Super slimmer Lisa Rennison has kept the weight off for 12 years by carrying her personal ‘thinspiration’ – a photo of when she looked like Mr Blobby.
Lisa, 40, lost nearly half her weight after trying to squeeze into a pair of trousers in a Marks and Spencer changing room and breaking down in tears.
A lifetime of unhealthy eating sent her ballooning to 12 stone which made her dangerously big for her petite 5ft 2in frame.
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In just six months she dropped to a healthier seven stone and went down 12 dress sizes from a hefty 18 to a trim size six.
Lisa lost the weight through simple exercise and a strict diet – but feared she would start slipping back into her bad old ways.
So she took a photo of herself at her biggest and has carried it with her ever since, putting it on her desk at work to stop her munching on cakes in the office.
Lisa, a customer service manager from Peterborough, Cambs., says her ‘thinspiration’ has worked so well she is now training to become a fitness instructor.
She yesterday (Mon) said: “I remember I was in Marks and Spencer’s trying on a pair of trousers and I just looked in the mirror and broke down.
“I was trying on a size 18 pair on in the store and I was just horrified by my size.
“I remember crying in the mirror, I had never felt so low or insecure about the way I looked. I was at my lowest.
“A couple of days later I took a photograph of my self and this is the picture I carry around with me.
“It was such a horrible and difficult time and whenever I look at the photograph it makes me put down the treats and sweets and reminds me of just how terrible I felt.
“I turned 40 this year and people often say I look younger now than I did in my twenties – I feel much younger.”
The mum-of-one added: “I didn’t use slimming world, or weight watchers or muscle in on any fad diets. I literally stopped eating the rubbish.
“I stopped eating the chocolate and the cakes. I looked at my portion sizes and got rid of the take-away meals.
“Ultimately I ate like a pig and I’m only a small frame so for as long as I could remember I had always been a curvy and big.
“My diet wasn’t anything special it was just a common sense diet.
“I lost a stone in six weeks through healthy eating and this set the ball rolling and in six months I was down to a size 12.”
Lisa was a chubby child who was called “fat arse” by bullies at school but her weight spiralled out of control after the birth of her son Ben, now 15.
She dieted by cutting out bread and chocolate and lost a stone in a month and followed it by stopping greasy takeaways and fast food.
After losing the pounds she joined a gym in 2010 where five-times-a-week sessions transformed her into a toned size six.
She added: “Looking back at the photograph reminds me of all the bad feelings I had and it’s a real what I like to call thinspiration.
“When I celebrated my 30th birthday I was a healthy size eight and that was a big moment for me.
“Around eight years ago I started cycling, I joined the gym and fitness was key to getting rid of the rest of the weight to get me down to how I am now.
“I never want to go back to looking like I did before this is why I remind myself daily – I remind myself how much I’ve achieved and how much happier I am within myself.”
