Sheila McInnes tells her weight-loss story

Nov 22 2009 by Mieka Smiles, Sunday Sun

NEWLYWED Sheila McInnes is quite literally half the woman she used to be after shedding an amazing 12 stones to wow in her wedding dress. MIEKA SMILES met her . . .

SHEILA McINNES tried everything to lose weight. From calorie-counting to visiting top weight-loss consultants, nothing seemed to be working. She’d even signed up for a risky gastric band operation.

But it was a diet called LighterLife that has proven to be her weight-loss salvation - helping her shed an amazing 12st in under a year.

As part of the programme, she went from 24st 3lb to 12st 3lb and dropped a staggering nine dress sizes - slimming from a hefty 32 to a svelte size 14.

The 5ft 7in teaching assistant from Norton, Stockton, said: “I had been going to a Sunderland hospital to see a consultant about my weight.

“I had tried all sorts and was going to get a gastric band fitted, but I felt that they kept changing the goal posts.”

Sheila, 31, was prescribed tablets to help her try losing weight before going ahead with the procedure: “Nothing was working, I just kept getting bigger,” explained Sheila.

“One day I just thought ‘do you know what? I’m going to do it myself.”

The mum-of-two to Sophie, 12, and Lily, six, turned to the internet for help where she came across the LighterLife programme: “I had heard about LighterLife before and so I went to an information session.

“I went back to my GP in the aim of being referred to do LighterLife but because I was already under the consultant in Sunderland they said ‘no’. I then decided to go to a private doctor in Gateshead.

“I had to have a medical and check that everything was all right. I was then given the go ahead to start the LighterLife programme.”

The LighterLife plan uses food packs - including soups and shakes - and weekly counselling, costing participants £66 a week.

The first stage of the LighterLife programme follows an eating plan made up entirely of the packs, which contain essential vitamins and nutrients and contain a total of around 500 calories a day. Sheila started the diet in August last year: “I thought If I’m going to pay this amount of money then I’m going to stick to it,” says Sheila. “It was more of a commitment from me.

“I kind of thought if the doctors can’t do anything for me then I’m going to have to do it myself.

“I had been a bit deluded before; it had been the doctor’s problem and I hadn’t been taking ownership.

“This time it was my problem. I thought ‘I’m going to do this’.”

Sheila explained that her weight slowly increased through her teenage years, and then rocketed after the birth of her first child: “In my teenage years - probably between 13 and 19 - the weight started to creep on.

“After I had my first little girl when I was 18 I also put a lot of weight on.