real life
With her wedding on the horizon, Kathleen Weir, 31, decided to take action…
AFTER 16st 6lbs Size 16
BEFORE 23st 5lb Size 28
I was always the bigger kid at school. My mum struggled to get me school shirts that fitted and tried to support me to lose weight. My size did bother me but not enough to do something about it.
I was a secret eater and would sneak into the kitchen and would eat a load of biscuits and then would walk back into the living room as if nothing had happened. Other times I would sneak biscuits and chocolate up to my bedroom at night too. The older I got the more my size began to niggle at me, and one day in November 2018 I was at work as a letting agent when I broke down in tears. “I’m never going to meet anyone or have kids the size I am,” I sobbed. My boss was incredibly supportive and she talked to me about how she had lost weight on The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan, so I decided to give it a try.
At first it really worked. I’d gone from 22st 8lbs to 17st 8lbs by the time I’d met Christopher, then 23, online in March 2019. We met in person after about two weeks of chatting and hit it off instantly.
Within just three months I’d fallen pregnant and so I stopped doing the plan. During the pregnancy I ate what I wanted and soon fell back into the old habits of big portions, snacking, and secret eating. At night, Christopher and I would lay in bed eating chocolate and watching films.
I didn’t weigh myself during the pregnancy but it was no surprise that, after giving birth to our son, Harris, in April 2020 I weighed 23st and 5lbs, far too heavy for my 5ft 5in frame. My size was impacting every aspect of my life. Even things like sitting on the floor to change Harris’ nappy felt uncomfortable. I was so self-conscious about my size 28 body and it was impossible to buy clothes that fitted. My confidence was so low that when Christopher went to the pub with friends I made my excuses and stayed at home on my own.
I kept trying to get the weight off by not snacking but whenever I felt tired or fed up, I turned to food for comfort. I thought nothing of taking a grab-sized bag of chocolate buttons to bed every night. I was happy with Christopher and being a mum, but I was also miserable about the way I looked.
Then, in October 2021 Christopher proposed. We had talked about getting married and so we went to Glasgow together to choose a ring and, two weeks later, we were out in the countryside and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said “yes” but the reality was there was no way I was going to walk up the aisle the size I was. It was the motivation I needed to take drastic action.
So I
