A mum who used binge eating as a coping mechanism when three family members died looks unrecognisable after losing more than eight stone.
Sara Hennigan, 43, lost both her parents and brother in just five years. The mum-of-two said she would take a huge bottle of fizzy pop to bed, along with a family bag of crisps and a big bar of chocolate as a form of comfort.
At her heaviest, she weighed 18 stone, and at 5ft 3in, her BMI said she was morbidly obese. After experiencing so much tragedy, Sara decided to use her late family members as inspiration, and began to turn her life around.
READ MORE: Mum shares her top weight loss tip after shedding seven stone in less than a year
In 2017, Sara's mum, Jackie, died from lung cancer aged 74. Her brother, John Wynne, also died from lung cancer in 2019, and her dad, Joe, died from sepsis last year.
Sara said: "Each night I took a big bottle of Fanta, a family bag of crisps and a family size chocolate bar to bed with me. I was eating for comfort. But then I realised how hard a battle my mother and brother and father had fought. They had done everything to hold on to their lives, yet I was just throwing mine away. I realised I had to change."
Sara, from North Wales, was a healthy weight during her younger years and after giving birth to her two sons, Keiran, 24, and Kallum, 20. But in the years afterwards she started piling on the weight.
She said: "I was always really busy, doing stuff for my family and the community. I didn't leave any time for myself, I didn't look after myself, and I slowly started gaining weight.
"I was really close to my mum. In her final days, she came to live with me, and I cared for her. It broke my heart when she died. It was the worst pain I have ever felt and I ate to make myself feel better.
"We were still grieving for mum when my brother, John, was diagnosed with exactly the same cancer. He had a tumour in the middle of his lungs, just as she did. It felt so cruel, for our family to be struck twice.
"I began raising money for immunotherapy treatment and John completely changed his diet and lifestyle; he started eating fish and white meat and cut out all processed foods. He did lots of research and he became very scientific about his entire approach.
"He went to therapists to get the toxins out of his body. He tried cannabis oil. He did everything he could, and I was convinced he was going to make it. He was such a strong character."
But John died aged 54 in June 2019, leaving Sara devastated. She turned to food again. But as the weeks passed, she found inspiration in the way her brother had battled his illness.
She added: "I realised that I had a life, and that I had the opportunity to do something." Sara began losing weight through Slimming World.
Sara describes her mobility back then as "shocking". She said: "I had pains in my hips and my back. I was really depressed and downhearted. I got to the doors of Slimming World, and I couldn't even walk through them.
"I felt so ashamed. I just went home. It took me weeks to build up the courage to go back and join the group. And from then, I didn't look back and I began losing weight."
To add to her heartbreak, in July 2021 Sara was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She has thankfully got the all-clear after surgery. Her father died later that year.
Instead of losing focus, she used each tragedy as inspiration for her weight loss. She ditched the fizzy drinks habit and "completely changed my diet".
She said: "The weight dropped off but for me, the real benefit was to my mental health. Of course, I had setbacks, I put on some weight after dad died, but I relied on my mum and my brother in heaven, to get me through it. I took my strength from them."
Sara also started at a gym, which she says was a "real game changer". She also started her own walking group which has become "really popular".
Sara is now a size 10, and has lost over eight stone. She has been named "woman of the year", "biggest loser" and "Miss Slinky" at Slimming World, as well as "member of the month" and "star of the week" at her gym.
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