A Derry woman has told how she managed to turn her unhealthy life around after losing her mum and being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer.
Elizabeth Ewing was living with grief, life in lockdown and a diagnosis a recent bladder cancer diagnosis when she noticed her unhealthy habits were beginning to spiral out of control.
The Waterside woman said the added loss of her mum to vascular dementia left her despairing, unmotivated and experiencing unhappiness.
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Elizabeth, who originally weighed 18 stone, explained how after meeting with her Oncologist specialist dealing with her treatment, she vowed to reclaim her life back and lose weight - going on to shed over seven stone in 47 weeks.
"My blood pressure and cholesterol went sky high and I became totally inactive and constantly breathless," she said. "I became depressed and experienced mood swings and, finally, I became totally overwhelmed when I found out I had cancer.
"I stopped caring for myself. I constantly rang for takeaways instead of cooking for myself. Food was definitely my comfort as I was just so far down and out of control.”
But after meeting with a local weight-loss consultant, Carey Ann Clarke, Elizabeth's life would finally change for the better. She said: “It was like a real blessing when I met Carey-Ann. She was delivering leaflets at my door and that's how we met. She was the breath of fresh air that I needed in my life.
"She told me how she had lost eight stone herself and told me how she went about keeping it off. She knows it's not easy but she is just full of passion and enthusiasm."
Carey-Ann told Elizabeth about the Slimming World group based in the Waterside, encouraging the local woman to come along to one of the group sessions.
"It felt completely natural to me when I joined the group and I didn't feel intimidated or that I couldn't go through with it. I knew I wasn't going to have to struggle on my own and that I would have the support and truly believed I was now going to get my life back on track”.
Elizabeth's new-found motivation has now taken her from strength to strength and she eventually lost seven stone in just 47 weeks.
“I feel like an entirely different person in such a short period of time. And I look like such a different person too that even my own family don’t recognise me anymore.
"I’m so much happier and positive in myself too. I’m back out living my life again and don’t have the mood swings I had before. At my six-month check-up, my Oncologist couldn’t believe how much weight I’d lost.
"I was tremendously proud of the fact that he almost didn’t recognise me. It was, of course, a really great feeling to see the shock in his face.
"This was taken one step further when my I told my Slimming World group how my appointment had gone and they all clapped and celebrated for and with me.
"Then came the huge roar of raw emotion and disbelief when I told them I got the all-clear. Words just cannot fully describe it.”
Elizabeth had managed to lose so much weight that she was crowned Woman of the Year at her local Slimming World Waterside Group. It now means she will go forward as the group's nomination for Slimming World's Woman of the Year 2022.
"I knew something special was going to happen when I joined the group," she continued. "I just had a feeling that it was exactly what my life needed.
"My life is under control again - my breathing has eased, I’ve lots more stamina and energy and my blood pressure and cholesterol are both normal.
"I think it’s amazing the way I have so much more confidence in myself. It’s as if a physical, as well as an emotional weight, has been lifted off my shoulders.
"I really enjoy going out now with family and friends in my 'slimmed down' wardrobe of clothes. I couldn't be happier with the way my life is now."
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