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Daily Record
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Paige Oldfield & John-Paul Clark

Mum hails 'one simple change' after four-stone weight loss

A simple change in diet helped a woman shed over four stone in weight.

Lorraine Blackmore, 54, says that she decided to do something about the issue ahead of starting a new job after battling her weight for a number of years, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Lorraine, from Woodley, tried all sorts of diets over the years but after getting a new role as a secretary at a conservative club, she vowed to “knuckle down.”

She joined a slimming group and after a simple change to her diet change she went on to lose almost five stone in weight – going from 17-and-a-half stone to just over 13.

She said: “I still have weight to lose but I don’t put myself under any pressure about it.”

“I’m more confident and I’m a shopaholic now, I’m always buying new clothes. It’s nice to be able to open my wardrobe and know things will fit. It’s just being able to go somewhere and pick something off the peg and know it’ll fit.”

Lorraine says the main thing that has helped is not being restricted on what she eats.

Lorraine weighed almost 18 stone. (Lorraine Blackmore)

Although she eats healthily every day, Lorraine is also able to treat herself to a “cheat day” once a week where she allows herself to eat whatever she wants.

The mum-of-one has also recently taken up swimming.

“I don’t ever say I’m on a diet anymore,” she added. “I just say I eat healthy. When I was younger, I would always say, ‘I need to do this diet, I can’t have this or that’.

“There’s nothing I say I can’t have. I’ll eat healthy for five days then on my day off I have what I want like bread and butter and get straight back into it. Even on a cheat day, I don’t go mad.”

Lorraine has managed to drop from a dress size 20 to a size 14.

She added: “I think I just got to a stage in my life where everything was hard work.

Lorraine Blackmore shed almost five stone. (Lorraine Blackmore)

“And it’s only as you get older that you feel it more. I’ve always been overweight and had weight problems, but I got a new job and getting upstairs was getting more difficult and I think I got to a point where enough was enough.”

After previously snacking on crisps, chocolate and biscuits during the day, Lorraine now sticks to three proper meals per day.

“The key is telling yourself you’re not on a diet and not restricting yourself to anything,” she added. “If you want something, you can pull back on another thing later and make up for it.

“I eat more regularly and make sure I have three meals a day whereas before I’d have toast for breakfast and skip dinner and have tea. I eat proper meals now because I’m a picker, I don’t pick as much now.”

Lorraine's diet before her weight loss:

Breakfast

  • Toast or sugary cereal

Lunch

  • Skip lunch

Snacks

  • Chocolate, crisps and biscuits

Tea

  • Calorific sandwich, shepherd's pie

Lorraine's diet now:

Breakfast

  • Porridge

Lunch

  • Ryvita with tomatoes and ham

Snacks

  • Apples or 10kcal jellies

Tea

  • Slimming World chips and chicken

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