Telford mum sheds incredible seven stone after being too fat for theme park ride
A Telford mother changed her life by losing more than seven stone after she was left embarrassed when she couldn’t fit on a children’s theme park ride with her young daughter.
Beth Thomas, 35, was nearly 20 stone when she tried to take her daughter Imogen, now seven, on a ride at Thomas Land at Drayton Manor Park in August 2014 and couldn’t get the bar to fit.
She was left feeling embarrassed and didn’t want to be the mother that couldn’t do things with her children, so she joined her local Weight Watchers group in the hope of changing her lifestyle.
The mother-of-two said: “My wake up moment was when I had taken my daughter to a theme park and taking her on a ride, I couldn’t get the bar over my belly.
“I felt awful, so embarrassed and worried that my daughter would not be able to go on the ride because I was too big.
"I didn’t want to be that mum that couldn’t do things with her children because of my weight.
“I had put on so much weight after having my son, Jimmy, my second child.
"I have always been big, always been the biggest of all my friends, I never liked exercise - I did everything I could to get out of physical education.
“One week before having my son I lost my dad and for a year after I comfort ate, eating and snacking all day long. I was also eating out and having takeaways far too often.”
Beth, who lives in Aqueduct, has so far lost seven stone and two-and-a-half pounds - now weighing in at 12 stone 11 pounds.
She has now become a Weight Watchers coach herself, running classes in Horsehay and Shifnal, and hopes to lose more weight to get her down to her goal of 11 stone 10 pounds.
She added: “It has been over three years but I see this as a marathon, not a sprint - a lifestyle change, not a diet.
“I am now a completely different person to who I used to be - I love exercise, I go to exercises classes I would have been too embarrassed to go to before.
"I run, I have set myself challenges, completing 5Ks, 10Ks and even a half marathon.
“I have done open water swims and I feel I can now give myself a challenge, and I know I will achieve it. I have so much more energy to play with my children, take them on rides without the worry.
“It has changed my life completely and I feel like a different person."
