A mum has lost nearly 5st and run a marathon after ditching junk food.
Rachel Falcus lost 4st 9.5lbs from 2007 to 2008 and has maintained her weight loss in the years since, discovering a passion for running and completing a marathon.
Alongside that, she’s been so successful she’s picked up an award for her weight loss.
The 42-year-old mum-of-three struggled with her weight since childhood, and often ate ready meals or takeaways.
As an adult, she bounced from diet to diet, finding none worked and that her confidence was at an all time low.
The mum from Newcastle-upon-Tyne said: “I was overweight from the age of nine. I didn’t play any sports, and my mum worked nights. My dad tried his best, yet the food he would make for us while she was at work was usually ready meals or takeaways.
“I started to think about the future and feeling that I wasn’t a good role model for my children. I wanted to be an active mum and be able to keep up with them. My weight felt like a constant worry.”
In September 2007, weighing over 15st and wearing a size 22, Rachel decided to join a Slimming World group.
She described the idea of joining the group as “daunting at first” but said she felt at home.
Over the next year, Rachel changed her diet, replacing fast food with home cooked meals and began losing more and more weight.
She said: “I had never cooked from scratch and here I was cooking up healthier versions of the foods I loved, and the weight just kept coming off. It felt good to be cooking for my family, especially knowing it was healthy food.”
Just over a year after starting off on her weight loss journey, Rachel hit her target weight of 10st 7lbs, shedding almost 5st and wearing a size ten, by December 2008.
Alongside that, the mum later went on to run a marathon after Covid.
She said: “I was the kind of kid to be picked last for PE, so I never thought that exercise would be for me. In fact, no one was more surprised than me when I started enjoying exercise. I joined a gym and started attending a few classes to build my confidence with using the equipment.
“Then when we went into lockdown and the gym closed, I started using the Couch to 5K app.
"Within two years, I was running the London Marathon as part of the Slimming World team for Cancer Research UK. I have to pinch myself at how much my life has changed.”
She also left her job as a civil servant and joined Slimming World full time as a consultant and today she runs ten slimming groups a week.
Her weight loss success has seen her named Slimming World’s Top Target Consultant 2023.
She said: “When I saw an opportunity to become a Consultant, it suddenly struck me how perfect the role would be for me. I wanted to help people change their lives like I’d changed mine.
“On top of that, being a Consultant allowed me the flexibility to be around for my children more, as I can tailor my working hours around the school run.”
Before menu
Breakfast: Nothing
Snack: A large chocolate bar
Lunch: Lasagne microwave ready meal
Snack: Bag of crisps
Dinner: A Chinese or Indian takeaway
After menu
Breakfast: A sweet omelette served with fat-free natural yogurt and fresh fruit
Mid-morning: Fresh fruit such as an apple, banana, melon or grapes
Lunch: Home-made pasta salad or Slimming World lunch bowl from Iceland
Mid-afternoon: A fat-free flavoured yogurt
Dinner: Homemade fake-away such as a Chinese or Indian meal
Evening: Two Slimming World Hi-Fi bars
