Weight loss – Bride who was so fat her thighs bled when they rubbed together sheds 6st before big day
THE idea of walking down the aisle in a size 22 wedding dress made Sara Swallow sick to her stomach.
The mum-of-two, 31, had ballooned to a staggering 17 stone and she was so overweight her thighs would bleed because they rubbed together so much.
Horrified at the prospect of tying the knot to her partner Lee, 35, as a "wide bride", Sara decided it was time to make a change.
The hairdresser, from Brighton, decided to adopt a healthy, balanced meal plan focusing on fresh fruit and veg - and ditched all the fatty food she used to eat.
She has since shed an impressive six stone and managed to walk down the aisle as a size eight bride - after having her wedding dress taken in five times.
Sara said: "I love looking at my wedding photos as they don’t just show how much I love Lee but they show how far I’ve come."
Sara admits she always struggled with her weight and would binge-eat sweets, biscuits and entire tubs of ice-cream on her own as well as fattening takeaways and junk food.
She'd tried yo-yo dieting in a bid to lose weight, see-sawing between binge-eating and starving herself on juice only diets.
Sara said: "I have always had a weight problem and was bullied at school and called ‘fat s**g’ and so growing up I didn’t have any self-esteem.
"It was a vicious circle - I’d eat, then I’d get depressed about my weight, someone would make a comment and then I’d eat to make myself feel better.
"I was greedy and lazy. I ate what I wanted and never went to the gym.
"I only went for a walk if there was cake at the end of it and yet I hated how I looked.
"My thighs were enormous and covered in cellulite and deep dimples.
"My arms were almost as big as my thighs and I had rolls of back fat."
My feet were so fat and swollen they would only fit into flipflops and then they got stuck to my feet. That was my biggest and it was a nightmare
Sara Swallow
And Sara's weight had become such a problem she could barely walk and her thighs would bleed.
It also made sex uncomfortable as she always felt she was too big.
She added: "When it was hot or when we went abroad on holiday, I could hardly walk I was so big.
"My thighs were so chunky they’d rub together and bleed.
"I’d have to cover them with talcum powder as they chafed so much.
"My feet were so fat and swollen they would only fit into flipflops and then they got stuck to my feet. That was my biggest and it was a nightmare.
"My boobs were 38E and so I’d wear tent dresses to hide them. Having sex I always felt too big because I weighed more than Lee."
Her painter and decorator partner Lee proposed on holiday in Ibiza during a family holiday to Ibiza with their children, Archie, eight, and Harry, four.
And it was only when Sara spotted a picture of herself bursting out of a size 22 jumpsuit on her 30th birthday that she vowed to slim down.
Sara's diet before and after
BEFORE
Breakfast: Two cups of coffee with full-fat milk and two sugars and three Custard Cream biscuits.
Two slices of white toast with butter and peanut butter.
Mid-morning snack: Cup of Tea with full-fat milk and sugar and a chocolate digestive biscuit.
Lunch: Cheese and ham sandwich made with white bread and lashings of mayonnaise. Cheese and Onion crisps, a Dairy Milk family size chocolate bar and a glass of orange juice.
Mid-afternoon snack: Sweets (Haribos) or packet of Oreo biscuits.
After picking children up from school: Cup of tea and biscuits.
Dinner: Lasagne made with creamy sauce, served with potato wedges, salad coated with mayonnaise and cheese and garlic bread. Most nights would have second helpings of man-size portions followed by small tub Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream.
Fish and chips on Fridays and double cheeseburger large meals washed down with chocolate milkshake.
Late Night Snack: Chocolate bar.
Occasional drink: Prosecco or wine.
AFTER
Breakfast: Greek fat free yoghurt with fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Cup of coffee with semi-skimmed milk and sweetener.
Mid-morning snack: Satsuma. Glass of Water (drinks 2 litres a day)
Lunch: Wholemeal bagel (no butter) with ham, lettuce, cucumber and tomato along with a tiny amount of low fat Mayonnaise. Diet Coke.
Mid-afternoon snack: Apple. Glass of water.
Dinner: Home-made wholemeal spaghetti Bolognese with tomato sauce.
Occasional drink: Gin and slimline tonic.
She signed up to Slimming World and dramatically overhauled her diet.
Sara said: "I was so excited when Lee asked me to marry him.
"But the idea of walking down the aisle - or waddling more like - filled me with horror.
"He always thought I looked good and didn’t care what size I was or how much I weighed, but I wasn’t going to get married in a huge tent-like dress so I decided to change my bad eating habits drastically.
"Out went the fish and chip suppers, double cheeseburger large meal snacks washed down with milkshakes, and constant chocolate bars.
"In came a healthy, balanced meal plan focusing on fresh fruit and veg.
"I wasn’t hungry and the weight fell off.
"I watched a new me - a thin me - emerge in the mirror and couldn’t believe that was me. I looked as good as I felt."
Sara found her diet filling and she used her 'syns' to eat chocolate - but this time it was a small KitKat rather than a family-size chocolate bar.
She said: "I’ve always been a chocoholic - it has always made me feel better and it tastes good - and so I suffered from headaches after I gave it up.
"I was quite moody, but that didn’t last too long.
"I had more energy, and wanted to do exercise for the first time in my life.
"And I was so proud when I could wear a bikini and knew that there were no rolls of fat and that I looked good.
"I bought my dress in a sale off the rack and every time I went for a fitting they had to keep taking it in.
"I was so happy until two days before the wedding the seamstress told me not to lose anymore.
"She took it in one last time and said it would hang off me if I lost any more weight.
"It was beginning to gape at the front as my breasts were so much smaller."
Sara had gone from a size 22 to a size 8 and now weighs 10st 13lbs.
She’s lost seven inches of each arm and now has a thigh gap where once there was cellulite.
Sara said: "I felt amazing walking down the aisle.
"My dress was backless and I didn’t have a veil as I didn’t have any back fat for the first time in my life. I wanted to show off my smooth back.
"It was such a special day and I was so proud of myself. I looked and felt beautiful for the first time."
Sara also had to have her solitaire diamond engagement ring made seven sizes smaller due to her weight loss.
She is now hoping to inspire others to follow in her footsteps, adding: "I was the laziest, greediest person around and so if I can lose weight, anyone can."