A teacher lost an incredible five stone in less than a year after being handed XXL robe at a spa.
Amy Hodgson admits her trip to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland was a turning point as she was too embarrassed to pose for holiday snaps.
The 24-year-old, who tipped the scales at 14st 12lbs, said she would gorge on five takeaways a week, but after returning from her trip changed her life and has now been crowned Miss Slinky.
Amy, from Liverpool, dropped a staggering 10 dress sizes as her weight plummeted to just under nine stone in just 12 months, after joining Slimming World.
She said she was once told by a pupil that she looked like "a big mummy," but she now has her confidence back.
She said: "These days I’m brimming with confidence and I’ve stopped letting worries about my weight hold me back. I’m now striving to improve myself and putting myself forward for things I would never have dreamed of doing before."
Amy, who was a size 16-18, decided to take action after being handed an XXL robe on a trip to the Blue Lagoon spa during her holiday with her boyfriend Jonathan.
The petite 5ft 4in teacher said: "Visiting Iceland was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, but I felt like it’d been ruined because of how I felt about my weight.
"I felt embarrassed to be in a swimsuit and that’s just not me at all – before I gained weight I was so confident and comfortable with myself.
"When we went to collect our robes I was handed an XXL – the same size as Jonathan.”
Shortly after returning from Iceland Amy’s sister rang to ask if she wanted to join the West Derby Slimming World group ran by consultant Suzanne McEvoy, with her.
She said: "I decided to stop putting it off and just went for it. I’d tried so many diets in the past but they were all quick fixes – I knew if I wanted to get rid of the extra weight for good I had to make changes for life."
Amy soon felt at home in the supportive group, despite an “emotional wobble” when she first stepped on the scales.
She embraced Slimming World’s eating plan, and was shocked by how much she could eat compared to her previous diets which left her feeling deprived.
The diet is crammed with so-called ‘Free Foods’ including potatoes, pasta, rice, lean meat, fish, eggs, fruit and vegetables.
Amy, who now eats Weetabix for breakfast, and is a slinky size 8-10, said: “I’d been so used to trying to lose weight by restricting myself that at first I couldn’t believe how much I could eat.
"I’d been having four to five takeaways a week before joining Slimming World, so this new way of looking at food was a revelation.
"I went from barely cooking at all to being the chef of the house.”
Amy’s boyfriend did not attend the sessions, but still managed to shed two and a half stone by just sticking to the same meals.
She said: "It’s given our relationship a boost too because I feel like I’ve got the ‘old me’ back and we enjoy getting active together by going to the gym or taking the dog for long walks in Wales."
The transformation has also uplifted how Amy feels at work, where she often felt anxious about her weight.
She added: “"Children just say whatever is on their minds. I remember one pupil once said I was ‘big like mummy’ and it crushed me. I knew he didn’t mean anything malicious by saying it – but it still hurt."
Amy also suffers from a skin condition called psoriasis, which is exacerbated by stress and poor diet, but it has "reduced massively" since she shed the weight.
She is now looking forward to pursue her long-term dream of becoming a headteacher.
Amy said: "When I was at my biggest I felt as though I had lost myself. I wasn’t the bubbly confident girl my friends and family knew and loved. Now I feel like I’m back to myself – and I can’t wait to see what the future holds."
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