Woman, 42, who refused to get a gastric bypass after tipping the scales at 18.5st reveals how she shed 6st naturally by walking 5,000 miles
- Claire Ferris, 42, from Warwickshire, tipped the scales at 18st 7lbs at her heaviest
- She was motivated to lose weight after woman mistook her belly for baby bump
- After refusing weight loss surgery, she shed 6 stone by walking 10-12 miles a day
A woman lost six stone by walking 5,000 miles after she was 'mortified' when a woman mistook her tummy for baby bump and asked when she was due.
Claire Ferris, 42, from Studley, Warwickshire, tipped the scales at 18st 7lbs and was struggling to squeeze into a size 22 at her biggest.
But after the 'mortifying' comment from a woman in her neighbourhood in November, 2019, she knew 'enough was enough'.
Doctors recommended she undergo an operation to have a gastric band fitted. Claire refused but knew she had to to something to shift the weight.
In January 2020, she started walking 10-12 miles a day and over a year lost 6st.
Claire Ferris, 42, from Studley, Warwickshire, (pictured, left, before the weight loss, and right, after), tipped the scales at 18st 7lbs at her heaviest
Now a healthier 12st 7lbs, Claire slips into a slender size 12-14 with ease.
Claire, who is unemployed, said: 'There was one woman I talked to when I was out and about.
'She came across to me and said: "Congratulations, when is it due?".
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'I was mortified when I realised she thought I was expecting and I told her: 'I'm not pregnant', and I started crying.
'My tummy actually looked like a baby bump - not just flab. That really upset me.
'I had been referred to a health specialist in London and they recommended I have a gastric band to lose weight.
'I came out of the appointment and thought: "I'm not having that. No way. I refuse. Either I do something or I will stay fat".
She was left 'mortified' when a woman mistook her tummy for baby bump and asked her when she was due causing Claire to burst into tears, but also motivated her to shift the weight
Claire, who is unemployed, refused to have a gastric band fitted after seeing a specialist in London but knew it was time to make a change and started setting herself walking challenges
She stared walking 10-12 miles a day covering 5,000 miles since January 2020 and shed six stone over a year (pictured after weight loss at 12st 7lbs)
'So that seemed to set something going and made me really push myself. Now I feel like a new woman.'
Claire knew it was time to make a change and started setting herself walking challenges.
After slowly building up her endurance, she was pounding the pavements and strolling more than 10 miles a day.
Claire would often walk six miles in the morning and another six miles in the afternoon.
'At the start, I was walking around the roads and beating my heart out because my thighs were rubbing together, my heels were bleeding and my feet were swollen,' she said.
'People say "It must be a walk in the park for you", but it wasn't. It was really, really painful.
'Then the weight started to come off and I became obsessed with walking. It was like an addiction.
'There was this triangle trail that's three miles in total. I couldn't do more than once at the beginning and by the end, I was doing four or five times a day.'
Claire's weight loss was also helped by swimming but her confidence was knocked after a mean comment from a man in the pool.
After building up her endurance, she walked 6 miles in the morning and another 6 miles in the afternoon saying her new-found love of exercise made her realise the beauty of her hometown
Claire also changed her diet and now counts her calories every day, eating a healthy breakfast of porridge or home-made granola bars and replacing meat with Quorn
She said that she feels like she has a new lease of life and beating the bulge has also helped her beat depression, saying that she feels so much happier since she lost weight
'At swimming, this man once came up to me and said: "You'd be very pretty if you lost a few stones",' she said.
'He said I must be living in the takeaways because he thought I couldn't possibly be eating healthily and be big like that.
'I stopped going for a few weeks because it made me feel like fat people shouldn't be in the pool - but I realised it was his problem, not mine, and went back.
'I felt like giving up at that point but I had so much support from other people there which put me back on track.'
Claire now counts her calories every day and makes a lot of food on her own.
She now cooks chips with her air fryer at home instead of going to the chip shop.
She used to skip breakfast and have lots of snacks throughout the day, such biscuits and crisps. Big portions of rice and pasta were also a main part of her meals.
Now she has porridge or home-made granola bars for breakfast, a light lunch such as a sandwich or a jacket potato and spaghetti Bolognese or chilli for dinner but she replaces meat with alternatives such as Quorn.
She has also reduced her alcohol intake from a bottle of wine every weekend to only drinking a glass or two on special occasions such as Christmas and birthdays.
She said it felt like a new lease of life and beating the bulge has given her the courage to do new things.
Claire added: 'I don't just walk around the block on my own. I'm doing more field walking with friends now.
'I've lived in my hometown for 19 years, but I didn't realise the beauty we've got in the countryside around us until I started getting out there, but I'm more than making up for it.' Claire said.
'I used to suffer a lot from depression but it's gone since I lost the weight. I just feel so happy about myself and confident to do things I couldn't do before, like I will go on the bus on my own or walk into the shop on my own without thinking.
'I've also bought a skipping rope and I reckon it can be good for me to lose the last bit of weight I want to lose.'
