I'm a better mum AT SIZE 22

Finally learning to love her body opened doors and set Danielle Gardiner, 31, free

- EMMA ROSSITER, LUCY NOTARANTONIO

Sitting on the sofa with my kids, all of us in matching Christmas PJs, I couldn’t stop smiling. ‘It’s time to start afresh,’ I thought – because, for the first Christmas in a long time, I wasn’t wearing black or tugging at my jumper to try to hide my body, nor was I going to pass up on chocolate or a slice of figgy pudding. No, I was finally – after years of hating my body – going to enjoy all the festive fun I’d been missing out on.

I’d always been ashamed of my body and, growing up, felt like the odd one out. My four sisters were tall and thin, yet, despite my 5ft 8in, size 10-12 figure, people would jokingly say, ‘You’re the chubby one.’ While it was said with affection, it triggered my fixation with my weight.

I had curves some girls would kill for – decent-sized boobs and a big bum. But I’d put on a clingy, fashionable dress and the

With Noah and Leah. Self-acceptance has changed Danielle’s life material would stretch around my curves. ‘I just look tarty,’ I’d think, so I wore dark, baggy numbers to hide away, and became addicted to the gym as I chased my dream body.

Highs and lows

When I fell pregnant, aged 21, I became extremely ill. From the minute I woke up to the moment my head hit the pillow, I’d be constantly throwing up. My morning sickness practically lasted 24/7 and, as a result, I became really dehydrated and couldn’t keep anything down.

By the time Noah was born in November 2011, I’d actually lost 3st and shrunk to size eight. This should’ve worried me because it wasn’t healthy, but friends showered me with compliments, drowning out any doubts.