An Irishwoman who comfort ate after her son was stillborn says her life completely changed when she shed weight.
Paula Doyle and her husband Jonny were devastated at the loss of Tadhg in June 2016 and the 42-year-old believes it contributed to her binge eating.
The Co Cavan couple had two-year-old twin girls at the time. Paula said: “On St Stephen’s Day 2016 I ate four selection boxes, that were presents given to the twins, in the space of 20 minutes.
“A few minutes later a notice for Slimming World in Virginia came up on
Facebook and I texted Gillian straight away to say to her I need help.”
With the support of the group’s leader Gillian Leahy she attended her first meeting on the January 5, 2017. Paula had set herself a target to lose two-and- a-half stone, doing so by August.
Paula admits she was desperate to have another baby and decided to change her diet to one containing more fats in the belief that this could help her get pregnant. However three months later, having gained 18lbs, she rejoined Slimming World and a few months
later she found out she was expecting another baby.
Paula said: “My life completely changed when I lost weight and my health completely changed.”
When she discovered she was expecting again she added: “I didn’t want to gain three to four stone but I knew I was in safe hands as I heard about other women in group following Slimming World’s pregnancy plan throughout their pregnancy.
“I wanted to have a healthy pregnancy and eat properly for me and my baby.
“Everyone in our house loves their recipes including porridge pancakes, curries, spaghetti bolognese, meatballs.” Paula developed gestational diabetes while pregnant but, with medical approval, she kept it under control by following a slightly adapted Slimming World plan. When she returned to her group meeting with two-week-old daughter Ciara in tow in August 2019 she weighed less than she had at the very start of her pregnancy.
She said: “All the weight I put on during the pregnancy was the baby herself, fluid, the placenta and other weight directly related to having a baby. I now weigh in and around 10.5st, which is a weight loss of 2.5st.”
Coach Gillian added: “When Paula became pregnant she followed Slimming’s World’s Pregnancy Plan, and returned two weeks after baby Ciara was born weighing 6.5lbs lighter than she was at the start of her pregnancy.”
Paula has maintained her target weight over lockdown now has Jonny on board and he has lost three stone.
