Help! I've Lost Too Much Weight

Alex Hill was thrilled when she lost almost 9st before her wedding day. But there was one big problem…

Sitting propped up in the hospital bed, I groaned in agony. It was December 2014 and I’d been admitted, suffering from kidney stones.

‘I’ve just got a few routine questions,’ the nurse said as she pulled the curtain around me. Running through the list, she asked, ‘What do you weigh?’ ‘Um,’ I hesitated. I hadn’t paid attention to my weight for years. I knew I was a size 24 to 26 but told myself the clothes just came up small. ‘I guess I’m around 19st,’ I said, eventually.

When I was well enough to get out of bed, a few days later, I climbed on the scales to give her a more accurate reading. ‘You’re actually 23st 2lb,’ the nurse said, taking my measurements. Mortified, my cheeks flushed red. I knew I was big, but I was so much heavier than I’d imagined.

I’d always been on the larger side. When I met Kev, nine years earlier, I’d been 15st and a size 16-18 – big for my 5ft 6in frame. Because he was gorgeous, funny and clever, I worried he wouldn’t be interested, but he asked me out and from our second date I was sure he was the man I’d marry. With each year, I got even bigger. Luckily, Kev didn’t mind. ‘You’re perfect to me,’ he’d say.

Wedding delay

In January 2011, six years after we got together, Kev got down on one knee with a diamond solitare after a meal out.

I knew I didn’t want to be a big bride so I immediately went on a diet, but it seemed like for every half a stone I lost it was replaced by a stone. I couldn’t set foot in a bridal shop – too worried I wouldn’t be able to squeeze into a gown. So I told Kev we’d take our time before we married and he agreed.