Yorkshire mother loses more than half her weight after being embarrassed by photo

Lisa Childs, 61, was left mortified by the snap her brother took of her as she crammed into an arm chair after she'd ballooned to 19st 8lbs. But the jolt caused by seeing the photo sparked her into action and she ditched fatty fast foods for nutritious, home-cooked meals to lose 10st. And now a trim 9st 8lb, Lisa is glad to pose for pictures in the chair at her mum's house after dropping eight dress sizes from 24 to a slimline size 12.

Mum-of-one Lisa, of Elland in West Yorkshire, said: "I was astounded that I had got to that size to be honest but I didn't realise how big I was. My brother had taken the picture and sent it me and said that he didn't want to send it me because he knew I would have killed him.

"But now I don't fill the chair and I've got room beside me, but in the care home picture I didn't have any room in the chair at all. It definitely inspired me to keep going. I had started to lose weight but when he sent me that picture, it was like 'oh my god, I've got to keep going because I can't go back to looking like that."

Lisa used to walk her son Max, now, 27, to school every morning and pick him up in the afternoon which used to be her daily form of exercise. But when Max got older and wanted to walk to school with his friends, Lisa noticed that the 'weight just piled on' because she wasn't exercising.

As the years went on, Lisa would often become breathless when walking up the stairs and she'd need to 'stop half a dozen times' when walking back from the bus stop. And her knees started to hurt so much that it would sometimes became painful just to walk. But now, she has been able to walk 13 miles at once to raise money for a local hospice.

Lisa, married to Stephen, 62, said: "The weight just piled on then because I wasn't taking him to school. I would walk him there and back which was a good half-an-hour and I would do that in the morning and in the afternoon.

"So I went from doing that to doing nothing. I just couldn't walk up the stairs at home.

"The bus stop is five minutes away but when I came home from work, I would have to stop half a dozen times. It was because my breathing was affected because I was carrying so much weight basically."

Lisa, a sales assistant, would eat convenience food such as a Chinese takeaway or a frozen pizza two or three times a week.

But after joining Slimming World in 2017, she made a number of simple swaps such as whole meal bread instead of a thick white loaf and snacking on fruit rather than chocolate bars.

She now cooks almost all her meals from scratch and follows low-calorie recipe versions of her favourite foods, such as Spaghetti Bolognese.

And she says the difference it has made to her life has been amazing as she now takes her Poochon Pheobe for daily walks without getting breathless or feeling pain.

She added: "When I first started, I couldn't do any exercise at first and I started losing weight just through Slimming World. But we got a dog so I had to walk her for around five minutes and then built it up and built it up.

"I'm quite proud of it because I never walked before anyway unless I had to. Now I go out with my friend and walk from Elland to Brighouse and then have a coffee and walk back and not have to stop. When I think about it, I never would have dreamed of walking that distance or any distance really."

DIET BEFORE

Breakfast: Nothing

Lunch: Beans on toast with white bread and scrambled eggs

Tea: Either a Chinese, Fish and Chips or a full frozen pizza

Snacks: Chocolate puddings

DIET AFTER: Breakfast: Fresh fruit with Greek-style, fat-free yoghurt

Lunch: Beans on toast but with wholemeal bread

Tea: A Slimming World ready meal or a fat-free spaghetti bolognese

Snacks: Fruit