‘I lost 10 stone 10 years younger!'

When Samantha Willis, 32, fell in love, she found the courage she needed to lose weight – even though it meant surgery...

- FRANCES LEATE

Pulling the slimming-club diary out of my bag, I gave it a cursory glance before chucking it to one side. What’s the point, I thought with a sigh, making my way home. It was October 2017 and, once again, I’d gone and stood on those scales at a meeting only to be told I’d put weight on rather than losing it.

For as long as I could remember, I’d always been on some kind of weight-loss plan. I’d been going to slimming clubs on and off for nearly 10 years. So why did I still weigh over 27st?

Week in, week out, I’d see ladies proudly clutching certificates and clapping those who’d reached their target. But it was never me.

I’d lose a bit, gain a bit more, quit the class, then sign up again when I worried I’d got even bigger. I still wore a size 32 on the bottom and a 28 on top. Since signing up last time, I’d managed to lose 4st 7lb, but now it was creeping back on. Like that film Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s character wakes up on the same day over and over, nothing ever changed.

Worst of all, it wasn’t just the way I looked that left me feeling down, my size was also taking its toll on my health. Every morning my feet would ache from my weight as I trudged to the bathroom and all day long working long shifts as a nurse my back and legs would hurt, and I’d be breathless just walking up a flight of stairs. I'd have dark circles under my eyes because I could never get comfortable in bed to sleep. I felt, and looked, much older than my 29 years.