Name: Melanie
Age: 28
Height: 5' 6"
Was: 13 st 2 lb
Lost: 3 st 4 lb
Weight: 9 st 12 lb

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As a single parent with two young boys and a full-time job, Melanie struggled to beat her weight gain. Then she discovered Weight Watchers at Home and has never felt better.

Life before WeightWatchers

For years I was utterly miserable about my weight. My diet wasn't particularly unhealthy, but my love of bread, potatoes, chocolates and biscuits – and the fact that I never did any exercise – really showed on my waistline.

I felt huge and desperately wanted to hide away. Although I still took the boys to the park or swimming on weekends, I avoided social events. I began to feel I was no longer living, simply existing.

Life as a single mum

I'm a single parent with a full-time job and two small boys. I never felt I had time to commit myself to a structured weight loss programme. I attempted ridiculous diets in an effort to slim down but then piled it all back on when I started eating normally.

It was seeing a photo that made me realise how much I'd let myself go. I was squeezed into my son's Power Ranger outfit. I always avoided mirrors, so I had no idea how big I was until I saw that photo!

Discovering WeightWatchers At Home

I rang Weight Watchers as I wanted to see if there was a programme to suit my busy lifestyle. Weight Watchers at Home seemed ideal. Here was a weight loss programme I could follow without leaving the house!

With the Weight Watchers plan, I liked the fact that I knew exactly what I was eating. I filled in the tracker and Journal every day so I knew I was sticking to my daily POINTS allowance. The material helped me to understand that I had to ‘re-programme' myself into eating to live.

Food changes

My diet has completely changed. I cut back on bread and potatoes and now eat more fruit. I snack on Weight Watchers Fruities or cookies rather than chocolate. My portion sizes have changed too. I know now that I don't need a huge amount of food to feel satisfied. And I can eat whatever I like as long as it's in moderation.

I plan my food shopping and buy everything for the week. Looking back I didn't eat a lot, but what I ate was all wrong: a sandwich, crisps and a chocolate bar for lunch could be as much as 20 POINTS values!

Now I take salads to work. For snacks I have zero POINTS value jelly, Weight Watchers fromage frais, lots of fruit and my favourite treat – a Weight Watchers Rich Toffee Bar!

Life now...

Thanks to my new healthy diet I have so much more energy. I'm motivated to exercise more. I was convinced that as a working mum exercise was too time-consuming. I was so wrong! Simply buying a treadmill and putting it in the playroom meant that I could get plenty of exercise and still keep an eye on the boys.

I feel like a completely different person. As the pounds dropped off, my confidence kept on growing. My social life is fantastic and I'm doing so much more with my boys.

These days I am a slim size 10 and can't believe how good I look and feel. I wouldn't have got this far though without the support of my mum. Apart from cooking healthy meals for us, she was always on hand to look after the boys if I needed a break.

So many people have commented on my new shape. But the highlight was when my son Cory said: 'Mum, there is so much less of you now'. Then he added: 'You look like a princess!'.

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