Sometimes it takes something really big to change our lifestyle habits. When you're stuck in a rut and wallowing in apathy, it's often not until things go too far that we finally realise that we need to do something about it. Maybe you're drinking too much at the weekend, and hangovers have become routine.
Maybe you're smoking too much, and it's not until you're out of breath after less than a minute that you decide to quit. Or maybe you've been happily munching your way through piles of junk food for most of your adult life, and only decide to hit the treadmill and lose weight after a major health scare.
For mother-of-three Rachel Smith, it wasn't until her doctor told her that she was morbidly obese that she decided to shed the pounds. Rachel, who hails from Dorking, England, was once a hefty 20 stone, and size 26, when her physician told her that she was dangerously overweight in September 2016. However, now she's managed to lose an incredible eight stone, and now looks completely different.
At one point, Rachel's overeating habits were so extreme, she would guzzle 5,000 calories a day - two-and-a-half times the 2,000 calorie limit recommended for women by the NHS - and would routinely order a double cheeseburger and fries as a side dish to her main meal. At one point, her J-cup boobs were so large and heavy that Rachel developed painful sores underneath them, as well as underneath the rolls of fat on her stomach. On a typical day, she'd devour four slices of toast, before snacking on crisps, before a lunch of cheese and ham sandwiches, followed by a packet of biscuits and takeaway pizzas or McDonald’s for dinner.
The turning point came after the birth of her daughter Jessica, Rachel went to her GP to see if she had shifted her baby weight, only for her doctor to ask her if she'd considered going through drastic weight loss surgery. Shocked, Rachel decided to make a permanent change to her diet and lifestyle. She traded her usual sugary meals and fatty snacks for chicken breast with salad for lunch. She started making homecooked dinners and snacked on fruit instead of junk food when she got peckish.
Commenting on her dramatic change, Rachel stated: "I was taken aback. No one likes being told they are morbidly obese. I told the GP I would think about the gastric band, but when I got home, I realised I didn’t want to have major surgery to lose weight, I needed to do it on my own. The truth is, I was just lazy and couldn’t be bothered to slim down."
"It wasn’t helped by the fact I did so much sitting and lying around. It got so bad that I had to use fungal cream to treat it because it became so infected. But I’d never felt bothered about losing the weight, so I just ate takeaways or bought a five-pack of donuts and would only leave one or two, so it didn’t look like I was eating them all. I knew how big I was, but it was just easier to grab the nearest thing and eat it."
She added: "My eating was out of control. A real junk food addict, I’d scoff anything I could, which in turn meant I struggled to do anything at all. I wouldn’t want to even push my kids on the swings at the park, as it was too much effort. Even a 10- minute walk to my children’s school was too arduous. I’d end up getting the bus, as I could hardly make the short journey ... Before I was sweating all the time. I looked a complete mess. Strangers would say unkind things to me and while I pretended I didn’t care, it hurt."
However, now Rachel has stated that people are looking at her differently, and she feels far more confident and outgoing. She even has more pep and is more energetic when playing with her kids. You go Rachel! You sure are an inspiration to us all!
