A mum lost 11 stone after being mortified by a photo where she looked bigger than Greedy the Gorilla, a holiday park’s mascot.
Now Nicolee McKeown, 33, has nearly lost half of her body weight in just a year.
The 5ft 3ins mum-of-two weighed more than 24 stone and was a size 32 when she took her family to Haven Primrose Valley Holiday Park in May 2018.
The NHS clerk did not want to take snaps with the park mascots in Filey, North Yorks, as she was embarrassed by her weight.
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But her children Teddie, seven, and Maisie, four, insisted on it.
Nicolee, from Heysham, Lancs, said: “I was so embarrassed and mortified that I was bigger than Greedy the Gorilla.
“I felt so self-conscious and felt like I had hit rock bottom.”
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She added she had piled on the pounds in a former job as a doctor’s receptionist where she got verbally abused most days.
Nicolee changed her life and started a new NHS job, joined Slimming World and started walking 10,000 steps a day.
She said: “When we came back [to the holiday park] this year, I couldn’t wait to get my picture taken. It felt amazing.
“When I used to go to soft play I’d just sit there because I once got stuck on the slide. It kind of scarred me for life.
“But now I race the children to see who can get to the top first.
“Now the children don’t recognise me when they see pictures of me bigger and I don’t either.”
Nicolee said the death of a relative who suffered from a stroke aged just 39 was the final straw.
She replaced a diet of five takeaways a week with healthier food.
Nicolee said: “I didn’t want to leave my children without a mum.”
She adds: “My diet was awful.
“I was stressed and I ate five takeaways a week. I had an unhealthy relationship with food, I was depressed.”
The busy mum, who now weighs 13st 2lbs and is a size 14, said her husband Paul, 34, loves her new figure.
She also hopes her story will help others to lose weight.
Offering advice on how to become slimmer, Nicolee said: “Eat everything but in moderation.
“It’s little changes that make big impacts.”
Old diet - 4,000 calories a day
BREAKFAST Cheese on toast
SNACK Tube of Pringles. Maltesers share bag
LUNCH McDonald’s or KFC
DINNER Chinese takeaway, eg main and prawn crackers, ribs, wings, chips.
New diet - 1,500 calories a day
BREAKFAST Fruit and yogurt
SNACK Apples or carrot sticks
LUNCH Home-made soups or salads
DINNER Home-made Indian or Chinese
