A single mother reveals how she lost more than seven stone after reconnecting with her childhood sweetheart from 40 years ago. Julie Mutlow, 58, and Mark Harris, 57, dated back at school when they were 14 years old for a few months, but drifted apart, married different people and ended up on separate paths of life.
That was until Mark decided to take the plunge and reach out to his first love on Facebook last year - when Julie was over 20 stone. Mark, from Swindon, said: "There wasn't a day that went by in 40 years that I didn't think of her at one time or another".
At the time Mark messaged Julie, also from Swindon, she admitted being overweight and "in a dark place" in her life, struggling with depression and anxiety. The mother-of-four, who received Mark's message in January 2021, said: "I was so shocked when Mark reached out to me that I didn't know what to do.
