Determined Nicola Beaton has to pinch herself when she looks in the mirror after losing almost 11st – nearly half of what she used to weigh.
Her amazing achievement has seen her slim from 23st 1lb to 12st 3lb, losing 10st 12lb to drop from a size 26 to a 12.
Even Nicola doubted she’d manage it when she walked into Slimming World 16 months ago. But with only two stone to go until she hits her target, the mum of two is happy to be on the home straight.
She says: “If someone had told me in just over a year I could have lost all this, I’d never have believed them.
I do still get surprised when I look in the mirror and see the new me, or when I try on smaller clothes. I feel like I’m finally starting to live again.”
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Insurance claims manager Nicola, 43, who’s 5ft 7in, had never struggled with her weight when she was younger and was maintaining her usual size 10 frame after losing baby weight she gained in 2000 when she had daughter Rachel, now 19.
In the years that followed, Nicola gained a little weight. But after the death of mum Margaret in 2006, comfort eating became a problem. She explains: “Mum was only 52 when she died after surgery. I was utterly heartbroken. She was my rock and she’d helped me through a break-up. My comfort eating just got really out of control.”
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In 2007 Nicola met husband Alan, 37, a bakery manager. The couple had son Josh in 2011 and when they decided to get married in 2012, Nicola was struggling. Walking down the aisle in her size 20 dress, she didn’t feel like a beautiful bride.
She says: “I’d always avoid having my picture taken but at my wedding I couldn’t. I hated being self-conscious.”
In a typical day, Nicola, from Bearsden, near Glasgow, would skip breakfast and have chocolate from the work vending machine. At lunch, she’d have sandwiches followed by more chocolate and crisps. At home, dinners were cheesy pasta ready meals or takeaway pizza. Evenings in front of the TV involved more snacks.
As her weight escalated, so did her health problems. “I’m asthmatic and I was becoming dependent on my inhaler. I also had permanent heartburn . The tipping point, though, was when I got chest pains. I thought I was having a heart attack. My son is only eight – he needs me to be healthy.”
Nicola got a shock when she saw her starting weight – 23st 1lb – at Elaine – Doyle’s Clydebank Slimming World group.
But after losing a steady 3-4lb a week, in a month she’d dropped a stone. She says: “Staying to the group after the weigh-in made a difference. I’d struggled to lose weight before, but this was different. I had phenomenal support from my fellow members.”
Nicola continued to follow Slimming World’s Food Optimising plan and after a year she’d lost 10 stone. The losses have come thanks to increasing her fruit and veg intake and enjoying cooked-from-scratch protein-rich meals with lean chicken, beef and fish to keep her fuller for longer.
Nicola adds: “In the past I’d tried weighing, measuring and counting. With Slimming World’s “Free Food” – things you can eat without weighing like pasta, rice, potatoes and lots of veg – it was so much easier. I was also stunned at the amount you can eat.
These days breakfast is fruit and low-fat yogurt followed by home-made soup for lunch and more fruit. For dinner, Nicola loves lean chilli, home-made chicken tikka masala or Cajun creamy chicken pasta and for snacks she has Slimming World’s high-fibre bars.
Nicola says: “Just before I joined Slimming World I went away and on the plane my laptray wouldn’t fit down. And while Alan and Josh had fun at the waterpark, I sat in leggings and a T-shirt and watched them.
“Last summer, back in Tenerife and nearly 9st lighter, the plane’s seatbelt was massive on me and I went armed with my swimsuit for the waterpark.
“Christmas this year was fun with all the parties. I feel like I’m living again. I’ll keep my old photos as a reminder, but that woman is gone.”
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