A single mum showed off her incredible weight loss transformation after shedding seven stone - because she was embarrassed to take pictures with her daughter. Lara McReynolds, 32, tipped the scales at 18st 6lb last year and struggled to play with her daughter Halle, aged seven.
She hated how she looked in photos and would only take pictures of her face to hide her body. But Lara was determined to make a change and joined the 1:1 diet which includes a range of low calorie meal replacement products such as soups, shakes and bars.
GP receptionist Lara, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, has slimmed down to 11st 6lb and dropped ten dress sizes – going from a 22 to a 12. Her waist has also trimmed down from 47 inches to 31 inches.
Lara said: “Being a single parent it hit me one day that I can’t just keep getting bigger and bigger and miss out on doing activities with my daughter. I needed to make sure I was healthy so I can live a long life and be there for her.
“There are hardly any pictures of me and Halle together from before, and the ones there are they are just our faces so people wouldn’t see my body. I was embarrassed being in pictures with her because of my weight.”
Mum-of-one Lara said she would eat up to four takeaways a week as she found it hard to get motivated to cook after putting Halle to bed. She said: “I was eating constantly, I felt like I always had food on me.
“I ate a lot of junk food and comfort eat by rewarding myself with takeaways on good days or bad. I was having three or four a week, it was just quick and easy.
“I would make dinner for my daughter about 5pm, then do the bedtime routine, so by the time I sat down it was 7pm and I didn’t want to start cooking a big meal. I have a sweet tooth so I was bad for eating sweeties and cakes.”
Lara joined her local 1:1 group and now eats around 1,500 calories a day. She said: “I had done the diet in the past and never kept it up but this time I was determined to do it and lose the weight.
“It’s crazy the difference I have seen in my measurements. Now I am happy taking pictures with Halle.
“I am more active and able to do stuff with Halle, we go out and about much more. We play together and I can chase her around which I would never have been able to do before.
“I am eating around 1,500 calories a day now. I lost the weight without exercising really which was a bonus, I have never been much of a gym goer.
“Halle loves that I have lost the weight now, she thinks it is fantastic, and she helps keep me on track.”
Lara is now a consultant with 1:1 and can be found at - https://www.facebook.com/121Lara
What Lara ate before:
Breakfast: McDonald’s coffee and McMuffin,
Lunch: Sandwich with juice, crisps and chocolate
Dinner: Takeaway, Chinese, pizza, kebab
What Lara eats now:
Breakfast: Coffee and 1:1 diet ready made shake
Lunch: Chicken salad
Dinner: Omelette with veg
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