At her biggest, Laynie Nesbitt could barely walk without getting out of breath. She'd tried plenty of diets but nothing seemed to work.
She had tried the Slimming World plan on and off for years, and found herself in a vicious cycle of losing a few stones then putting it all back on. But a chance conversation in June 2020 was the catalyst the mum-of-five and gran-of-four needed to shed the pounds.
In less than one year she lost seven-and-a-half, dropping from a size 24 to a size 12. Before losing the weight the 58-year-old was borderline diabetic and had high blood pressure.
Laynie had a mastectomy after breast cancer treatment in 2016, but in 2017 doctors told her she would not qualify for breast reconstruction surgery until she lost weight. They told her she needed to be at a Body Mass Index (BMI) of under 30 for her height of 5' 7" before they would operate.
By June 2020 she was 19 stone with a BMI of 45 which is classed as clinically obese. It was at this point that she found herself having a conversation with fellow mum Kelly, who had started an online diet and fitness coaching business during lockdown.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Laynie says: "I remember having a chat with Kelly and telling her how I was still waiting for my reconstruction surgery but they wouldn't do it because of my weight. Kelly said to me: 'please let me help you'.
"She had just started her online weight loss forum at the start of lockdown. But she said it was calorie counting, and I'd always been a big eater, so I thought there's no way I can do it. She said 'just think about it and come back to me'.
"I thought you know what, I should just give this a try and it's honestly been life-changing for me. I absolutely love it, and it has made me think a whole different way about food.
"When I did Slimming World it was all about 'free food' so that just made me put more on my plate. But with Kelly’s way, I'm now actually thinking about what I eat, I'm mindful about the choices I'm making.
"When I was on Slimming World, I used to be addicted to Muller Light yoghurts. They used to be classed as 'free food', although they now have one syn point, and I would honestly eat six pots a day without even thinking about it.
"I had no idea I was consuming almost 600 calories in those yoghurts, and that was before adding up everything else I was eating during the day.
"I’ve always been up and down with my weight. I’ve always put it on, gone to Slimming World, lost it and then think I can do it myself but I've always been an over-eater and I'd never addressed that.
"I think the idea of free food to someone who overeats is that 'you can eat that, it’s free'. But Kelly has helped me so much in understanding about food, about why I was craving so much, and tackling that."
Laynie signed up for the programme, paying £20 a month for a personalised diet plan, and joined the online community of people on the same journey. She was given her macros, and a daily calorie consumption of 1,400 calories a day for a healthy weight loss, while taking into account her lifestyle and likes and dislikes.
She was stunned to lose nine pounds in the first week. Her weight loss would continue steadily from that point with around 2-3 pound losses every week. And to Laynie's amazement, by April 2021 she was down to her goal weight of 11 stone 7lbs and a healthy BMI of 25 - a weight she has maintained ever since.
While she used to make huge portions of home-cooked pasta bakes and curries, she now makes healthy tweaks to make lower-calorie meals. She swaps out the carb-heavy pasta and rice to create hearty dishes like lasagne with courgette sheets instead of pasta, and curries served with cauliflower rice.
Laynie says: "I've always done a lot of cooking, but before I'd be tasting it as I go, I'd make myself a sandwich while cooking, and then think 'I’ve had nowt to eat' so I’d then sit down to a big home-cooked meal. They used to be massive portions.
"Don’t get me wrong I do still home cook for everybody, but I will swap potatoes for sweet potato, I use yoghurt instead of cream, and courgette lasagne sheets instead of pasta for example. It's making healthy swaps and just being mindful how much I’m shovelling in."
She adds: "We don’t eat pasta very much anymore, because I’ve now realised that it made me bloat. So I’d think I was full, but once the bloat goes I’d then think I’m hungry again, when I wasn't."
She has slimmed down from a dress size of 24 to a size 12. But for Laynie, the journey has never been about the way she looks, but all about how she feels and getting healthy.
She says: "I've never lost this amount of weight before, I don't think I've been this slim since school days. I did it to help me on the inside. It’s not about vanity for me anymore, I've done this for my health not for my Instagram feed.
"I always thought when I saw women who have slimmed down like this, 'oh they must be in the gym all the time'. But as Kelly says: 'your muscles are built in the kitchen - it’s all in the food' and that's been so true for me.
"I lost most of the weight without doing hardly any exercise, I hate the gym. I could hardly breathe just walking before.
"But the more weight I was losing, the more steps I was able to get in each day. I love to walk now, I get in 15,000 steps a day just taking my two dogs out for walks. I've even walked up hills like Kinder Scout and Scafell Pike, there's not a cat in hell's chance I'd have done that before this."
Laynie is particularly proud that her weight loss has inspired her family and friends to make healthier choices too. Her husband Mark Nesbitt, 60, has lost four stone, and a number of her female friends have signed up to Kelly's online community to follow her lead.
Laynie says: "Because I no longer have any rubbish foods in my house, my husband has got on board with it too and lost four stone. Both of us were borderline diabetic, high blood pressure, you name it we had it, but are now back in the healthy ranges.
"My husband always used to love his chocolate, he'd eat a whole family-sized bar of Dairy Milk every night. But now I've swapped it, I buy the small 20g bars of Moser Roth 70% cocoa dark chocolate from Aldi, and that's just enough at night-time before he goes to bed.
"It give him that sweet treat without making your sugar spike which makes you start craving other things if you eat it earlier in the day."
Laynie Nesbitt is a support worker for adults with learning disabilities, and losing weight has been brilliant for her job too. She said: "It's the best job, and the girl I support absolutely loves walking, but before I lost the weight I could never do it. Now I can join her for walks around the park."
The one big disappointment for Laynie though is that despite slimming down as doctors advised her to, she is STILL waiting for her breast reconstruction surgery. She has been told by Wythenshawe's Nightingale Hospital she remains on the waiting list there.
She sighs: "Despite losing the weight, Covid has delayed the operation. They told me in 2017 they couldn't do it because of my weight, but when I went back and said "I’ve lost my weight I’ve got a healthy BMI" in 2021, they said "you'll have to wait another two years because of the backlogs"."
Laynie says she cannot thank Kelly enough for inspiring her journey - and inspiring hundreds of other women who now support each other on the Kelly Caffery online forum.
She said: "Kelly is absolutely amazing. Her Facebook page is all about inspiring women, everyone supports each other, it’s just an amazing community.
"Now it’s evolved from just online, we all go on these hikes together too, which is brilliant.
"For £20 a month, honest to god I can’t tell you how good she is, she’s a life coach, she works 24/7, if you message her she gets back to you. She just doesn’t stop - she goes above and beyond to help people.
"She has a lot of women with a load of problems and she just seems to sort them out. And as a community, we are all spurring each other on."
