“Ditching junk food and growing my own veg has been a game changer”

Part of the reason I wanted to lose weight when I was younger was due to my work. I wanted to be in musical theatre and doing eight shows a week means you have to be fit. And I wasn’t. I couldn’t walk up the stairs without getting out of breath, yet I was only 17 years old. I’d been avoiding PE at school for years because I hated it. I felt uncomfortable in those little skirts we used to be forced to wear. I was very inactive.

Growing up, my parents always fed me wholesome, balanced meals, but it was the decisions I made later on that led to the weight gain. I was just really greedy! So yeah, wanting to lose weight started out as a work thing, but later it became about more than that; about wanting to stay alive, as obesity is connected to all-cause mortality.

Even now, if I feel stressed, I’ll want to eat. I’ve never been a big drinker and never experimented with drugs or anything like that, so for me, food was my go-to if stressed. I think emotional eating is a big thing for a lot of people. But the