A mum has shared her incredible transformation after ballooning to 25st and then losing half her body weight.
Stacey Gascoyne, 29, said she has turned her life around after struggling with her weight all her life and never feeling full.
The mum used to gorge on all you can eat buffets, multipacks of biscuits and share chocolate bars.
But she has swapped her chocolate cereal breakfasts and takeaway dinners for healthier homemade meals and lost an incredible 14st 8lbs, reports Yorkshire Live.
Stacey, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said: "Losing almost 15st has saved my life.
"I’m able to get out of bed in the morning and look in a mirror, something I wouldn’t have dreamt of doing before.
"I’ve gone from being a size 32 and far too self-conscious to go clothes shopping to a size 10 and finding a new love for clothes and fashion.
"My daughter loves eating the meals I cook too. She’s so proud of me and wants to support me and both my mum and dad are in awe of how well I’ve done."
Stacey used to start her day with a Danish pastry or a big bowl of chocolate cereal followed by shop bought sandwiches, crisps and chocolate for lunch and a pizza or kebab takeaway.
Her new healthier breakfasts include either low fat yoghurt with berries, smoked salmon and eggs or Overnight Weetabix Cheesecake made of Weetabix, yoghurt and fruit.
For lunch, she has lean chicken with salad including tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, while dinners include homemade recipes such as Slimming World chicken tikka masala with rice and peas.
And she has swapped her unhealthy chocolate and biscuit snacks for high fibre bars, Babybel Light and fruit.
Before her weight loss transformation, Stacey had tried multiple diets but was always left feeling hungry.
Weighing 25st 2lbs, she struggled to play with her daughter or even walk her to school and decided to join Slimming World in April 2019.
"I was severely asthmatic and couldn’t move an inch without needing my inhaler," Stacey said.
"I’d avoided the scales for so long and was mortified when I saw how much I weighed. I had problems sleeping and found I couldn’t run or play with my daughter and I even struggled to walk her to school and back.
"All of my life I was always the bigger girl but when I saw a picture of myself with my partner Jordan, I was mortified at how big I’d become."
At her first group meeting, Stacey met others who had also struggled to lose weight without feeling hungry and learnt about other options.
She benefited from a new eating plan that taught her how to use healthier foods to satiate her appetite and now plans all her meals in advance.
The mum told how she can still have treats and that her meals remain the same size, just healthier.
"I don’t need my inhaler and I’ve discovered a new love of walking. I walk and run for miles and I feel I’ve been given the freedom to enjoy my life with my family again," she said.
"Now I get up and take an extra 20 mins to pick an outfit and check what I look like in a mirror! It brings me such joy.
"I feel I’m now living the life I was always meant to live. I’m able to do activities with my family I never thought I'd be able to do and my confidence has grown massively.
"I no longer avoid the mirror or the camera and I’m happy for anyone to take my picture now! I’m not hiding anymore, I make my own spotlight.”
Stacey's story backs up findings from a Leeds university study led by Dr Nicola Buckland that found some people have 'low satiety responses' and this can make it harder to lose weight.
Professor James Stubbs, from the Leeds research team, said: “People who have a low satiety response feel less satisfied after eating.
"They’re more likely to crave high fat foods, to snack between meals and generally are less able to stick to their plans around food choices.
"Therefore they’re more likely to consume more calories than people with a high satiety response and find it harder to manage their weight.
“What this research looked at for the first time is how, for those people who have a low satiety response, choosing foods low in energy density – those foods naturally low in calories per gram – could help them feel fuller, limit their calorie intake and so help their weight loss."
