'I did it for my kids': Woman loses over 8 st in 10 months
A woman has revealed her pride at her impressive weight loss, after losing almost 9st (57kg) after splitting up from her husband.
Claire Harris, 34, from Ludlow, Shropshire, weighed 21st 4lb at her heaviest, but after cutting out daily bottles of Prosecco and takeaways up to four times a week, she now weighs a healthier 13st.
As well as overhauling her diet and fitness regime, the care worker says her husband leaving spurred her on to lose weight.
"After he left, it only made me more determined to turn my life around," she explains. "People probably would have expected me to spiral out of control and turn to food and drink.
"I just thought to myself that this is my time now and I am going to do this - especially because I was about to be on my own. I needed to be healthier for my kids."
Harris says that at her heaviest she was wearing a dress size 22 and admits her weight was having an impact on her life.
"I couldn't walk without being in pain and I struggled to stand up after sitting down," she says.
The turning point came just before the separation when Harris and her family went on holiday to York in October last year.
The mum-of-two found it difficult to do any activities with her children, Catherine, 13, and Felicity, four, and struggled to walk around the city.
"It wasn't an enjoyable time at all and that was the point I started thinking that my weight was a problem," she explains.
"When I got back to work, I told a colleague that I hadn't enjoyed my time off and she told me about The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan.
"So I decided to give it a shot."
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Stepping on the scales and realising she weighed 21st was a shock for Harris, but she was determined to try to get in shape.
"I began the plan in November last year and immediately started losing weight," she said.
"The following January was when my ex-husband broke the news that he was leaving me. I was devastated as we'd been together for 16 years and married for 11, but it gave me the determination to focus on myself.
"I wanted to feel great about myself by losing weight, to do it for me and my kids," she adds.
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Before starting her weight loss journey, Harris would eat four takeaways a week and says that she wouldn't think twice about drinking a bottle of Prosecco every night.
But noticing her weight was holding her back from making happy memories with her kids, she set about making some drastic changes.
"Within 10 months I have lost 8st 10lb and I feel better than I have ever felt," she says.
"I go to the gym with my eldest daughter, I can go on forest walks and bike rides. I even booked to take the girls to the Maldives where I wore a bikini for the first time and walked along the beach. We went on jet skis, swam with dolphins and fed sharks. I would never have dreamed of doing those years a year ago."
Now Harris says she is living her best life with her daughters.
"Felicity even said to me that it's so nice to hug me and be able to put her arms around me," she adds.
The family are now planning to go back to the Maldives next year and Harris is also hoping to take the girls to Disney World.
"I would never have been able to walk around the park before," she says. "It's the small things that make a huge difference."
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And now that she's lost the weight, Harris says she's determined to keep it off.
"I never want to be that big ever again," she says.
Overhauling her diet and fitness has done wonders for her self-esteem too. "The last time I saw my husband was in April, I had lost about five stone at that point, and he told me I looked amazing," she adds.
"I told him 'I know' and walked away. It felt great.
"I'm more confident than I have been in years, and I don't have to plan my life around my weight now.
"I'm proud of myself."
Additional reporting Caters.
