‘I was so big, my kids had to wipe my bottom!
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Food addict Dawn Price had always struggled with her weight, but, when she hit 25st, she found herself unable to carry out even simple tasks.
Hindered by her size 33 frame, Dawn couldn’t tie her own shoes without help from her daughter Jessica, now 19, and twins Emily and Lloyd, now 14. And, humiliatingly, she couldn’t go to the toilet on her own as she was so large, she couldn’t reach round far enough to wipe her bottom.
Dawn, 41, from Caerphilly, South Wales, says: “It was so degrading. Every time I needed to go to the loo, I’d have to call one of the kids. I hated it, but there was nothing I could do.”
Dawn eventually hit rock bottom and realised something had to change. So she joined a slimming club and managed to lose an amazing 9st in two years.
Dawn, who’s 5ft 5, started gaining weight aged five, when her parents split. She says: “I’d only see Dad at weekends and, to make up for it, he’d buy me chocolate. I began associating food with love and my comfort-eating spiralled.”
By the time Dawn was 13, she was 13st. She says: “I was deeply insecure and hated my size.”
Dawn would tuck into bacon butties for breakfast, pies for lunch and takeaways for dinner, consuming more than 5,000 calories a day. Then, in 1993, she fell pregnant with Jessica as a result of a brief fling, and her weight went up to 18st.
By the time she had her twins with long-term partner Darren in 1998, she’d gained another stone, then continued to gain weight over the next 10 years.
Aged 39, Dawn split with Darren and her weight went up to over 25st. She admits: “I hated my looks but, when I felt down, I’d turn to food. I’d get out of breath just walking a few steps.
“Jessica had to yank me out of bed and all three kids had to help me in and out of the bath. I felt so ashamed putting my kids through that, just because I couldn’t stop eating. I’d cry and apologise, but they’d say they didn’t mind looking after me.”
In 2009, Dawn reached her lowest point. She says: “I was looking at a picture of my twins and suddenly realised I might not be around to see them grow up.”
Determined to change, she enrolled at her local slimming club and swapped fatty foods for wholemeal toast and poached eggs for breakfast, baked potato and salad for lunch and spaghetti Bolognese for dinner.
She lost 1st 2lbs in the first week and 4st in six months. Dawn recalls: “I lost a lot at first, then some weeks I did better than others. But it was manageable, as I was allowed little treats. If I craved chocolate, I’d just have a small Kit-Kat.”
Dawn – who says she’s now a size 16 – has since lost an incredible 9st 3lbs and is 16st 6lbs, a lot of which is down to the loose skin she’s gained from dropping weight quickly at the start of her diet.
She says: “I suffer from asthma, but can look after myself now. I’m no longer a burden to my children. I’m lucky to have such amazing kids. We now spend time together properly and go to the cinema or shops.”
Jessica adds: “I’d do anything for my mum. She was never a burden and never needs to be embarrassed around me.”
By Nilufer Atik
Posted by Fairypants
RE: ‘I was so big, my kids had to wipe my bottom!
I'd wipe her bottom.
Posted 12/08/2012 21:49:26