Size 20 mum caught in yo-yo dieting cycle says lockdown helped her slim down to a size 10
Size 10 #Size10
Video: Hannah Keeling talks about the food she is eating (Birmingham Mail)
Hannah Keeling talks about the food she is eating
SHARE
SHARE
TWEET
SHARE
Click to expand
UP NEXT
A size 20 mum says lockdown gave her the motivation to embrace a healthy lifestyle and to slim down to a size 10.
Before her lifestyle overhaul, 5ft 4in operations manager Carol Axe weighed 14st 7lb.
The 54-yar-old, of Sheffield, first had a wake-up call when her father, Alan, 67, and mother-in-law Janet, 72, both died from stomach cancer in 2011 – making her face the danger to her health caused by being so overweight.
After joining slimming group WW in early 2012, Carol – who has two sons, Christopher, 28, a technician, and Bradley, 23, a data analyst, with her engineering surveyor husband, Phillip, 56 – shed three-and-a-half stone over two years.
But, still classed as overweight at 11 stone, she could not break free from a vicious cycle she was caught in – whereby she would gain a stone during each of her all-inclusive holidays – before battling to shed it again when she got home.
She said: “I lost a lot of weight over a few years and then I got stuck in a cycle of gaining a lot of weight quickly, then losing it again. It was no way to live.
“Every year, I’d go on a two-week cruise in winter- which had unlimited drinks and food 24 hours a day – and I’d overindulge on all the carbs and cocktails.”
She continued: “I’d put on a stone then come back and spend the next few months losing it, before doing it all over again when I went on my summer holiday.
“I accepted that was my life – putting on weight and losing it again, year after year.”
But with no prospect of going on holiday after the Covid-19 lockdown was announced in March, Carol – whose weight had crept back up to 12st 2lb at the start of 2020 after an all-inclusive cruise to the Caribbean – has finally kicked her yo-yo dieting habit.
Throwing herself into a healthy eating and fitness regime, in August this year she reached her target weight of 9st 13lb, saying: “For the first time in my life, I feel in control of my weight.
“Since 2011, I’ve been trying to get down to this weight and I’ve finally done it.
“Lockdown made me take back control, as I had no choice but to stay in and couldn’t go on holiday. The one thing I could control was my weight and that gave me the motivation I needed.
“I took up jogging, Dance Fit and Power Hooping – a virtual exercise class using a hula hoop to trim the waistline – and maintained a healthy diet by following the WW eating plan.”
She added: “Luckily, it paid off and by August I was the slimmest and fittest I’d ever been.”
Struggling with her weight throughout adult life, Carol has fluctuated between a size 14 and a size 20.
She said: “Sometimes I’d blame my weight gain on being a busy mum and not having the time to exercise or to plan healthy meals. Others, I’d use the excuse that I’d just had a baby. But it gets to the point where the baby is now 10 years old and you’re still saying the same thing!”
Whatever her excuse was, there was no question that Carol had developed an unhealthy attitude to food and exercise.
“When my boys were little, I’d pick at whatever leftovers they had on their plate after eating my own meal,” she said. “Whether it was a chicken nugget, a Yorkshire pudding, or a leftover piece of shepherd’s pie, I’d eat it.
“I’m a savoury person, so a packet of crisps, cheese, bread and butter were my favourite things to nibble on.”
By the beginning of 2011, Carol tipped the scales at 13 stone, and in the build up to losing her father and mother-in-law, within months of each other, her weight crept up even more.
“It was an awful year, I spent the entire time running around like a mad woman between hospital visits and taking care of my family,” she said.
“I was eating and drinking all the wrong things. I’d grab anything I could eat on the go, like a sandwich and a packet of crisps.”
She added: “Then, in the evenings, I’d have a glass of wine or three and get the munchies, so I’d nibble on cheese and biscuits. I was comfort eating with grief and the stress of it all.”
By early 2012, Carol had put on a stone and half – tipping the scales at 14st 7lb – and soon realised she needed to do something about her weight.
“When people so close to you die it makes you take a long hard look at yourself,” she said. “I knew if I carried on, I was destined for a future of serious health complications. I knew I was overweight, but I’d still been in denial for years .”
She added: “I was squeezing into size 18 clothes when really I was a size 20 and covering up in baggy outfits.”
Finding the courage to join her local WW group in February 2012, Carol began her weight loss journey. Following the WW healthy eating plan and joining her local gym – which she would attend two or three times a week – she lost two and a half stone over the course of a year.
Despite slimming down to 12st, Carol still had a body mass index (BMI) – used to measure a healthy weight – of 28.6, which meant she was still classed as overweight, increasing her risk of developing health issues such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and strokes.
In 2013, she shed another stone but she struggled to lose any more because of her taste for all-inclusive holidays.
So, her yo-yo diets continued for another six years – with her fluctuating between 11 stone and 12st 7lb.
She said: ” I’d go on holiday for two weeks and put on a stone and then spend the next few months eating porridge or eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch and healthy low calorie dinners like chicken and fish with veg and exercising so I could lose weight.”
She added: “Then I’d do the same thing all over again after my summer holiday.”
By January this year, Carol had just returned from an all-inclusive cruise round the Caribbean and, as usual, had gained a stone during the two week trip.
“I came back weighing 12st 2lb and was getting ready to crack on and lose the extra pounds in time for my summer holiday when we were plunged into lockdown,” she said.
With her summer holiday plans dashed, she took a long, hard look at her lifestyle.
She said: “I realised that even though I’d never put all the weight I’d lost originally back on, I’d never really been in control of my body shape. Now was the time for me to take back control – especially with no holidays in the pipeline.”
With renewed resolve, Carol joined WW virtual classes and started jogging.
“We’ve got a treadmill in our garage, so I set myself the challenge of jogging the 270km it takes to get from Sheffield to London over the three months we thought lockdown would last,” she said.
“Every day, I’d keep a note of how far I’d jogged and whereabouts in the country I was, then I’d look it up on Google Maps. Seeing how far I’d gone gave me motivation to carry on.”
By May 10, Carol had effectively reached London and decided to continue jogging until she reached Lands End – a further 164km from the capital. Achieving her target in two months, in July she then joined Dance Fit and Power Hooping.
With her exercise and healthy eating regime in full swing, by August she had lost more than two stone and hit her goal weight of 9st 13lb for the first time ever.
“I was so proud of myself, I was jumping around and just wanted to tell everyone,” she said.
Now, feeling fabulous and fitter than ever, Carol has vowed never to return to her bad habits, saying: “I’m looking forward to going on holiday when we can – but I’m never slipping back into my old habits ever again.”
She concluded: “I’ve taken back control and I’m keeping it. It’s not about constantly losing weight, it’s about embracing a healthy lifestyle. It took lockdown and no holidays for me to realise that.
“I stick to the WW plan and I exercise. This is my lifestyle now, not just a quick fix, it’s something I’m never going to give up – not even for two weeks out of the year.”
To join Carol and begin your health and fitness journey, visit WW.com to get all the tools and inspiration you’ll need.