A WHOLE NEW ME!

Johdi Dinsdale, 34, lost Sst and gained lots of confidence

Kneeling beside my little boy Aubrey, I helped him scoop wet sand into his plastic bucket and pat it down with the spade. Just as we'd turned out a perfect sandcastle, the tide came swishing towards us, and we leapt up and dashed away from the foam.

Aubrey, then two, giggled as I picked him up and ran to where my fiancé Joe was waiting with a towel to dry off his legs. I'd never have been able to get away that quickly a year ago,' I said with a laugh, as we headed off along the beach at Lytham St Annes.

Only a year earlier, I'd dreaded leaving the house with Aubrey, convinced everyone was looking at me and judging me because of my weight, and maybe - my deepest fear - even thinking I was unfit to be a mum.

LOW SELF-ESTEEM

The truth was, I was judging myself. I got out of breath quickly and physically couldn't do the things other mums took for granted. It ate away at my self-esteem. Everything had become Joe's responsibility - even changing our baby in public, because I knew if I knelt on the floor, I'd struggle to get back up.