| For years, Laura Price hid behind baggy clothes as her weight spiraled out of control. She was bullied at school, where she and her best friend – who had the figure of a model – were known as Little and Large. Feeling miserable only made her eat more and by the time she was in her mid-teens, she was 14 stone.
Laura, now 22, admits that she was in denial, she was always considered herself chubby but a routine visit to her GP earlier this year forced her to confront the truth. She weighed in at 15 stone and at 5ft 3in, was classified as obese.
“It was a shock,” Say Laura from Horsham, West Sussex. “Nobody has actually used that word before and I’d never considered myself to be obese.”
Laura says she always felt sluggish and lethargic. “It was a vicious cycle. I was bullied and felt sad, so I’d eat – mainly cheese and savoury stuff. My weight crept up throughout my teens and I never dieted.”
“After I left school and began hotel work. I ate food as a reward. If I’d had a bad day at work, I’d treat myself to a whole tub of ice cream or a pizza, I drank spirits containing coke or Red Bull. Eventually it got to the stage where I don’t want to be that person any more.”
Eight months ago, for the first time, Laura decided to tackle her problem head on.
There are three main drug treatments – Xenical, Reductil and Acomplia – which have been proven to be effective for weight loss but they can have side effects. So Laura opted for a radical diet change combined with 'Proactol™', a natural treatment made from fiber extracts. Studies involving small numbers of patients have shown 'Proactol™' can work by reducing the amount of fat the body absorbs from food.
“I began losing weight at the rate of 6lb a week.” Having shed more than five stone, she now weighs 9 stone 10lb and is a size 10, down from a size 16.
“Losing weight has given me much more confidence,” she says. “For the first time in years, I’m taking interest in clothes. I can go into a shop and know that they’ll have clothes that fit me.”
|