Like many women, I’ve tried to keep on top of my weight over the years, but it’s gone up and down with life’s many highs and lows.

When my children were younger, I focused entirely on their nutrition. I became a single mother when my son was two and my daughter was six, and it was hard work. You naturally neglect yourself, so I’d often end up picking at their leftovers rather than making something nutritious for myself, and my weight crept up.

I’m 5ft 3in, and by 2008 I weighed over 11st – a stone and a half more than I’d have liked. Yo-yo dieting became my norm. I tried Slimming World, saw a nutritionist and even followed an NHS weight-loss plan. I’d lose over a stone, then put it all back on – and sometimes more. Every cycle chipped away at my self-confidence, leaving me obsessed with the bathroom scales.

The photo that changed everything

When Myles and I married in 2019, I was 9st 3lb, but in the years that followed contentment set in and my weight crept up. My diet wasn’t that bad: I’d have toast with honey for breakfast, a chicken or ham salad for lunch and home-cooked spaghetti bolognese or roasts, with the occasional pizza or fish and chips.

My downfall was really my evening snacking on chocolate, Haribo jelly sweets or cheeseboards and crisps, along with wine at the weekend.

I noticed the weight most around my midsection. If I ate something, I felt it going straight to my hips or belly, and the pounds became harder to lose as I hit my late 40s. I cried many times in frustration because I hated how I looked, hiding in baggy clothes, making excuses to avoid evenings out with friends and spending summers longing for winter so I could cover up.

The turning point came with a family photo from Christmas 2021. My mum had taken it, but I hadn’t seen it until months later. There I was, sitting on Myles’s lap in a big striped jumper – just a face and a big blob. It made me feel sad. I thought: “No, that can’t be me.” I didn’t recognise the person looking back at me. By then, it was July 2022, and I was at my heaviest: 11st 6lb. I’m not tall, so every extra pound showed.