A "seriously overweight" mum has dropped 10 dress sizes after deciding she needed to shed the pounds so she could be around to see her children grow up. Claire Dewsbury snacked on crisps and chocolate, bought frozen meals and ordered takeaways every week and her weight ballooned to 23st 6lbs, which left her struggling to walk up the stairs without getting breathless.
But she knew she needed to make some healthy changes when, at her heaviest in 2018, she was diagnosed as pre-diabetic and was suffering with bad asthma which was taking its toll on her health. The 48-year-old single mum, from Loftus in North Yorkshire, was terrified she wouldn't be around to see her son Jack, eight, and daughter Hannah, 20, grow up, TeessideLive reports.
As a single mum rushed off her feet, Claire would eat for convenience and would order takeaways or buy frozen prepared meals, while snacking on chocolate and crisps. But four years later, after joining a local Slimming World group, Claire has managed to lose a staggering 12st 6lbs.
As well as more than half her body weight, Claire has dropped a whopping 10 dress sizes, from size 28 to 10/12, and is now fitter than she has ever been before. The mum-of-two now goes to the gym regularly and can keep up with her eight-year-old.
Now, instead of eating beige frozen food, she has a colourful diet filled with fruit and vegetables - but she still enjoys chocolate in moderation. She is also now training to become a Slimming World consultant herself so she can help others get healthier.
“I’m a different person. I’m fitter now than I was in my twenties,” said the 48-year-old. “I couldn’t even go up the stairs. I mean I did but I used to be quite breathless.”
While the mum admitted it hasn't always been easy, she credits her friends at the former Loftus and Saltburn Slimming World groups for keeping her going. On the days she was struggling she looked to her weight loss community on social media for moral support and would look at old photographs of herself and remember how fair she has come.
Claire explained: “I wasn’t going anywhere. I wouldn’t go out the house. I was embarrassed, I was ashamed. So I wasn’t going out or burning any calories because I was at home all the time. So it wasn’t a very good time during that part of my life."
She said that for a long time she struggling to celebrate her amazing lifestyle change and dramatic weight loss, even after winning a Slimming World award for losing over half of her body weight. The mum said the stigma of 'having that amount to lose' plagued her, but now she feels as though it is something to celebrate.
The 48-year-old is now looking to help other people in her situation after her life-changing transformation. Claire is currently training to be a Slimming World consultant herself where she will support and coach others through their own weight-loss journey, reopening the group she initially joined in Loftus.
Hoping to inspire others thinking about joining her group, she said: “It can be done. You can change your life by eating right and exercising. I go to the gym a lot. I tend to go on a morning for an hour or two.
"I just combined diet and exercise together and the results have showed. It makes you feel good about yourself as well. I want people to feel like I do. They can do it. It’s hard work, but it’s achievable.”
