Tracey Clarke, 58, was determined not to spend another year overweight
WORDS: FRANCESCA WOODSTOCK
Sitting around the table on Christmas Day, I felt so lucky to be surrounded by my family. It was 2017, and although my three children had grown up and had lives of their own, we had gathered together at mine and my husband Mark’s home in Saltash, Cornwall.
This year was extra special, as our eldest daughter, Jamie-Leigh, then 25, had brought along our first grandchild, Charlie, then nine months. I adored being a grandmother, and having a baby in the family reminded me how magical Christmas was. But although I loved playing with my grandson, my body was riddled with aches and pains, and even though I was only 53, I felt older. At 17st 8.5lb and a size 22, my weight didn’t help, and as I piled extra roast potatoes onto my plate of turkey with all the trimmings, I promised myself that by this time next year, I’d be slim.
I hadn’t always been big. As a child, I’d been brought up on home-cooked, balanced meals. At 16, I joined the police cadets, which kept me active, and at 6ft tall, I wore a size 14. But after landing an office job at 18, my lifestyle changed.
Sitting at a desk all day, I’d graze on chocolate and cakes, and for lunch I’d have pre-packed sandwiches with crisps and more chocolate.
I never weighed myself, but by the time I’d reached my 20s, I was wearing a size 22-24 and lived in baggy black dresses that swamped me. In 1990, I got engaged to Mark, then 23, and I dreaded being overweight on our wedding day. Determined to slim down, I popped 20p in a weighing scale at the local shopping centre, but the needle quickly flew past 19st, and when I heard a gasp from the lady behind, I jumped off in embarrassment. I must’ve been nearly 20st.
Mortified, I started counting calories and cut out chocolate. Mark was supportive, and together we took up swimming and cycling, and joined a gym.
YO-YO DIETING
By the big day in 1991, I’d slimmed to 12st 7lb and a size 14, and I was delighted. But the following year, when I fell pregnant, I stopped my exercise routines, started eating for two, and my daily chocolate bar habit returned.
When Jamie-Leigh was born in 1992, I was back in a size 22. I tried meal-replacement supplements and high-protein diets, and I got back down to 14st, but after giving birth to Zoe-Louise, now 26, in 1995, and Aaron, now 23, in 1998, my weight crept up again, and I got stuck in a cycle of yo-yo dieting.
By my late 30s, I was on medication to control high blood pressure, and the weight of my size 22 bu
