A mum has shared the 'biggest thing' that helped her lose five stone in an incredible transformation.
Lauren Voyce, 32, said she had battled with her weight since a young age. But she decided to take action and lose the weight for good after her mum Karen Martin, 65, was diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine appointment.
Karen was told her BMI was too high for the first line of treatment doctors wanted to give her following the 'out of the blue' diagnosis. Doctors were thankfully able to find her a different type of chemotherapy to treat the cancer, but it left Lauren determined to make changes to her own health, reports the Liverpool Echo.
READ MORE: Tributes paid to 'beautiful soul' at centre of shooting murder probe
She said: "It kind of spurred me on to do something about my own weight issue because I've got a little boy, and to think that if anything happened to me and I couldn't have the right treatment because my BMI was too high, I'd never forgive myself."
The mum-of-one decided to join Slimming World in May last year and has managed to lose five stone in the space of nine months. Lauren said: "The biggest thing with Slimming World is I'm in control of it. It's not someone else telling me what to do.
"I saw a dietician, I saw all kinds of health professionals when I was at school, and it was very much a prescriptive thing of 'this is what you must do, try this'. Well, that doesn't work for a lot of people and it certainly doesn't work for me.
"If your mind is in the right place then Slimming World definitely works. Once I started seeing the results and seeing how things were changing it spurred me on even more.
"I gave it everything because I had that drive and it obviously paid off. I'm really proud of what I've achieved. I've achieved more than I thought I would in the time frame that I did."
After a difficult nine months, Lauren said her mum has now "started to feel a bit more like herself" and has been able to return to work. She added: "She's certainly getting there now."
READ NEXT:
'I tried the £56 Chinese takeaway that Jack Grealish eats after EVERY Man City game'
The café in the shadow of Strangeways where only one thing matters
Mum and daughter, 7, flee 'freezing cold' hotel in middle of night due to stained sheets and bed bug
"I just want a good night's sleep": The 'one horse town' where houses shake in the night
