Clare Louise speaks about: “My physical and mental health has never been as good. I was just in this cycle of piling on weight. It was just stress and all the rest of it. I put on this weight and I could not shift it and then that had a huge knock-on effect. And then I lost two stones and that’s two dress sizes. I found myself again as a woman. I lost part of my identity as a woman with the weight and she’s back and I love it”

Mish Burgess speaks about: “I was very good at putting a mask on. I was great at saying I don’t care, I’m fat and happy. I’m always the first to say derogatory words to myself because then nobody else can hurt your feelings if you’ve said the things first. But I was miserable and thought I’m just destined to be a big lass. Then everything changed. I lost like 3 stones in the end. I’ve gone from size 22 to about 16. By the time I finished working with you, I’d dropped from a size 16 to 8. I printed my end picture and the very first picture that I sent to you. The one where I just looked so miserable and old. And I put them side by side on the canvas. It’s the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see when I go to bed. And I don’t want to be that woman anymore. I like this one.”

Samantha Smith speaks about: “I was just in an unhappy place and after I got divorced, I sort of hung on to that weight. It was like a security blanket for a long time. I was really hurting and my joints were aching and I just couldn’t go without medicating. Now, I take absolutely nothing and I don’t have those aches and pains in my joints anymore. When I went under 100 kilos, I thought, oh my god I’ve done it. I thought right away, where do I want to go? Right to the very top of the hill in the woods, there’s a really sunny place where you can just look at all the fields. I just went off straight up a huge hill that I would never have gone up before. As I got there, my god, I was so overwhelmed with emotion and I was so proud of myself.”

Delyse Taylor speaks about: “I was completely confused by what food is okay and what food isn’t. I think my body was equally confused. I spent quite a long time just not knowing what food plan to follow. Then I had a knee operation that took me to 12 weeks on crutches. I became really disconnected with my body not just for the fact of being on crutches but just putting on so much weight. After 4 weeks coming out of crutches, I then had a car accident and ended up with a major hand operation. So I spent most of 2019 just feeling really detached from my body. That just escalated into lots of different feelings being out of control. I didn’t like what I was seeing in the mirror, very rarely looked in the mirror. Now, I proudly stand in front of a mirror. I just feel different and I think the program has guided me through that.”

Mandy Wait speaks about: “I lost a lot of confidence in my own ability and the way I looked. But I think the main thing was about my health. My blood pressure has gone up. We’ve talked about me looking after my grandson and my daughter said, I don’t know if you can do it. You won’t be able to keep up with him. It’s incredibly sad really. If I’m going to have a part in their lives, then I need to get myself back on track. I’ve lost 6 (to over 9) stones and gone 5 or 6 sizes down. I literally ran into the gym once and my trousers fell down. My coach says to me, just stop for a minute and celebrate. I do celebrate but now I’ve had a piece of it, I’ve been quite relentless because I wanted to commit to it.