A woman slimmed down from a size 30 to a dress size 16 following a health scare that saw her completely paralysed for a few minutes. Natalie Lea describes the incident as one of the scariest experiences of her life.
The brush with death spurred the mum-of-two to overhaul her diet and lifestyle and shed 7.5 stone. On the day of the scare, Natalie had just come home after spending the day at a market.
She was lying on the sofa when she momentarily fell unconscious, prompting her to shout for help. When she tried to scream nothing came out and she could not move her body.
She called her sister who took her to the hospital. Natalie suspected she might have had a stroke but had actually been shocked by her implantable cardioverter-defibrillator – a small battery-powered device she had implanted in her chest after being diagnosed with severe heart failure.
The machine is used to restore irregular heart rhythms. Natalie began to gain weight following her father's death in October 2021. She turned to food as a coping mechanism and developed some unhealthy habits.
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In January 2022, just a few short months after the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator incident she embarked on her weight loss journey. Though she was losing weight at home, she decided to sign up to her local Slimming World group for extra help and support, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Attending group meetings every week and following a diet plan, Natalie quickly began to shed the pounds – going on to lose an incredible seven-and-a-half stone. Currently, she estimates she is a size 16.
Recalling her health scare, she said: “This hit me hard; it was one of the scariest moments of my life.
“This is when I realised I drastically needed to change my lifestyle, not just for me but so I could watch my two beautiful girls grow up.”
Natalie developed a complicated relationship with food following the death of her father. She would either binge eat takeaways and unhealthy ready meals or eat nothing at all.
"I began not eating properly, either not eating at all or just grabbing a takeaway,” she continued. “[I was] just generally not looking after myself as I should as I suffer with severe heart failure and being obese was not good for me or the strain it was putting on my already very weak heart.”
These days, her diet looks very different. Natalie only lets herself eat carbs three times a week and her favourite meals include homemade vegetable curry.
“I’m really proud of myself,” she said. “I had such a hard year in 2021 and we had lockdown which didn’t help. I was in the house with my severe heart failure and I was scared to go outside. I definitely snacked more.
"I absolutely love the flexibility Slimming World has given me. I’ still being able to have my favourite foods like curry, lasagne and my favourite burger in a bowl.
“In just over a year, I got my six-and-a-half stone award. I also won Women of The Year 2022 and the Greatest Loser 2023. I can’t thank Kat and my group enough for all their support, I couldn’t have done it without their help and inspiration as well as the support of my family and friends.
“My life has changed so much – for the better. I’ve still got a little way to go but this has really changed my life. I’m so much happier and confident within myself and I'm not scared about the future. Seven-and-a-half stone gone forever.”
