A WOMAN who struggled with her weight for years is leading her own slimming class to help others fight the flab.

At her heaviest, Melissa Middlemiss was tipping the scales at over 20st, but now she is half of that weight.

Her battle with the bulge started as a child, eating ‘proper chip pan chips’ and butter on everything and regular takeaways.

In 2013, she lost four stone and won Woman of the Year in her local slimming group which helped to change her life.

But two years later, Mrs Middlemiss became very unwell with a blocked bowel and became almost housebound.

Now 31, Mrs Middlemiss, from Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, said: “I was really struggling with my illness both physically and mentally and I began to comfort eat.

“With hospital visits being my only form of exercise, I piled on the pounds and by Christmas 2015 I was 20 stone.

“I was depressed, and food was my friend, it made me feel better, but the truth was the food I was eating was killing me and making my condition worse.

“After months of referrals and seeing different doctors I underwent surgery on my stomach and bowel in August 2016.

“As result of the illness and its after effects, I lost ten stone as I wasn’t able to eat the volume of food I had been used to previously.”

Mrs Middlemiss started suffering from painful stomach problems and low and high blood sugars.

She said the moment she decided to make changes were a ‘lightbulb moment’.

She said: “I had lost weight and my illness had improved but my diet hadn’t changed.

“I was still having two to three takeaways a week and eating rubbish food with no nutritional value at all.

“I had been given this opportunity to turn my health around and I was wasting it by sticking with the same habits that had damaged my life for years.”

In September 2017 she married her husband, Phil, who is 33.

After a massive heart-to-heart about their future plans for their family, they both realised that they may struggle to have a family with their current eating habits and lifestyle.

Mrs Middlemiss said: “We agreed that because of my previous success, the only answer would be to return to a Slimming World group.

“We didn’t want our children to have the same battle with food that we have.”

Fast forward to the present day and Mrs Middlemiss has changed the way she thinks about food.

She has educated herself to live a healthy life while still enjoying her favourite foods.

Losing weight while still enjoying burger and chips, curry and pizza without guilt or without the added cost that a large takeaway order can bring.

Her health is improving daily and she has become more active than she ever has been.

She hopes the arrival of the New Year will encourage more people to resolve reach their ideal weight.

Mrs Middlemiss said: “I have never really enjoyed exercise, but Slimming World taught me I don’t need a gym membership to be active it can be as simple as taking the stairs instead of the lift or walking to the shop instead of taking the car.

“I couldn’t have succeeded as a member without the support of my consultant or my fabulous group and I can’t wait to help others on their journey.”

  • Mrs Middlemiss, who runs the group at Pelton Methodist Church on Front Street, at 5.30pm or 7.30pm on Thursdays, can be contacted on 0779-533-6593.