Cheryl Blythe was just 31 when she heard those memorable words from her doctor. She turned down weight-loss surgery and opted to change her eating and activity habits instead. Today, thanks to Slimming World, she’s gone from 24st 3lbs to 10st in 18 months and is looking forward to a long and healthy life with her family.
Cheryl, who lives in Basildon with her partner and two children, says: “I felt that by having a gastric band fitted I wouldn’t be learning anything about healthy eating or my own relationship with food – or helping my children to have a good understanding of healthy eating either. With Slimming World I’ve discovered how to cook and eat delicious food that’s good for me too – and my family enjoy the same meals. Me and my 16-year-old daughter love cooking together now.”
Now 33, Cheryl’s weight problems began when she fell pregnant with her daughter aged 17. Feeling lonely as a young mum, she comfort ate in secret to pass the time.
Her weight spiralled further out of control until by her early 30s she weighed more than 20st, suffered breathing problems and back pain, and found walking difficult. She says: “I knew my health wasn’t good and the things I heard from my doctor scared me, but I always prioritised other people – my family call me their ‘button’ because they say I hold everything and everyone together during the hard times.”
However, Cheryl began to feel like she was missing out on life and it was on a day out to Southend with her two best friends on September 9th 2013 that she knew she had to change. She says: “My weight affected everything we did that day – my back was so painful, we had to keep stopping when we were walking so I could catch my breath, I couldn’t fit in some chairs because they were too small, and I felt like everyone was staring at me the whole time. I realised that at 31 my friends had become my carers and I couldn’t pretend I was okay anymore.”
Two days later on September 11th 2013 Cheryl, who works as a carer looking after the elderly, joined her local Slimming World group. She says: “I’d been a member a few times before so I was quite embarrassed about walking back into the group, but I needn’t have been as I got a really warm welcome. My Consultant Clare asked me what had gone wrong before and I told her how demoralising I’d found it when, although I’d around 4st, I’d not yet dropped a dress size. I’d become fixated on going down a clothes size and quit when it hadn’t happened as soon as I’d expected. But we talked about it and I realised that at my heaviest I’d been squeezing myself into clothes that were too small and when I lost weight those clothes had actually become very loose, so I had probably lost a dress size – or more – without realising it. That was like a lightbulb moment for me, I felt more motivated than I ever had before and I’ve never looked back since.
Cheryl says her ambitions are to maintain her weight loss, learn to drive and study for a nursing degree. She says: “Slimming World has given me my life back. My health problems have disappeared, I no longer sit on the sidelines while my family have fun without me, my friends aren’t my carers anymore, I can wear whatever I want; the list is endless. Being named as Slimming World’s Woman of the Year 2015 is an amazing way to recognise how much my life has changed.
“I’m now at the weight I’ve always wanted to be and I’m excited to be able to pass my experiences and support on to other members of the Basildon group. My family always said I was their ‘button’, holding things together, now my Slimming World group are my ‘button’. I’m so glad I didn’t go down the route of weight-loss surgery and I know that with everything I’ve changed and the new habits I’ve learned I’ll never go back to the way I used to be.”