Ever since I can remember I was always the biggest child that wanted to play sports but I wouldn’t in case I could not run or someone would say something. My friends were always smaller. I know now that I was not as big as I had convinced myself I was. As a teenager I was 9 ½ stone but still bigger than my group of friends. I think that’s where it all started. I’d eat the same “rubbish” as them but I also started eating extra. At home it was always good home cooked dinners.

I was a young mum, happy with my partner and would have eaten all of my meals during the day only to be followed at night, lots of nights, with a take-away. The weight started to pile on and kept piling on and sure why wouldn’t it because I kept on eating.

I would make attempts at trying to lose it but I did not do it correctly, or keep with it for very long, and I would end up piling on even more weight each time.

It seems like I spent my entire 20’s “dieting” but getting bigger. At that stage I had 2 sons who love all sports and I could only watch because if I tried to play I would have to stop for being out of breath. I promised myself that by the time I was 30 I was not going to be BIG. Then I was pregnant again and this time twin girls arrived. As you can imagine, my routine was all about the children and I’d eat at any time, any place, grab and go food like crisps, sweets, the kids left-overs, you name it, I’d eat it. I even got to the stage where driving was uncomfortable. I would let my car seat back as far as it would go and still my stomach was up against the steering wheel.

2 years ago, this coming Christmas, I was shopping with a friend and went to ask the assistant had she got a smaller size – for my friend. Her reply to me was “sorry love, they don’t come in your size, they only go up to size 16”. I will remember that day forever. I nearly died of embarrassment in front of people I did not even know. I wish the ground would swallow me up. I walked back to the dressing room and told my friend what had happened and I promised there and then that I would be back here, in this shop, next year and that range will fit me and I hope that assistant still works there.

Christmas last year, I did just that and this time I was not asking for my friend or looking for the biggest size, I was asking for me. It was the greatest feeling ever to ask for a size 12.

I have achieved these fantastic results with the help of Unislim and learning how to eat normal food in normal amounts that my whole family could eat and without even noticing it was healthy for everyone. It became so familiar it just became a part of my life, without having to keep thinking about food all of the time. I never felt the need to go on my binges, which could last for weeks; because I was never hungry and I learned how to include all of the foods I like, without having to eat them all at once. As I write this I cant believe the changes I have made, its almost like I am talking about some other person who had all of these bad habits, it all just seems so far removed from the person I am today.

I would work my treat units into my weekly allowance, earning my units to spend on treats. My children loved walking with me and it allowed us to spend quality time together. While I was exercising and earning extra units I was also teaching my children about healthy living.

The weight came off gradually, every week 1lb here, ½ lb there and I was feeling great. It’s amazing how it all adds up.

I could tell you so many stories of my “FAT” life. On one occasion one of my sons was going down a water slide with his friends and his mum said that it was best if I wait at the bottom because I would get stuck in it!! Even though we all laughed at the time about it, it cut me straight through the heart – because she was probably right.

This year I brought them on holiday and I can tell you there was no stopping me. I went on all the rides, all the slides. I went swimming in SWIMWEAR – can you believe it?

The best thing I ever did was kept at Unislim. I don’t miss weeks, even when I know that I have not had a great week. Plenty of times I felt like giving up but then I’d receive a text from Anne, or a letter to say that she is not giving up on me, so then I’d decide – well then I’m not giving up either. I really believe that I got down all of this weight with the help of my Unislim class and my Class Leader, Anne Dixon, who was always there at the end of a phone and never made me feel that I couldn’t do it.

My life has really changed. People who know me, but have not seen me for a while, don’t recognise me at first. They walk right on past me. When they realise it’s me they think I must have taken some sort of miracle pill, or that the weight just fell off me overnight. Well that is not the case; it has taken me almost 2 years to be the person I always wanted to be.

My leader says it has taken 20 years off me and will often comment on how well I look. I love dressing up in trendy clothes and feeling good about myself.

I am almost at my target weight now. I know I will get there. I have set myself a target to be at that for the competition. Anne said to me that I am a winner already, only one finalist gets the title but everyone there walks away in their slim body – each and every one of them winners.

It would be difficult for me to tell you what the best part of it is – it’s ALL of it. Everything is good but probably the best part for me is that I can now do things with my children.

I will say to anyone now that I speak to that Unislim will work for you. Trust your leader, let her help you and never give up on yourself.

I am now living the life of a young mum, as I should be

I’m living it and loving it.