A 19-stone woman who was left feeling ashamed after she could not buckle her seatbelt on a plane shed a whopping seven-stone - dropping seven dress sizes in the process.
Gemma Naughton, 37, said she spent years trying to lose weight, and undertook all kinds of diets - but nothing seemed to stick.
At her heaviest, Gemma revealed that she weighed almost 29 stone, and even had to wear a seatbelt extender whenever she travelled by plane, report Manchester Evening News.
Feeling mortified by this, she plucked up the courage and joined her local gym. She started classes with a personal trainer, and eventually it paid off as she went on to shed an incredible seven stone.
She recalled the beginnings of her weight loss journey, saying that she started off with a simple programme that was targeted at focusing on her increase her calories to help her fuel her new training plan.
Following this, the 37-year-old started doing 7,500 steps a day, and trained at Absolute Body Solutions twice a week.
And despite having no previous gym experience, Gemma, from Newton-le-Willows, south of Wigan, in Manchester, began to lose weight drastically. In fact, she went from a size 26 to a size 12 in a short period of time.
Speaking about how hard it was to get into the routine at first, Gemma said: "Before I didn't do anything - no exercise, no fitness.
“If I went for a walk I would get out of breath really quickly, It was just uncomfortable and I didn't want to do it."
She continued: “I decided to start some sessions with Connor after I saw the incredible results that my mum had achieved. From day one I absolutely loved it, from the atmosphere in the gym to the total support I got in and out of the gym. It was the best decision I ever made to start my weight loss journey with Connor."
And when Gemma's weight loss began to plateau, her personal trainer changed up the plan by increasing her steps instead of reducing her calorie intake. And once she was hitting her new 10,000 step goal, on top of her training, Gemma's weight began to drop again.
Throughout the rest of the programme, Connor consistently reviewed and adapted her plan to ensure her weight progressed at a steady and healthy place.
Around seven months into the plan, Gemma was given a period of rest to allow her to destress from the training and dieting, because Connor says "a stressed-out body is not good for effective weight loss".
By the end of the programme, Gemma was smashing her goals. She managed to maintain her two sessions in the gym, alongside four cardio sessions per week and a whopping 12,000 steps a day.
By the start of September, the 37-year-old hit her 100lb weight loss target and celebrated with her mum Suzanne, 55, who has also lost two stone and drastically reduced her diabetes medication.
Speaking of her achievement, Gemma said: "I started seeing things change and I think that was what motivated me to keep going. I think that's where I went wrong before - I wanted to do everything in one go.
"You've got so many bad habits you can't change them all. Connor, every few months, would give me something different to do - just doing some steps each day or changing a little bit of my eating - rather than doing everything at once.
"The way I think about exercise and think about food has completely changed. I cook all my meals, I pre-prepare everything every few days."
Since dropping seven dress sizes, Gemma said it's the best thing that happened to her, adding: "The best thing that happened was when I was on holiday, when I didn't have to get an extension [seatbelt] when I sat down, which was the best feeling ever because it's so embarrassing - that was one of my highlights.
“When I started, I was a size 26 however when I just got my latest pair of leggings, I bought a size 12. It sounds really cheesy but coming here is a real laugh.
"When people say they ‘like’ exercise I thought, how can you say that? but for the first time I am actually really enjoying it.”
