Sarah Jackson used to suffer from severe back pain that barely allowed her to walk. Now, after she is an advanced ballroom and Latin dancer, she has lost a whopping six and a half stones and is down to a size 10.
The 50-year-old tipped the scales at 16.7 pounds, with doctors suggesting her weight could be aggravating her scoliosis condition that was bothering her.
“I could barely stand up and was willing to try anything,” Sarah said.
“My husband Ian and our daughter told me I was perfect and didn’t need to lose weight, but I was desperate to be able to move without pain.
“My wider family had become concerned about the amount of weight I had put on and I began to realize that it wasn’t doing me any good.”
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Sarah admitted that she had “tried everything”, but losing weight was the last resort.
A chocoholic comfort eater, she was skeptical when she joined WW, explaining, “At first I didn’t think WW would work, but I lost a stone in a month and suddenly I was able to walk for a good hour without my back hurting.
“I had been on many diets and my weight had gone up. Previously, I lost weight because I was going to have fertility treatment, but once it was over, I gained it back.”
She continued: “At WW, my trainer Tracey Taylor made me see that it wasn’t a diet, it was a lifestyle change and it would only work if I was 100 percent committed to the plan.
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“I’m lucky because my husband Ian is a chef and he prepared all of our meals from scratch and made sure I ate the right portions.”
Now, Sarah decides to stop eating sweets after she has curbed her craving for her beloved chocolate.
“My weakness is chocolate,” he admitted.
“I used to eat a bar on the way back from the supermarket to our house. Now I eat a banana instead.
“I can have chocolate on the WW show, but I tend to avoid it because I’m not the type of person who can eat a square, I want to eat the whole bar.”
Although Sarah’s diet was under control, she swore against exercise because she “hated the idea.”
So instead, she and her husband tried Latin dancing, and to their surprise, they both loved it.
She said: “When I joined WW, I told my trainer that I would never work out. I hated the idea.
“I’ve always wanted to dance and I don’t really see it as exercise, because I really enjoy it. Ian does too. We’re always in the dance center.”
“I’m obsessed with it and I also love wearing pretty dresses to dance – I used to hate having my picture taken, because I was always home in baggy clothes or pajama bottoms.
“Now, I have a wardrobe full of beautiful dresses and I’m the first on camera. My family always loved me for who I was, but they’re in love with the new me. Me too, I’m so much happier.”
He added, “I’ve also changed my attitude towards exercise. I even started running and was surprised when I ran 5K on my first jog.”
Sarah reached her goal of being number 10 and becoming a size 10, but she still continues to attend WW workshops.
He still likes sweets and from time to time treats himself to a small piece of cake and enjoys an Indian takeaway once a month: “I also tell Ian to make me WW fakeaways, they taste just as good as the real thing” , said. .
“WW is a part of my life now and always will be. The show really works and the community is really special.
“Before, I rarely went out. I wanted to hide. Now, I love dressing up and socializing. It’s hard to understand how much I’ve changed.”
“It took me a long time to recognize the person looking at me in the mirror after I had reached my goal weight.”
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