Landlady Sarah swaps snacks for salads and shedssix stone

Sarah, who runs The Baffins pub, in Tangier Road, Portsmouth, used to weigh 17st 11lb and, at 5ft 3in tall, was classed as very obese.

But the 41-year-old was inspired to ditch the pounds after seeing photos of herself looking overweight.

Sarah said the weight gain was definitely linked to working in a pub.

‘We serve food for nine hours a day. The smells wafting around made it pretty hard for me not to think about food,’ she said.

‘When at home and cooking for the family I’d catch myself finishing the kids’ leftovers – a chicken nugget here, a few chips there, I would forget all about those hidden calories.’

Sarah decided to make a change and she signed up to LighterLife – a meal replacement diet plan – and has now dropped six dress sizes from a size 24 to a size 12. After six months on the LighterLife Total diet plan, Sarah now weighs 11st 10lb.

She said ‘I’m so proud I managed to do it. I feel healthier and I’ve got more confidence now than I’ve ever had.’

Before LighterLife, Sarah’s daily diet consisted of cereal and toast in the morning, snacking on crisps, chocolate and leftovers from the kitchen throughout the day, and getting evening meals from the pub kitchen.

Sarah said she found it easier to get food from the kitchen rather than cooking healthy meals.

‘The bigger I got, the less energy I had to cook,’ she said.

‘It was a vicious circle.’

The LighterLife Total plan includes support from a counsellor and techniques to understand the relationship a person has with food.

Sarah said: ‘My counsellor, Kim, helped me see I was an emotional eater. If I was happy I’d reach for food, if I had a bad day I’d find comfort in food. Without the group support I wouldn’t have been aware my mindless eating left me consuming an extra 1,000 calories a day.

‘I was definitely a secret eater. I would go food shopping and reward myself with something on the way back, then nobody would see me eating it.’

Sarah has now returned to eating normal, healthy food. But she still has two LighterLife meals for two days, while eating balanced meals such as salads the rest of the week.

She said: ‘My friends and family are stunned by my transformation. They’re so surprised at how dedicated and focused I’ve been.’