Tracey Woods spent years ignoring her weight problem, but something had to change
WORDS: FRANCESCA WOODSTOCK, FIONA LOCKE
Watching the roller coaster twist and loop in front of me, I couldn’t wait for my turn. It was 2018, and my husband, Gary, then 40, and I had taken our two children, Harry, then 15, and Millie, 13, to Southend’s Adventure Island for the day. But as we climbed on, I started to panic. The safety bar in front of me wouldn’t click into place – I was too big! Eventually admitting defeat, I told Gary to stay with the kids while a fairground assistant escorted me off the ride. I’d never felt so embarrassed in all my life.
My weight had been a problem for as long as I could remember. At the age of 11, I’d been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, meaning my body struggled to control my blood sugar levels. I had to inject myself with insulin four times a day and I was warned I’d need to eat a healthy diet to reduce the risk of developing even more complications. High blood sugar levels can affect the heart, kidneys and even eyesight, by damaging tiny blood vessels found at the back of the eye.
Mum always served a salad with dinner, but as a rebellious teen, when my friends tucked in to burgers and chips at McDonald’s, I didn’t want to miss out. I’d often skip breakfast, but I’d snack on crisps and fizzy drinks during the day.
As I got older, my weight ballooned, and I started to think of food as the enemy. I didn’t always make the healthiest choices, often tucking in to corned beef, chips and beans for tea, with bread and butter, but it seemed as though everything I ate made me put on weight and caused my blood sugar to spike.
DETERIORATING EYESIGHT
I’d always worn glasses, but by the time I met Gary and fell pregnant with Harry in 2002, my eyesight was rapidly deteriorating. Every time I visited the optician, I needed a stronger prescription and I even underwent laser eye surgery in an attempt to save my sight. Even so, it continued to get worse and after Millie was born in 2005, I needed to wear glasses all the time. As the years passed, my optician warned there was a chance my diabetes would eventually cause me to go blind. It felt as though the situation was out of my control, like I’d been dealt a bad hand.
But the truth was, I’d reached a size 24 and weighed 22st 7lb. I was morbidly obese, but whenever I tried dieting, nothing seemed to work. I skipped meals, cut calories and tried eating soup three times a day, but nothing stuck and, blaming my diabetes, I felt destined to be fat.
In 2018, when I got kicked o
