Inspiring True-Life
A trip to Pleasure Beach was anything but fun and games...
Karen Fay, 53, from Morecambe, Lancashire
Tucking into Sweet Chilli Sensations, I felt guilty. This was a sharing packet and I’d reached the bottom. But I felt like I couldn’t stop myself.
Growing up I was never small, but I wasn’t overweight either.
There would be a bit of name calling from other kids at school, but it didn’t really affect me.
I’ve always been confident, so I just brushed it off.
When I reached my late teens and early 20s, I struggled with food.
I put on weight quicker than I used to and had to be careful about what I was eating.
But things took a turn for the worse after my son Daniel was born.
It wasn’t just pregnancy that had made me bigger – I got into bad eating habits.
I was eating when I wasn’t hungry and was using food as comfort.
Whenever I felt down, I would reach for crisps to fill the hole.
I couldn’t get enough of them and one packet could easily turn to six.
For dinner I was usually eating chips or takeaways – I didn’t watch what I ate at all.
The weight just crept up on me and before I knew it, I’d gained 4st.
I felt miserable and was constantly thinking about my flabby frame.
Everything reminded me of how big I was, especially when I struggled to squeeze clothes on in the mornings.
But at the same time, I tried to ignore it – it was just too painful to deal with.
Gradually, things got worse and after my second child Charlotte was born when I was 33, I tipped the scales at 21st 7lbs.
Whenever I got dressed, reaching for my size 24 to 26 clothes, I felt depressed and couldn’t look at myself in the mirror.
I had tried everything I could think of to lose weight – calorie counting, the Atkins diet, even SlimFast shakes, too.
The belt wouldn’t fasten up
But nothing worked in the long term, it just left me feeling hungry.
However, the turning point came when we went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach for Dan’s eighth birthday in June 2011.
Dan had gone on a ride with the bigger children, so I went with Charlotte, who was four, to Nickelodeon Land play area.
‘Mummy, can I go on that one?’
Charlotte asked, pointing to a ride that shot up a huge pole.
‘OK then, let’s go and get in the queue,’ I replied.
I wasn’t planning to join her on the ride, since I wasn’t sure there was room.
Soon it got to Charlotte’s turn and she began to excitedly climb the stairs to get on.
The ride operator saw I wasn’t following her and turned to me.
‘Do you want to go on it with her?’ he asked.
‘Erm… alright,’ I answered.
I walked up the stairs and found a seat, reach
