A Greggs fan gave up her daily pasties and sweet treats to lose an amazing six stone - and is now a bodybuilder.
Staceylee Richards, who was 15st and used to squeeze herself into size 16 clothes, had a diet of steak bakes, sausage and bean melts, baguettes and jam doughnuts. The 38-year-old found Greggs food "too tempting" to resist as she walked past the bakery multiple times a day while at work.
But the former banking manager, now a personal trainer and bodybuilder, changed her eating habits, dropping six dress sizes and 6st. She now weighs 9.2 stone.
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Staceylee, from Newport, Wales, said: "I was addicted to food and I would think about it constantly. It was my comfort for when I had ups and downs as food always made me feel better until later on when the guilt would hit.
"Working in the banking office was hard as there was temptation everywhere - if it was someone's birthday, there would be a cake, or at long meetings we'd have biscuits and coffee. But the biggest culprit was the Greggs down the road.
"I'd go every lunchtime and order the usual - a steak bake, a sausage and bean melt, ham and cheese baguette and a jam doughnut. Thinking about it now, makes me feel sick but that was the norm for me. My eating and lifestyle habits are worlds away from my banking days and I couldn't be happier."
Stacylee admits she always had a turbulent relationship with food and felt like the "fat friend" during her school years, reports the Manchester Evening News. She said: "Growing up, I was always bigger than my friends.
"I used to compare myself to my smaller girlfriends. It would get me down and I'd comfort eat. When I was 11-years-old I went to secondary school wearing a size 12 skirt and I just kept getting bigger."
Staceylee's rocky food relationship continued into her 20s and her weight would yo-yo from fad diets to binges. In March 2014, Staceylee, then a size 18, joined a slimming group where she lost eight dress sizes in 12 months, leaving her weighing just 10.5st.
However, despite the great results, Staceylee found herself slipping into unhealthy habits of restriction and then excessively rewarding herself. She said: "Whilst I got good results, I still found temptations all around.
"There was a chip shop right by where we'd meet each week. On weigh-in day, I'd starve myself all day and then reward myself with a greasy battered sausage, cheesy chips and gravy. Even after losing the weight, I still had an unhealthy relationship with food."
But after joining the gym in 2015, she found that she loved the environment and started weight training. Staceylee also looked online for exercises and tips, and started following bodybuilders on Instagram.
She found that the slimming group no longer served her lifestyle and she left in March 2015 to focus on weight training. In July 2017, Staceylee was made redundant from her banking job and she threw herself into her bodybuilding training which saw her compete in her first competition, Bodypower, in 2018.
Staceylee then completed her first ever bodybuilder competitive year which saw her invited to the PCA British Finals. However, when lockdown hit in 2020, she found herself falling back into old habits.
In the first seven weeks of lockdown, she put on two stone. She missed going to the gym to train for competitions and found herself comfort eating again, she admitted. But in October last year, weighing 15st, Stacylee became determined to get back into shape and contacted her old training coach.
She said: "I went to the gym every day and me and my coach would train weekly. I've managed to shed just shy of six stone. Now I can't even find women's size four jeans that fit and I have to shop in the children's section."
Staceylee credits her results to consistency in both diet and exercise and her personal training business has been going from strength to strength. She said: "What I've learnt and what I tell my clients now is you can't fix a bad diet with exercise alone. It has to be a two-pronged attack if you want results. I used to believe that I could eat whatever I wanted as long as I went to the gym."
Last month, Staceylee came first in the Fit X Welsh Championships which is her first win since getting back into her training.
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