Putney mum loses weight and finds new man (From Your Local Guardian)

Putney mum loses weight and finds new man

9:52am Thursday 21st June 2012 in Wandsworth

A Putney mum has managed to lose half her 22st body weight.

In the past two years advertising executive Sara Fremantle, 54, has gone from a size 26-28 to a size 12 and, having separated from her husband, has found a new man.

"I’m living proof that it’s never too late to make a change or even start over. People say 50 is the new 40 nowadays but I disagree. I feel much younger than 40."

The incredible before and after photographs show Ms Fremantle before she decided to turn her life around after going a soul-searching summer holiday to Ibiza in 2010.

Until then she had been overweight for more than 30 years and had resigned herself to staying that way for the rest of her life.

But in Ibiza she decided to prove that age was no barrier to losing weight and within two years had lost 10st 11lbs.

Ms Fremantle, from Chelverton Road, said: "I’d gained weight steadily over the years. Working in advertising, business lunches and entertaining were part of the job, and when I started my own marketing consultancy from home I found the fridge a constant temptation.

"My weight went up and up and I didn’t know how to stop it. It was like I was programmed to ‘self-destruct mode’."

On her return from Ibiza in September 2010, a Slimming World leaflet fell onto her doormat and the mum-of-two took it as a sign to make a change.

She said: "I’d tried lots of ways to lose weight before, slimming clubs, diet shakes and even hypnosis, but this was completely different.

"It was wonderful to be able to enjoy real food and plenty of it - as much of healthy foods like fruit and veg, pasta, rice, potatoes, lean meat and fish as I needed to satisfy my appetite, so for the first time I was losing weight without feeling starving hungry.

"Not only was I slimmer than I was before having my children, I’d rediscovered my confidence, and for the first time in 20 years I felt good about myself and I was happy."