Sarah decided to transform her body after her little girl got teased for having a “fat mummy.”
A reflexologist who was humiliated on a holiday flight to Mallorca when she needed a “seat belt extension” before take-off, finally lost 10 stone after children taunted her daughter, saying her “mummy was fat.”
So ashamed of her mighty 22st 4lb weight that she only confessed it to her landscape gardener husband this year, once she had lost it, Sarah Jones, 40, of Warrington, Cheshire, had even considered a gastric band because of her excessive size.
But, happily married to Steven, 47, since 2006 – father to her two daughters, Olivia, 10, and Grace, eight, who she describes as a “constant joy” – it was when her obesity impacted on her family life that Sarah finally vowed to change.
Now 12st 4lb and a slender size 12, she said: “I remember one day Olivia coming home and being a total wreck.
“I asked her what was wrong and she told me that some children had taunted her saying her ‘mummy was fat.’
“I’d spent my life being teased and humiliated because of my weight, and now it was happening to my daughter too.”
She added: “I knew I had to do something. Enough was enough.”
The incident in 2016 brought back another shameful memory of a 2015 family holiday to the Spanish island of Mallorca, when she needed a seat belt extension before she could fly.
She recalled: “It was one of the most mortifying moments of my life.”
“A constant fear of mine would be not being able to fit in a seat, so to have it happen on a plane was beyond embarrassing,” she continued.
“The air stewards were so kind about the whole thing, but I knew deep down everybody on that plane was judging me, and who could blame them, I was judging myself.”
A yo-yo dieter since her late teens, Sarah, a former sixth form teacher had struggled with her weight since the age of seven.
An emotional eater, she would constantly comfort or reward herself with glutinous treats.
And, despite her best efforts to hide her growing girth under baggy clothes, she was constantly taunted, especially at school, because of her weight.
She said: “I absolutely loathed being at school. The bigger I got the more I was bullied, and the more I was bullied the more I ate – it was a vicious cycle.”
After leaving secondary school at 16, Sarah started working at a local bingo hall, where she met Steve, in 2002, marrying him at St Wilfred’s Church, Warrington, in 2006 , by which stage she already weighed 18st 6lbs.
“I loved my wedding dress and was happy to be marrying Steve,” she said.
“Steve has never struggled with his weight, and made it clear from our first date that he wasn’t fussed whatever size I was.”
She added: “I loved him for it, but looking back on photos from my wedding, I can’t believe how big I was.”
Not only did Sarah’s weight damage her self esteem, she feels it held her back professionally and socially.
She continued: “Up until my weight loss last year, I feel like my entire life has been hindered by my weight, from my social life to my career – and everything in between.”
While working weekends at the bingo hall, Sarah was studying Psychology at Staffordshire University, before training to become a teacher in 2003.
After qualifying as a sixth form teacher, she was over-the-moon to be taking classes in Health and Social Care studies, but her weight once again posed a problem.
“Although I loved my job as a teacher, I couldn’t help but feel that I hadn’t escaped the playground,” she said.”It’s impossible not to be stared at or talked about when you’re 22 stone and I had to accept that.”
Sarah continued: “I was so embarrassed and ashamed of my weight that I didn’t put myself forward for promotions and my career didn’t progress.”
But, despite her career stagnating and suffering constant jibes and humiliation, Sarah still refused to do anything about her size until she woke up to the impact it was having on her family.
Horrified at the prospect of having a gastric bypass, she finally woke-up to how bad things had become and found a new drive to fight the flab the “old fashioned way,” by joining her local Slimming World club.
“I knew before I stepped through the door, I was going to be the biggest one there, but I didn’t care,” she explained.
Recalling her first visit in September 2016, she said: “I stepped on the scales and broke down in tears. If I didn’t change then I knew that I never would.”
Trading in her diet of canteen lunches and family packs of Cadbury Double Deckers for pitta bread and salad and fresh fruit, Sarah lost an impressive seven pounds in her first week.
Spurred on by her early success, she shed a whopping eight stone in her first year and by April 2018, two years after starting her journey, she had lost 10 stone exactly.
Weighing a healthier 12st 4lb and wearing a size 12, with a new lease of life Sarah packed in her job as a sixth form teacher and trained with the Gaia School of Natural Health, in Reflexology and Reiki.
Explaining her career change, she said: “After losing all that weight I just knew I wanted to give back to people on a much more personal level.”
Sarah added: “I’d always been intrigued by complementary therapy and I just thought, ‘Why not?!’”
As if that was not enough, due to Sarah’s success, this year she became a managing consultant for Slimming World, Cheshire East.
“I’ve transformed in all senses of the word and I couldn’t be happier, I only recently found out just how much my weight was impacting on those I loved most.”
She concluded: “I never knew how upset it made my husband not being able to put his arms around me – but now he can!
“It’s brilliant be able to use my own experience as a successful slimmer to help others out their hoping to lose weight.
“I’m proof that it’s never too late to turn your life around.”
To find your nearest Slimming World group call 0344 897 8000 or log on to www.slimmingworld.co.uk