Her four grandchildren gave Gail Cuffe, 54, motivation to make a big change to her life
WORDS: FRANCESCA WOODSTOCK, JADE BEECROFT
Being a grandmother has been one of the biggest pleasures of my life. I’ve loved seeing my grandchildren walk their first steps, hear them say ‘nanna’ for the first time and watch as they play with such joy. And now I’m 5st lighter, I can enjoy these moments so much more. Finally, I can run around with them. But it’s taken a long time to get here.
HIDING AWAY
I hadn’t always been big. Up until I had children, I was a size 14 and weighed around 11st. But after Charlotte was born in January 1991 and Hayley the year after, I ballooned to 15st and a size 20. My husband Mark, now 57, always said I looked beautiful, but I hid away under baggy clothes. I started hiding from the scales too and it was only years later I faced reality. Here, I look back at my weight-loss journey…
Bigger than ever
With the girls grown up, in April 2015, I decided to open my own beauty salon. Working long hours, I’d skip breakfast and lunch, and I drank around five cans of fizzy pop a day to keep me going. By the evening, I’d be starving, so I’d meet Mark after work, and with the salon doing so well, we could afford to go out for a meal most nights. And if we fancied a night in, we’d order a takeaway. I barely switched on my oven!
But being surrounded by so many beautiful people at the salon made me question my own appearance. Everyone else was so slim. With mirrors everywhere, I had nowhere to hide. Braving the scales for the first time in years, I was in for a shock… 16st 7lb.
Health scare
Too embarrassed to face up to the truth, I hid behind frumpy size 24 clothes. But in December 2019, I felt a strange fluttering sensation in my chest. After spending a whole night tossing and turning in bed, suffering from heart palpitations, I went to A&E.
‘Your blood pressure is sky high,’ the doctor said. Explaining that I was morbidly obese, she said I was at risk of suffering from a stroke, heart attack or diabetes if I didn’t lose weight. Immediately, I cut out fizzy drinks and ditched the takeaways, but when the pandemic hit, I was forced to close the salon for good. Stuck at home, it made it so much harder to lose weight.
Fat nanna
In July 2021, I became a grandmother again after my daughter Charlotte gave birth to Charlie. Already a grandma to Charlotte’s son Vinnie, then one, and Hayley’s boys Alfie, three, and Tommy, six months, as I cuddled baby Charlie, I felt a rush of love.
My family meant everythi
