{"id":113545,"date":"2025-09-04T08:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T08:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/113545\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T08:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T08:38:09","slug":"suffolk-grandmother-competes-as-bodybuilder-after-losing-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/113545\/","title":{"rendered":"Suffolk grandmother competes as bodybuilder after losing weight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Suzie Fowler-WattBBC News, Suffolk and<\/p>\n<p>Alice CunninghamBBC News, Suffolk<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/9babbb20-88d5-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Shaun Whitmore\/BBC Fran Smith is pictured lifting a dumbbell in each arm away from her body. She has short grey hair, glasses that sit on top of her head, and she wears a bright green vest top. \" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj\"\/>Shaun Whitmore\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>Fran Smith lost more than half her body weight and now competes in bodybuilding competitions<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">A 58-year-old grandmother who has lost more than half her body weight said she felt like a &#8220;winner&#8221; when she now competes as a bodybuilder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Fran Smith from Marlesford, near Framlingham, Suffolk, started a weight loss journey 12 years ago when she weighed 20 stone (127kg).<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">During her journey, she developed a love for the gym and weightlifting and later began entering bodybuilding competitions, some in which she has scored highly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Ms Smith now weighs nine stone (57kg) and said her bodybuilding passion had meant her grandchildren thought of her as &#8220;pretty cool&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;The children had just about left home, there was six of them, and I suddenly realised there was still me,&#8221; Ms Smith said of the start of her journey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I had tried every diet in the book and it hadn&#8217;t worked.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/807fbf80-88d6-11f0-93e2-8d258a752747.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Shaun Whitmore\/BBC Ms Smith sits on a bench in front of pulldown machine. She pulls down a weighted handle and holds it in front of her chest. A gym instructor coaches her from the side. \" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj\"\/>Shaun Whitmore\/BBC<\/p>\n<p>Ms Smith said the gym and bodybuilding had changed her life<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Ms Smith began to lose weight slowly by changing her diet and exercising, and gained confidence to start working out in a gym.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I&#8217;d lost about four stone (25kg) and I started in the gym, and I haven&#8217;t looked back,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">She has competed in several bodybuilding competitions as a natural competitor who does not take body enhancing drugs. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/9fb985c0-88d6-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.png.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Contributed Ms Smith is pictured prior to a bodybuilding competition. She wears a red bikini and silver heels and she has fake tanned her body. She poses and flexes her arms to show off the muscle definition. \" class=\"sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj\"\/>Contributed<\/p>\n<p>Ms Smith said she always felt like a winner during competitions after her weight loss<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t have to necessarily win because I&#8217;ve already won on that stage from where I started,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I can&#8217;t explain to people how that feels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;From being overweight, been through the menopause and having so many children, the female body is incredible and very forgiving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;This is why I chose to go down the natural route because I wanted to see what my body is capable of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I haven&#8217;t got the perfect bodybuilding body, but the expression you are what you eat is so true, especially for a bodybuilder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">&#8220;I have seen my body change dramatically and I kind of like what I see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS\">Ms Smith wanted to encourage other older women to take up exercising to &#8220;lift their endorphins and feel good about themselves&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Suzie Fowler-WattBBC News, Suffolk and Alice CunninghamBBC News, Suffolk Shaun Whitmore\/BBC Fran Smith lost more than half her&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-113545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}