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Mary’s story

The past few years for Mary Stuart-Miller, 52 and a travel PR executive, have been anything but plain sailing. But now thanks to LighterLife, she’s lost weight and rediscovered her passion for living.

“It seems impossible that less than a year ago I looked completely different to how I do now. I was fat, jolly and self-effacing in company, but inside I was hurting. The person I saw in the mirror wasn’t the real me. Somehow I’d left myself behind nearly 25 years ago.

“Since my marriage in 1988, when I was a slender size 10 and weighed 10st 7lb, I’d had three children and two difficult relationship break-ups. Finally after the birth of my third child in 2001, I gave up on myself.

“I put my head down, focused on my travel PR business and my young family. I forgot about my looks, my weight and my health.

“When I saw photos of myself I was shocked. I didn’t recognise the person I’d become. The final shock was seeing a photo of myself dancing with a handsome Honduran waiter on a cruise last year. Looking at my round stomach and several chins, I knew things had gotten seriously out of hand. I was ashamed. That’s when I turned to LighterLife.

Finding LighterLife

“I loved the camaraderie of my LighterLife group. Attending sessions made me realise how low my self-esteem had become during the years of bringing up the family alone. I’d given up caring about me and I’d focused on providing for the children, almost punishing myself in the process. I just didn’t care. LighterLife changed all that.

“My group work helped me to find a level of resolve that I never knew I had before. I didn’t once stray from the LighterLife programme. A switch had flicked inside my head.

“LighterLife has taught me that life isn’t black and white, you need to have perspective and view things in a rational, balanced way. They should prescribe LighterLife on the NHS – it’s so effective!

LighterLife success

"I’ve come so far in just nine months, since starting my journey. I have an entirely new wardrobe, a new outlook on life, I feel happy, my children are proud of me and I am proud of me too.

“I don’t feel like I stand out from the crowd for all the wrong reasons, and my friends and family have been wonderful and so supportive.

“It’s almost impossible to sum up how much LighterLife has empowered my life. Perhaps the most significant and emotional part of the entire experience has been that I found the old Mary again. I look in the mirror and see a slim and happy face – the person that I recognise from all those years ago.That means even more to me than sharing size 10 clothes with my 20-year-old daughter.”