I lost 7 stone to help my son beat the bullies
Tuesday 08 January 2008
Karen Coates was 17 stone and hated the way she felt. She was constantly exhausted, wasn’t able to fit into trendy clothes and barely had the energy to climb the stairs to bed at night.
It took a heartfelt plea from her young son to make her do something about her weight problem. Now, just over a year after Jacob, then eight, told her he was being taunted over her weight by school bullies, 5ft 6 Karen’s achieved her goal weight of 10st, thanks to Closerdiets.com.
She has also been crowned as our Dieter Of The Year.
“I was speechless when Jacob said he was being bullied because of me,” says Karen, 42, from Cawston, Rugby. “We were on the way to school when he tentatively said: ‘can I say something… it’s a bit hurtful. I’m being teased at school – the other children say you’re fat.’ I decided right then that things had to change.”
Within hours, Karen, an advisor for the British Dental Health Foundation, had logged on to www.closerdiets.com. “I joined up, printed out my new, healthy food shopping list and resolved to change my life,” she recalls.
Karen, though, hadn’t always been fat. “I used to be a size 8 as a teenager. I enjoyed exercise and ate healthy food.” But things changed when she got a job as a dental sales rep. “The long hours meant that I couldn’t get to gym classes, and driving all day meant that I ate fast food on the go,” she explains.
Went up to a Size 22
Karen met her husband, David, nine years ago, when she was a size 16. But after having her two children – Jacob, now nine, and Tabitha, five – she tipped the scales at 17 stone and a size 22.
After she made the decision to diet, Karen admits that she was worried she wouldn’t be able to keep up her new regime, but was surprised at how easy the Closerdiets.com meal plan was.
She said, “I hate cooking but Closerdiets.com recipes are easy to follow and delicious.” By the end of her first week, Karen had lost 5lbs. She had swapped her favourite sausage rolls, crisps and cheese for healthier jacket potatoes and snacked on Twiglets.
Karen lost another 5lbs the following week, and then settled into a regular pattern of losing 2-3lbs a week. “When you see it coming off, you feel inspired,” she said.
Lost 5st in six months
After six months she had lost an impressive 5st and after a year she’d lost 7st.
She also hadn’t exercised for years, but as the weight came off she began going to bums and tums gym classes twice a week. Karen now also runs five mornings a week and does sit-ups every day.
Best of all, Jacob is no longer being teased. When she thanked her son for being the only one who had the courage to tell her that she was too big, he wrote her a letter in reply saying: “Dear Mummy, thank you for getting thin for me.”
"I'm so proud"
“That meant the world to me, says Karen. But there was one more piece of good news in store – the icing on the cake was being named the Closerdiets.com Dieter Of The Year. She won a fabulous holiday to the Apollonia Beach Hotel in Cyprus, as well as an Avon beauty hamper.
“I’m thrilled and so proud,” she says. “Losing the weight has transformed my life. I feel healthy, have more energy – and now I can walk into a shop, pick up a size 10 and know it’ll fit!”