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On a girls’ trip to Goa, India, I realised something
had to change. I was with my mum and aunts,
and we were having a lovely time sunbathing and
sipping cocktails. On the final day, we decided to
do some last-minute shopping. As we strolled down
the bustling, stall-lined street, I finally saw a dress
I liked: a blue and white tie-dye maxi dress. It wasn’t
that fashionable or pretty, but for me it ticked the
boxes that mattered most: it was long, voluminous
and covered up my shape. It was just what I needed
for my friend Verity’s wedding later in the year.Back home, I uploaded our holiday snaps to my
computer – and I didn’t like what I saw. I hoped the first
picture was just taken from a bad angle, but the next
shot left me with the same sinking feeling. Then, I
remembered a photo my Aunt Linda had taken of me.
I’d been wearing my favourite white summer dress –
a gift from Mum – and a pretty blue shawl. Surely that
would look OK? When I found it, the air went out of
me. It shone a spotlight on everything I’d been trying
to ignore for years: hiding under my layers in the
Goan heat, I looked awkward and uncomfortable.I started gaining weight at the age of , when I gave
up competitive swimming. I used to compete at
county level and would train five times a week,
regularly getting up at the crack of dawn to fit in
a pool session before school. So, while the amount
of exercise I was doing dropped dramatically, the
amount I ate didn’t and I crept up four dress sizes.
I joined Slimming World with Mum for a while, but
I didn’t have the right mindset to stick with it and we
both lost interest. Instead, I tried to slim down on my
own. One day, I’d be on a ridiculously restrictive diet;
the next I’d be out with the girls, drinking everyone
else under the table and rounding off the night with
a kebab and cheesy chips. Yo-yoing between the
two, I did eventually lose some weight, but my health
took a dip, too. My stomach hurt when I ate and I feltIt used to be all or nothing for Polly McLaughlin.
Here’s how she waved goodbye to yo-yo diets and found
a healthy way to make weight loss stick
‘I’ve found my
happy balance’
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exhausted. I’d lost my sparkle. When my mum
took my yogurt from the fridge by mistake one
time and ate it, I broke down in tears. The stress
and hunger were really getting to me.In time, something happened to give me my smile
back. I met Terry on Christmas Day 2012 – I was
working at a hotel and bumped into him at the bar.
As our relationship blossomed, my portion sizes
slowly crept up until, without realising it, I was
eating the same man-size meals as he was. One day,
we got talking about going travelling and I grabbed
the opportunity with both hands. I’d daydreamed
about exploring the Great Barrier Reef in Australia,
climbing beautiful mountains in New Zealand and
seeing the floating markets in Cambodia – and now
it was actually happening! We partied our way
around the backpacking trail and ate whatever we
wanted. It was easy to stop thinking about the
calories when we were having so much fun.Two years later, we came home and my party lifestyle
gave way to comfortable routine. I took an office job,
skipping breakfast, and running on biscuits and
mugs of milky coffee with two sugars until the clock
struck one. At lunch, I couldn’t resist the local burger
bar’s sweet chilli chicken wraps, complete with fries,
barbecue sauce and a fizzy drink. In the evenings,
I loved to cook home-made burgers with all the
extras or order in a pizza. Buying clothes was less of
a pleasure. I made do with a few staple tops, jeans
and jumpers. Once, I bought a pair of work trousers
in a size 14 even though they were much too small,
because I was embarrassed to buy a bigger size.Now, seeing that picture of myself in Goa brought me
up short. ‘I’m going back to Slimming World,’ I told
Mum – and she said she’d come with me for support.
We made our way inside and as a familiar curve of
chairs came into view, so did a face I recognised. ItSLIMMING WORLD meet our cover star
Polly_sspm_LaH_v6.indd 41 14/11/2017 15:31