A nasty comment at her place of work shocked Welsh midwife Claire Crowthers into a pre-wedding weight loss regimen that saw her lose nearly 40kgs for her big day.
Claire, 31, says she had a penchant for comfort eating and a particular weakness for pizza. and adds that she ate her way to nearly 90 kgs. The mother-of-one says her weight got ‘out of control’ and that, at one point, she ‘couldn’t bear’ to look at herself in he mirror.
“I was a comfort eater and stress meant that I reached for the ice cream and pizza all too often,” she told the Daily Mail.
“‘At 5ft 3, I tipped the scales at nearly 14 stone (about 88kgs) and I couldn’t bear to look at myself in the mirror.”
“My long-term health was in jeopardy, I was classed as morbidly obese and I was a bad role model for my daughter Molly,” she says.
In fact, Claire was so unhappy with her body, she refused to marry her boyfriend, Stephen, for fear of having to walk down the aisle as a ‘fat bride.’
“I couldn’t stand the person looking back at me in the mirror, every photo of me was so bad that I deleted them off the camera to avoid having to look at myself,” she said.
‘I was mortified and although I knew he was right, the fact that a total stranger had passed a comment left me feeling upset, but also determined to change myself,’ she added in her interview with the Daily Mail.
“I loved the buzz that I got from completing a workout and soon made new friends,” she said.
“Not only was the gym a place to get fit and help me reach my goals but it also became a social outlet and I found myself spending more and more time attending different classes.”
It worked and her hard work paid off. Claire lost a whopping 38kgs – and married Stephen!
Their wedding took place in October 2014 and, of course, little Molly was bridesmaid.
