Losing weight saw Claire fulfil her dream of motherhood

Claire saw her weight reach 16st 10.5lbs, with a BMI of 36.7 as she turned to food as a source of comfort. Claire said: "I always hated having my picture taken and it made me feel so uncomfortable, I would joke and say that my phone would have a ‘fat filter on’."

This was all before October 2022, after Claire had been to visit her doctors as she decided to try and become a single parent. As she had been previously diagnosed with endometriosis, it was recommended that she have IVF to be able to have children. However, this meant that Claire would need to reduce her BMI before she could be accepted.

Claire said: "I knew I wouldn’t be able to lose the weight on my own, and as I had been to Slimming World before, I knew this would work for me, so I started my journey on 14 October 2022 with Lori Kitchin at Stanwood Christ Church in Stannington. I walked through those doors at 7.30am on the Friday and never looked back."

She added: "Lori went through the new members talk and I was excited to try Slimming World Food Optimised plan, it felt like I would be able to eat real food and lose weight. That morning, I was introduced to other members of the group who were so welcoming. I felt comfortable, and no-one judged me for being a returning member to group. I left group that morning feeling motivated to make the changes to my lifestyle to lose weight and keep it off for life."

Determination

Lori, Slimming World consultant for Stannington, said: "I know so many people worry about trying to lose weight for medical reasons and with so many options out there at the moment, people can often put it off for extended periods of time, but here at Slimming World we offer a healthy family friendly weight loss plan that puts the members in charge of their weight loss.

"It was such a pleasure to see Claire walk through my doors that morning back in October 2022, and with her determination, I just knew this was her time."

Said Claire: "My first week I lost 1.5lbs! Pretty quickly, I was losing weight well and celebrating the success in group each week, I'd lost 2st 1.5lb and reduced my BMI to 31.2 which allowed me to be approved to start my next journey, IVF.

"However, it wasn’t until November 2023 when I was able to start. By this time my BMI had reduced to 27.1 and I was well on my way to achieving my five stone weight loss.

"In group in December last year, Lori had asked us to write our Christmas wishes onto a bauble. I wrote 'To be pregnant!'. Things were starting to look up, so who knew!"

Fast forward to December 2024 and Claire is living a very different life now, not only has she welcomed a beautiful baby girl, weighing 8lbs 8.5ozs but is excited about her future, living a new healthy lifestyle.

She said: "The support from my Slimming World group is incredible, I was able to continue to attend throughout my pregnancy and feel ready to be the happy and healthy mum I always dreamt of being."

Lori added: "We are the only slimming organisation that is backed by the Royal colleague of Midwives. Slimming World continues to support pregnant and breast feeding mums in a safe and healthy way through their pregnancy, promoting healthy swaps and changes to ensure mum and baby are the healthiest they can be.

"We are all so proud of Claire, and her new daughter has a roomful of honorary aunts and uncles each week to give lots of cuddles. They are both such a special part of group."

For more information about joining your local Slimming World group head to www.slimmingworld.co.uk