NO TIME TO WASTE

Lowering my body into the cool water, I felt at least 20 pairs of eyes staring at me.

‘Come on, Mummy, let’s swim!’ my daughter Evie, then three, squealed, splashing ahead of me.

‘Just a minute, love,’ I said, awkwardly adjusting my swimsuit.

It was 2013, and I’d reluctantly agreed to take Evie and her older brother Jake, then nine, swimming at our local pool.

I loved spending time with my kids, but swimming hadn’t been my first choice.

You see, at a massive 20st, I felt like a whale.

Ever since I can remember, I’d had problems with my weight.

I’d never been naturally thin, was always the biggest in my class at school.