridor.
Although I stood up to the bullies and pretended I wasn’t bothered, I scurried home after school and headed straight to the biscuit tin – and then popped into my nan’s house over the road and did the same.
Food became my source of comfort, and living over the road from a shop made it extremely easy to stuff myself with sweets, crisps and chocolates.
As I hit my teens, I continued piling on the pounds. But I adopted a feisty facade around my weight. ‘It’s my body and I can do what I want,’ I’d tell everyone as I ignored my growing waistline.
In my 20s, I dabbled in different diets but nothing stuck. I’d lose a few pounds, then pile them back on. But in 2012, my mum Carol, then 62, was involved in an accident.
WAKE-UP CALL
Hit by a car while crossing the road, she was left with a serious back injury and other mobility issues. Overnight, I became Mum’s carer, giving up my job as a beautician to look after her.
Caring for Mum was hard, but we muddled through. And then, in 2013, another tragedy struck. My beloved dad Daniel died at just 59, from kidney cancer. Between caring for Mum and grieving for Dad, food was how I coped. Sweets, chocolate, crisps, and junk food for lunch, all washed down with litres of diet cola, and my waistline expanded even more.
Then, at the beginning of January 2018, at 37, I had my epiphany. I wanted to wake up on my 40th birthday trim and healthy.
I wasn’t going to do it for anyone else – I was happy being single – so this was all going to be for me.
And by the second week of January, I had signed up to my local WW group. Nervous at first, I almost talked myself out of going, but I reminded myself that we were all there for the same reason.
Determined to lose 2st, I began sticking to the points system, allowing myself 43 points per day. A square of chocolate here and there, and a glass of wine at the weekend, it taught me to enjoy things in moderation and cut down my portion sizes.
And within a few months, I’d hit my 2st target. That gave me the motivation I needed to carry on, and now four years later I’ve lost 10 stone! I’m now 11st 7lb, a trim size 14, and I feel fantastic. Sometimes, I pull out my old size 24 tops, just so I can appreciate how far I’ve come.
I’ve basically lost the equivalent of a whole person – and found myself in the process.
‘FOOD BECAME MY COMFORT’