'I lost two stone with a simple diet change after a…

'I lost two stone with a simple diet change after a humiliating moment at Haven went viral'

Though Zanee Johnson had always been insecure about her weight, a mental health struggle during lockdown saw her reach her biggest size yet.

Regular McDonald’s breakfasts and takeaways meant the mum-of-one ballooned to 18 stone – leaving her hating herself and feeling “disgusted” by what she saw in the mirror.

Zanee, from Northwich in Cheshire, had tried countless diet plans and weight loss programmes in the past but nothing seemed to help her shed the pounds.

It wasn’t until she was subject to “hurtful” comments on a viral TikTok video that she finally decided to kick-start her weight loss journey.

Zanee, 39, received an enormous 2 million views on a video of her and her mum, Susan Thompson, trying to climb out of a huge deck chair at a Haven caravan park in May 2022.

Though most users found the clip funny, the mum received hundreds of upsetting comments about her weight after the video was shared by several national newspapers.

The abuse ultimately led to Zanee joining a Tameside-based slimming group – seeing her lose an incredible two stone in just two months.

“We went to a caravan park in Haven and they had these big deck chairs,” she told the Manchester Evening News. “We decided to sit in it and have a picture taken.

“As we went to get out, we struggled – but I think anyone would struggle! It was really hurtful because we’d not long been out of lockdown - I’d suffered with mental health through it like a lot of people did.

“A company approached me and asked if they could share [the video]. It just went viral. It was mad. I went into the school playground to drop my son off and the teachers said they had been laughing at me.

“The majority did find it funny but I did get the nasty comments saying ‘They shouldn’t be so fat’. You’re going to get people who are nasty. I just had to take it on the shoulders and do something about it.”

Zanee joined Beeweighed in late January 2023 with a goal of losing five stone. She's lost two stone so far and now weighs just over 15 stone, going from a dress size 22 to a 16.

The sales support assistant says her weight loss success comes down to calorie counting, cutting out alcohol, drinking three litres of water a day and swimming.

“I was having around two takeaways a week,” she added. “I hated myself. I looked in the mirror and felt disgusted, but it was a vicious circle. I felt so down about myself that I turned to food as a comfort.

“I’m feeling really good at the moment. I still have a long way to go, I still want to lose maybe another three stone.”