A mum has shed seven stone after feeling too embarrassed to take pictures with her daughter.
Lara McReynolds, 32, tipped the scales at 18.6st last year and struggled to play with her daughter Halle, seven. She hated how she looked in photos and would only take pictures of her face to hide her body.
But Lara was determined to make a change and joined the 1:1 diet which includes a range of low calorie meal replacement products such as soups, shakes and bars.
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GP receptionist Lara, from Clydebank, has slimmed down to 11.6st and dropped ten dress sizes – going from a 22 to a 12. Her waist has also trimmed down from 47 inches to 31 inches.
Lara said: “Being a single parent it hit me one day that I can’t just keep getting bigger and bigger and miss out on doing activities with my daughter. I needed to make sure I was healthy so I can live a long life and be there for her.
“There are hardly any pictures of me and Halle together from before, and the ones there are they are just our faces so people wouldn’t see my body. I was embarrassed being in pictures with her because of my weight.”
Lara said she would gorge on takeaways a week as she found it hard to get motivated to cook after putting Halle to bed. She would also have lots of McDonald's breakfast meals.
She said: “I was eating constantly, I felt like I always had food on me. I ate a lot of junk food and comfort ate by rewarding myself with takeaways on good days or bad.
“I would make dinner for my daughter about 5pm, then do the bedtime routine, so by the time I sat down it was 7pm and I didn’t want to start cooking a big meal. I have a sweet tooth so I was bad for eating sweeties and cakes.”
Lara said her new diet is different to those she has done in the past. She added: "This time I was determined to do it and lose the weight. It’s crazy the difference I have seen in my measurements.
“I am more active and able to do stuff with Halle, we go out and about much more. We play together and I can chase her around which I would never have been able to do before.
“I lost the weight without exercising really which was a bonus, I have never been much of a gym goer. Halle loves that I have lost the weight now, she thinks it is fantastic, and she helps keep me on track.”
Lara's diet before:
Breakfast: McDonald’s coffee and McMuffin
Lunch: Sandwich with juice, crisps and chocolate
Dinner: Takeaway, Chinese, pizza, kebab
Her diet now:
Breakfast: Coffee and 1:1 diet ready made shake
Lunch: Chicken salad
Dinner: Omelette with veg
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