FEELING FABULOUS IN MY 50s

After turning to comfort food, Kelayne Fannan, 51, got the wake-up call she needed to change

- MISHAAL KHAN

Donning a 1950s-style red velvet flared dress, I stepped into the hall, excited for the night of dancing ahead. It was April 2019 and I'd taken up swing jive six months before, and now I spent my weekends going to dance socials, where I got to show off my moves. Just two years earlier, I could never have attempted dancing as I'd been dangerously overweight and walking just five minutes down the road would leave me breathless. Now, though, since shedding the pounds, I felt better than ever.

Throughout my adult life, I’d always weighed around 11st, and at 5ft 7in, I felt good. As a stay-at-home mum, my days were busy as I raised my three children – Charlotte, who was born in October 1995, Amber, who came along three years later, and Liam, born in 2000. Sadly, their dad and I split in 2005, after 15 years together. Two years later, at 37, I started working as medicine company and enjoyed an active social life. Like most people, I was prone to putting on weight quickly if I indulged, so was a regular at the gym. Then, in 2012, aged 42, I got a motorbike.

By now I was married, and my husband was supportive of my new hobby, but in early 2013, I had an accident. I had to swerve out of the way of an oncoming car and clipped the pavement in the process, falling off my bike and hitting a lamppost. The left side of my body was impacted, leaving me with torn ligaments in my knee, a haematoma on my hip and a bruised shoulder. I spent three days being monitored in hospital, and while

PICK ’N’ MIX

My husband had a sweet tooth, and into a bag of sugary sweets on a daily basis. ‘Go on then, one more,’ I’d say when he offered me some of his pick ’n’ mix.