By Sandra Birungi

Sarah Jackson decided to accept her fiance’s marriage proposal which had lasted for nine years after losing 54 kilograms in over a year.

Jackson, a resident of Coventry, West Midlands used to weigh approximately 112 kilograms and used to spend enormously on junk food. She used to spend 127 dollars per week which is approximately 6300 dollars a year on junk food.

“I would have sweet and sour chicken, rice and chips from the Chinese almost every night and my portions were big enough for four or five people. The weight just slowly crept up on me and I never used to dare go clothes shopping because I would spend so much time crying. I just couldn’t bear to put myself through it. I was in denial about my weight and told myself – this is who I am, I’m meant to be this size. But losing the weight has been the best thing I ever did – it’s changed my life and I am a different person,” she talked of her diet and losing weight.

Jackson, 34, is also a mother of two children, two daughters, Becky, eight, and five-year-old Abi, and has been engaged to Mark, 46 who is a construction for nine years. Currently, at size 10, she feels ready to accept the proposal and walk down the aisle finally after shedding off the weight. The two have been together for 14 years.

Sarah had been overweight for 10 years and at her biggest wore a size 24; it took her fifteen minutes to get out of bed every day. “Looking at photos of myself made me depressed and I avoided scales because I was not willing to accept that I had a problem,” she said. She used to skip breakfast but eat chocolate, crisps and biscuits for lunch and then order takeaway four times a week.

“I was too tired and embarrassed and I wouldn’t even go on a night out. Every time I looked in the mirror, I would cry.” She signed up to a Weight Watchers class and lost six and a half pounds in the first week. “When the woman told me I weighed 17st 2.5lbs, I just laughed. I couldn’t really believe I had let it get that bad. It wasn’t until I joined the group that I realised just how fat I was. People always described me as a jolly and bubbly person but all along I was just putting on a front, because really I was depressed.”

Talking about her relationship with Mark, Jackson said, “Mine and Mark’s relationship has improved so much and he is still getting used to the new me. I had an unhealthy relationship with food because to me, it was something to look forward to and it was a comfort.”

She now runs three times a week to keep the weight off and tone her body. In just over a year Sarah has lost 6st 1.5lbs (54kgs) and can now fit into a slim size 10. “All that time and I was just pretending to be happy, but now I really am. Mine and Mark’s relationship has improved so much and he is still getting used to the new me. After I lost a few stone Mark and I went out a lot more. Someone who hadn’t seen the new me asked Mark who the woman he was with was, and if his wife would mind him going out with her. That felt amazing and I am now a completely different person.”

Sarah is now the Weight Watchers leader. “I never thought that I could do this, but I have proved myself wrong. I owe everything to the group.  To people who want to lose weight but are scared – never ever feel uncomfortable about the size that you are. There is something that you can do and someone who can help you.”