A Billingham mum has lost a whopping five stone 10lbs in under a year.
Lisa Dunn gave up white bread, crisps and McDonald’s – and decided she had had enough of being of overweight, in February last year. The school lunchtime assistant started going to Slimming World meetings at Billingham Forum on Saturday mornings.
The 34-year-old said she was almost 19 stone when she started: “I had no confidence or nothing. I felt frumpy and fat. I weighed in at 18 stone 12lbs. I was just eating too much. I have two children and I started gaining weight after having my daughter in 2011.
“I separated two years later and that was hard.”
Lisa Dunn before she embarked on the diet
Lisa, who works at Pentland Primary School, in Pentland Avenue, Billingham, as a lunchtime assistant and a cleaning supervisor, was able to fit the new diet around her shifts.
“I go home for two hours after lunchtime and I prep the food,” she said. “Sometimes I make three different dinners. My Slimming World one, one for my 13-year-old daughter and another for my five-year-old son – he can be fussy.”
Lisa says she’s changed the way she cooks – “I still have steak, but I cut the fat off and cook it in Frylight.” She eats the same breakfast everyday – a bacon and egg sandwich – but she’s ditched the white bread and has a wholemeal pitta. She trims the fat off her bacon and fries the egg in the low calorie spray.
Lisa before she lost 5 stone 10lbs
For lunch Lisa says she has a seafood platter and some fruit, or a ready meal. She used to opt for a sandwich or a burger. And for tea, the busy mum uses recipes such as minced beef hotpot.
“I snack on fruit at night now, when the kids are in bed. I love Pink Lady apples,” she revealed. “Or I might have small cubes of cheese with pickled onions.”
Lisa says her downfall has always been savoury foods: “I used to go to McDonald’s. I’d get a full meal and a cheese burger and a chicken mayo one. I loved white bread and crisps.”
Lisa now weighs 13 stone 2lbs
On Saturday January 11, Lisa weighed 13st 2lbs. She has lost close to six stone in 11 months. The single mum says the Slimming World plan has worked for her, adding: “I just stuck to it. It was hard saying no to cakes and biscuits at work. The group is fantastic – you get loads of ideas. You can take your kids. I got to 15st by July and I kept losing. Now my new target is 12st.”
“A school mum said they didn’t recognise me in the playground,” Lisa smiles, and adds: “My teenage daughter tries to dress me in clothes for her age, and my son said to me; ‘you’re not fat now, are you mum!’.”
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