A mum has told how she dropped from a size 22 to eight after being “disgusted” by her weight. Caroline McNeil, 40, struggled with extra weight for years, having “yo-yo’ed” across the scales during the pandemic, like thousands of other Britons. One Christmas, while weighing 15st 5lbs, the mum-of-three’s husband snapped a picture that she said left her “absolutely mortified” and encouraged her to make changes that allowed her to shed nearly five stone.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Ms McNeil said that she used to avoid the scales, photos and had even started shying away from mirrors by December 2021.

Photos taken on Christmas morning that year caused her “disappointment and disgust”, she said, and she deleted the snaps “straight away”.

The Stockport childminder said she also felt “embarrassed” and that she “wasn’t being a positive role model” to her three teenage daughters.

She decided to join Slimming World in March 2022, signing up to a group in Reddish.

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The organisation placed her on a diet plan to reshape her relationship with food.

Her initial plan sought to trim back on unnecessary snacking, with crisps and chocolate – once staples in Ms McNeil’s diet – now cut out.

Over time, she replaced a weekly diet of takeaways, pasta and bread with healthy alternatives.

She found the pounds melted off, leaving her almost five stone lighter just a year after she embarked on her weight loss journey.

Ms McNeil now weighs just 10st 13lbs and smashed a target of losing 40 lbs before her 40th birthday.

She told MEN she now feels “amazing”, and that the weight loss has given her a new lease on life.

The mum said she is no longer reluctant to have photos taken and has come to appreciate her body.

But the changes also go beyond her body image, as she also has “so much more energy”.

She said: “I’m able to get down on the floor with the kids and I can easily chase them around the garden without getting out of breath.”

The deciding factor in Ms McKay’s decision to lose weight was changing her way of thinking.

She said: “I’m not reluctant to look in the mirror and it’s silly things like being able to feel my hips.”

She added that she needed to get her head “into the right mindset” and “adjust how I feel about food”.

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