Half The Woman I Used To Be

Now Helen’s no longer ‘the fat sister’

- Hannah Abbott/Mark Mackay

Helen Williams, 37, Llanelli, South Wales

Sitting at the dining table, my tummy was rumbling. Having Sunday dinner at my mum’s was a family tradition, even long after me and my sister Alison, now 36, had left home.

‘I’ve been looking forward to this all week,’ I said.

‘Me, too, can’t beat Mum’s roast,’ Alison agreed.

But when dinner was served, I paused.

Looking down at mine and my sister’s plates, it was hard not to notice the difference.

Hers had a couple of slices of lean meat and one potato, with piles of healthy veg.

Meanwhile, mine didn’t have a single green bean on it.

Instead, I had a mountain of greasy roasties and loads of meat drowned in gravy.

It was hardly surprising... I was ‘the fat sister’.

Bad habits

Ever since we were teenagers, Alison had eaten healthily. Had a slim, trim bod.

Whereas I’d pigged out on bread smothered with butter, endless biccies – and I hadn’t touched a vegetable for years. My bad habits meant I’d ballooned to over 21st, size-26.

I’d secretly always wished I could be skinny like Alison, but I lacked the courage to do anything about it.

However, a few months after that Sunday lunch in 2008, the whole family went on holiday to Jamaica for a wedding.