With the festive season approaching, Nicola and Dave were determined to lose their Xmas stuffing...
My husband Dave gripped my hand.
‘It’s OK, love,
we can do this!’ he reassured me.
I nodded nervously as he led me into our first Slimming World meeting.
We were both terrified we’d be ridiculed because of our size.
‘This is Dave and Nicola, everyone,’ a lady smiled sweetly, putting us at our ease as we fumbled for a seat.
‘What you have to do first of all is cut the junk food out of your diet,’ the consultant Julie began. ‘No more crisps, no more chocolate…’
Dave and I glanced at one another knowingly. We were the ultimate junk-food culprits.
We’d first met online over a decade before, and we’d taken things slow and steady.
Only, as the years passed, I began to wonder if Dave would ever pop the question. In the end, it wasn’t the big moment I’d imagined.
‘Shall we get married then, love?’ Dave asked one day.
‘Absolutely!’ I replied.
But I couldn’t wait to be Dave’s wife. Family had always been so important to me. I had a son of my own — Ryan, 19 — and five-year-old Charlie with Dave.
‘Mummy and Daddy are getting married!’ Charlie chimed, thrilled.
Family and friends were happy too.
‘About time!’ they chorused.
We were so caught up in the frenzy of picking flowers and table decorations, that soon the big day was upon us.
Only, there was one thing niggling at the back of my mind — our weight.
Before we met, we’d both been overweight. But over the years as our love for each other had grown, so had our size.
We were as bad as each other and suckers for chocolate, pasties, crisps and chips.
Our lifestyle was scarily unhealthy, and I could tell it was starting to affect Charlie’s confidence. We were much bigger than the other mums and dads.
Then, one week before our wedding, something happened.
‘Your blood pressure is high,’ my GP warned. ‘And I can see you’ve got a family history of strokes. If you don’t change your lifestyle, it could be fatal.’
I rushed home to tell Dave, who also had high blood pressure.
It was no surprise we were in poor health. I weighed 21 stone, and Dave was a hefty 29 stone.
But the doctor’s words had been the final straw.
‘We’ve got to do something, Dave!’ I begged. ‘We can’t live like this any more — not if we want to see Charlie grow up.’
‘I’m with you all the way,’ he agreed. ‘Let’s do this for Charlie.’
I was so glad we were on the same page. I signed us up for our first Slimming World meeting, a week before our wedding.
Now, here we sat listening to Julie, and we both felt inspired and determined to shed the weight.
Afterwards, I ditched the junk food for lean dishes with lots of fresh veg, which we started to love.
And over time, as the pounds began to fall away, our confidence grew.
But there was one major challenge looming. Christmas. How would we get through it?
Normally, we would gorge on tins of Roses, mince pies and Crimbo pudding across the whole festive season.
Only, we vowed this year would be different.
We stuck to our healthy eating plan right through December.
We managed to shed 21 stone between us, and our shrinking silhouettes meant we were able to fit into new festive outfits.
For a family pic with Charlie, I slipped into a size-12 fitted tartan dress, and Dave donned a size-M Christmas jumper.
On Christmas Day, we decided to bend the rules a little, and allowed ourselves a few more treats. But for Boxing Day, we were right back on course.
‘I’m glad Mummy and Daddy aren’t fat any more!’ Charlie joked one day.
He was more confident too.
Dave and I also opened a deli in our town. It had always been a dream of ours.
‘I barely recognise those two people in that photo!’ people now say when they look back at our wedding pics.
And neither do we.
Dave and I have never felt happier. We’ve got our lust for
life back. And we’re confident we’re going to be around to see our little boy grow into an incredible young man.
We did it together, and this Christmas, we’ll stick to our healthy eating plan as usual.
Though we will indulge a bit on the day — while wearing our Crimbo jumpers!
Nicola Morgan, 44, Penrhiwceiber, Rhondda