Real Stories

We have reserved this particular page to bring you real stories about people that were able to turn around their lives!

This week we have the story of Katie, who hopes to motivate someone to change their life!

A New Beginning

Katie had a relatively ‘normal’ childhood, she was a little girl who loved to sing, dance, act and anything else that involved being the centre of attention. At the age of 12, she slowly began to gain weight. After girls at school started laughing at her and calling her names, she approached her mum and asked whether they could start eating healthier.

However, her mum told her not to worry about the name calling, that she was beautiful and did not need to worry about weight at such a young age. The bullies did not stop, and as Katie go through puberty she gained more and more weight, with a BMI of 36.5 by the end of year 11. With her self-esteem and confidence dashed, Katie gave up her childhood hobbies and instead began to use food as comfort. Spending her pocket money on sweets, crisps, junk foods and litres of surgery drinks, she piled on the pounds as a result of gorging in her bedroom each night.

The Struggle

At the age of twenty one, during a routine doctor’s appointment, it was revealed that she hit the scales at 22 stone. Her size 26 jeans were tight around her waist, she had very few friends, and years of bullying had left her with low self-esteem and self-worth. It was at this point that Katie decided to make positive changes in her life. She joined a local gym, tried numerous faddy diets, and became addicted to reading fat to thin success stories on the internet. Every time she slipped up, she would soon return to her old habits.

Health Issues

However, it was during one of these visits to her local gym in the weeks that followed that she met Patrick, a 24 year old medical student. The pair fell head over heels in love, and it was not long before Patrick and Kate decided to move in together, got engaged and started planning for the future. A couple of years after the couple were married, Katie became concerned about her own fertility. She had had chronic period pains since she was a teenager, and after 2 and a half years of trying, they had still not been successful.

After referral from her GHP, Katie was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovaries, a hormonal disorder in which there are often small cysts on the ovaries and hormonal imbalances, affecting 12-18% of women of a reproductive age. Women with PCOS also can become insulin-resistant resulting in being overweight or obese, this can further exacerbate the conditions of the disorder.

The Change

This spurred Katie on in her weight loss goal and she became committed to working towards the dream of holding her and Patrick’s baby in her arms. She started counting calories, going to the gym regularly and even signed up for the local rugby team. Whilst the pounds dropped off, her confidence soared and she began to enjoy socialising with her new bunch of pals. However, after a successful couple of seasons, and a weight loss of a staggering 10. 5 stones, Katie had to quit the scrum to be a mum.

Alfie Ray was born on the 31st January 2017, just over 2 and a half years since Katie’s PCOS diagnosis, and she is now pregnant with her second child.

Now we do things together as a family. We go for long walks together, eat well and we have just adopted a healthier lifestyle. Katie

Often people, such as Katie, need motivation to lose weight and sometimes often people who undergone a weight loss transformation refer to a particular turning point in their lives.

However, now is the time to make a change, check out Katie’s handy hints and tips for sticking to your weight loss journey below.

• Prep food: working long hours and commuting meant that neither of us could ever be bothered to cook and a takeaway was always the easiest option. Now, to ensure that I stick to my healthy eating regime, I prep meals on a Sunday.
• Walk Everywhere: After Alfie was born, I was not able to get back to the gym straight away. As soon as we were both strong enough, however, we got out with the pram and I would always walk everywhere. Whether it was just for the morning papers or across to the shops, walking was always my first choice.
• Portion Control: When I first started dieting my weight loss was slow and I think that it was because I had not really changed my portions. I was eating healthy food but I was still eating way too much of it. Change to smaller plates and weigh your food properly if you are counting calories.