I lost 10 stone and saved £65k – I’ve spent the extra cash on holidays instead of mindlessly eating the money away
GEMMA Sterland, 40, a weight-loss consultant, lives near Stratford-on-Avon with husband Marc, 44, who runs a TV aerial business, and sons Aodhan, 14, and Charlie, six.
“Watching the video my son Aodhan had made, I fought back tears.
He’d asked me to help him create a funny clip to post online of him trying to pull out his wobbly tooth.
Usually I hid from cameras, but he was only eight and so excited, so I’d reluctantly agreed.
Now, seeing it back, I felt so ashamed. I couldn’t believe the woman on the screen was me.
I was so big, and in my shapeless top I looked like I was wearing a tent.
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Aged 35, I weighed 21st 4lb which, at 5ft 8in, made me morbidly obese.
I didn’t start gaining weight until my late teens – before then, I was a healthy size 14.
In 2001, when I was 17, I moved in with my boyfriend Marc.
We worked hard on our TV aerial and CCTV business, and eating together became our time to relax and treat ourselves.
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Takeaways and three-course meals at the local pub with wine meant we began to gain weight.
We had no money by the end of the month either, but we didn’t connect what we were spending on food and drink with the state of our finances.
When Aodhan arrived in 2009, my bad habits got worse.
We’d have takeaways several nights a week, I’d graze on buttered toast all day and meet mum friends for coffee and cake.
I couldn’t even fill the car up with fuel without buying a chocolate bar for the drive home.
Life revolved around food and it didn’t matter how I was feeling – happy or sad – it was food I reached for.
Marc gained weight, too, although never as much as me.
I avoided the scales, but knew I was getting bigger as I’d have to buy new clothes in increasing sizes.
Marc always told me I was beautiful, but I didn’t believe him.
I’d try to diet, but I’d always fail, then comfort eat and gain even more pounds.
I got used to well-meaning people telling me I’d be pretty if I lost weight.
One day, I went go-karting with friends, and the attendant told me to get out of the kart as the seatbelt wouldn’t fit.
I tried to laugh it off, but I wanted the ground to swallow me up.
After Charlie was born in 2017, I weighed 21st 4lb and was a size 26.
I was always exhausted, which I put down to having two children, but I realise now that my weight was impacting my energy levels.
It wasn’t long afterwards that Aodhan asked me to appear in his wobbly-tooth video, which would prove to be a turning point for me.
Things had to change.
I’d always made home-cooked food for the boys, but I now started cooking dishes like chilli and stir-fries for Marc and me, too.
I threw away the takeaway menus, filled my trolley with fruit and veg instead of wine and crisps, and cancelled bookings for meals out.
I had fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, ditched bread completely and reduced my portion sizes, cutting out sweet snacks, too.
After one month, I’d not only lost 2st and had much more energy, but there was £1,000 more than usual in our bank account because we’d been spending less on food.
I was thrilled and vowed to carry on.
In May 2018, I decided to start The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan to keep me motivated and, by April 2019, I’d lost 7st, weighed 14st and wore size-16 clothes.
I carried on eating healthily and exercised by walking and lifting weights at the gym.
By December 2020, I weighed 11st and was a size 10 – I felt like a teenager again!
Marc lost around 3st too, as he’d also changed his eating habits.
We’ve managed to save around £13,000 a year as a result of eating better – a total saving of around £65,000 since we started.
The extra cash has meant we’ve been able to have holidays and trips to theme parks, making precious memories instead of just mindlessly eating and drinking the money away.
I turned 40 last summer and I’m really proud of how far I’ve come, maintaining my weight at around 11st.
I’ve changed careers, becoming a weight-loss consultant, so I can help other people overhaul their diets and lives – and hopefully their finances, too. I want to be a healthy role model for my sons.
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I’m half the woman I used to be, and have never felt better!”
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BTW
The average UK woman weighs 11st 3lb.*
UK households spend £4,124 on groceries and £1,220 on eating out/takeaways a year.**
Words: Heather Main Photography: Roland Leon Sources: *NHS **ONS
