A mum who tried more than 10 extreme diets in 10 years has lost six stone - with the help of an unusual hobby. Laura Johnson, 42, claims to have tried every ''faddy diet going'' during her decade long battle to shed excess baby weight.
During that time she tried Slimming World, SlimFast, Weight Watchers, juicing and calorie counting - with no success. The police dispatcher weighed herself every day in a bid to lose weight but ''nothing worked''.
Despite her best attempts, Laura, tipped the scales at 16st 5lbs and a dress size 20. A friend recommended she look into gastric sleeve surgery in January 2022, and Laura had the £10k procedure six months later.
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And after taking up hula hooping, the weight began to drop off. The mum-of-four bought a weighted hoop from Amazon and began using it for 15 minutes every day. It's been part of her routine for more than a year now and has given her the confidence to try different exercises.
The mum - who now weighs 11st and slips into a slender size 10 - said: ''I was so busy being a mum, and doing shift work. It left me no time to focus on a diet and getting healthy. But it got to the point where I didn't want to leave the house, I felt so big, and I knew that wasn't me.
"The surgery was tough, I was quite sick after it, but it's been amazing overall. It's massively changed my life for the better. I'm active now and love hula hooping. I got a weighted one online from Amazon and I'm obsessed.''
Laura, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, first became a mum in her early twenties in 2001, and found the baby weight ''dropped off her'' easily. The same happened when she had her second child in 2003 and third in 2009.
''I had my fourth baby at 32 in 2013 and something was different, I couldn't shift the extra weight no matter what I did,'' she said. "I tried everything. I did juice diets and milkshake ones. I tried classes and aqua aerobics. It was so hard to commit to anything long term though because of my job and having four kids.''
When Laura stopped smoking in October 2011 her sweet tooth ''went crazy'' and she found herself being tempted by cakes, sweets and crisps. Despite making sure her kids were eating healthy, home-cooked meals, the police worker would often rely on processed snacks and ready meals.
She said: ''It was when I was invited on a girl's weekend with all of my mates, and I didn't want to go, that I knew my weight was controlling my life.
"I'm usually the life and soul of a party and the fact I just wanted to stay at home and hide, I knew something had to drastically change. I started looking into weight loss surgery as my friend had done it and had amazing results.''
Laura, who is married to Scott Johnson, 35, a supermarket manager, had a consultation at Doncaster Park Hill private hospital, South Yorkshire, in March 2022. Three months later she had the keyhole surgery at the same hospital and after two days was discharged to go home.
''I felt fine after the surgery,'' she said. "I was on a liquid diet and then moved on to eating small amounts of soft foods like egg and cottage cheese. The gastric sleeve surgery removed 80 per cent of my stomach so I do feel full very quickly. You can't even gulp down water or you'd be sick.''
Laura lost two stone in the first six weeks after surgery and has continued to shed weight since. She's taken up exercising and alongside her daily hula hooping now does long walks and running with the 'Couch to 5k' app.
''Having the operation and keeping the weight off so far has improved my life so much,'' she explained. ''I feel lighter in my head and feel free. I no longer overeat and trust myself to make healthy choices. I eat like a toddler now but really enjoy it.
''I still treat myself every so often but I just don't binge. Life is so much more fun now, I try things with the kids that I wouldn't have before. I've got my life back and I'm dancing on tables again like I used to.''
