Photogenic True-Life
I finally found my good side after a confidence-knocking photoshoot…
Lucy Nicoll, 39, from Kettering
Standing in the glass pod, I craned my neck taking in the expansive views of London.
‘Isn’t the view pretty?’ I said to my husband Phil, 42, and two kids, Sam, 14, and Ashley, 17. We’d come for a family trip down to London in January 2019 and had spent the day taking in the city’s fab attractions, doing a little shopping and snapping family selfies as we went.
And finishing the day at the London Eye was perfect.
Whipping out my phone, we had one final selfie before we called it a day.
‘Say cheese,’ I grinned, snapping us in front of London’s immense skyline.
Only when we got back to the hotel, I was flicking through our pictures and felt disheartened.
I didn’t recognise myself in our London Eye selfie.
Maybe it’s just the angle, I thought, disheartened.
But looking at other selfies in Sky Garden, I realised it wasn’t the angle at all.
I ate a lot of processed, easy food
I just didn’t recognise myself anymore – how had I gained so much weight?
I had struggled with my weight for most of my life, but it became more of a problem after I gave birth to Ashley.
‘It’s just baby weight,’ I said. Only I kept on getting bigger and bigger.
And now 16 years later, at the time of the London trip, I was 25st 1lb and wearing a size 22 to 24.
Living with complex regional pain syndrome meant my mobility was reduced and I struggled getting up and about.
So, I relied on diet to keep a healthy weight. But my diet was quite poor. I ate a lot of processed, easy, quick-grab food.
For breakfast I’d tuck into three or four slices of toast before chowing down on more bread for lunch with a large bag of crisps.
Typically for dinner, we’d have two to three takeaways a week where I’d tuck into pizza, Chinese and kebabs.
When I cooked, I made pizza and garlic bread or sausage, chips and beans – I was always opting for quick, easy meals.
Due to my chronic illness, I didn’t want to be up on my feet cooking for long periods of time.
We all ate the same and deep down, I knew it couldn’t have been healthy. But I didn’t feel that I was in the right frame of mind to lose weight – I just never felt motivated. The kids and Phil were all healthy weights, yet I piled on the pounds.
As a result of my condition, I couldn’t just go to the gym and hit the treadmill – so the pounds piled on.
As well as unhealthy meals, I snacked when no one was looking.
Waiting until the kids were at school or Phil was out, I’d sit and eat
