Abbey Lewis spent the evening in floods of tears after receiving a Facebook notification to say she'd been tagged in a photo from a friend's baby shower.
She had been looking forward to seeing the picture, but the 26-year-old immediately contacted her friend to ask for her to take the picture down. She weighed 20 stone at the time and 'disgusted' with herself, she decided that was the moment when things would change.
In less than two years, having changed her eating habits she has now lost an incredible six stone in less than two years. Abbey, from Pontypridd, told the Mirror: "The photo changed everything for me. I felt awful when this was taken - I was embarrassed and disgusted that I'd let myself put on so much weight. I had to ask them to delete the photo from social media because I couldn't bear to look at it knowing that everyone could see it publicly." You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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The purchasing officer said she had struggled with her weight since she was in primary school, where she was bullied for how she looked. She used to work in a busy city centre call centre, and would order a takeaway meal either from McDonald's or Taco Bell every lunchtime.
"My typical breakfast before my weight loss journey was a fry up and some sort of breakfast roll," said Abbey. "My lunch was usually fast food, either McDonald's, KFC or Taco Bell. As I previously worked in a call centre in the city centre, my colleagues and I would always buy food out rather than prepping food to take into work. My dinner would usually consist of freezer food like burger and chips or a takeaway the majority of the evenings.
"Overall, my meals prior to my weight loss were just a lot of unhealthy processed foods compared to me now prepping everything from scratch."
She wore dark clothing and loose-fitting styles to try to hide how she looked. "I've always been known as the funny and loud person in my friendship group, so I feel like I would try and hide the fact I was unhappy behind my personality so that nobody would notice how unhappy I was at the time."
"My friends always point out to me how much my confidence has grown over the last two years, which is a big motivator for me that people are not only noticing and complimenting my appearance, but also the change in my happiness and self-esteem, which is so important."
She tried various methods to lose weight, before coming across a low-calorie food brand that she said allowed her to enjoy eating healthy and balanced meals without it being 'boring'. "I would try and restrict myself so much, thinking I couldn't enjoy the foods I loved," Abbey explained. "But coming across Skinny Food Co changed my mindset completely knowing I could still enjoy my go-to meals with a perfect balance of health and flavours, helping me lose weight at the same time, which made my journey easier and more enjoyable.
"I always thought eating healthy meant eating boring, plain foods. But it's the complete opposite, it's such a win-win situation, eating foods that you love without any sacrifices."
Now, she likes sugar-free peach iced tea, while at the weekend she will treat herself to a low-sugar pancake mix topped with fruit. At lunchtime, she usually makes chicken wraps or rice bowls and salad, adding tikka mayonnaise for extra flavour. While, in the evening, she will cook either a stir-fry or spaghetti bolognese using low-carb pasta.
Her huge weight loss came in time for her sister's wedding in August, 2022.
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"My biggest achievement was when my sister got married abroad. I really wanted to lose a significant amount of weight before the big day. I hit my six stone weight loss just before and I felt so confident on the day. Since then, I have lost more weight and still aim to lose a bit more and I know I will get there eventually."
Her advice to anyone else in the same position was - "don't give up".
"Start your journey now and just think where you'll be in a year's time, and know that you can still eat the food you enjoy without restricting yourself."
The Skinny Food Co range features over 300 great-tasting, healthier alternative products. From sauces and syrups, to high protein, low sugar snacks, cooking sprays, flavoured coffees, Fakeaway sauces, meals and more, visit www.theskinnyfoodco.com to find out more.
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