Woman's seatbelt shame inspired her to lose half her weight

A PHARMACY worker who munched her way to 20 stone is enjoying a new lease of life after losing half her body weight.

Karen Hume, 46, is feeling “absolutely brilliant” after hitting her target weight of just under ten stone two weeks ago.

She said: “Losing weight has made such a big difference. My health is better, I have more energy, I’m happier and I feel more comfortable in my own skin.”

Karen, who has gone from a size 30 to an eight, started her weight loss journey two and a half years ago after her family organised a cruise holiday. The mum-of-one hadn’t been abroad for seven years after having to ask for a seatbelt extender on a flight. She said: “After sitting on the plane and having to ask for the extra seatbelt I knew something had to change. I cried every day on that holiday because I knew I’d have to ask again on the way home.”

Karen Hume from Longstone has been named Edinburgh slimming World's 'Woman of The Year'.

Other ways of losing weight left Karen feeling “hungry and miserable”, so she followed her niece to the Longstone Slimming World group in January 2016. She lost a whopping 6lbs in her first week.

She said: “When my niece first asked me to go, I said no, but she loved it so much I went.”

By September she was five stone lighter and had the best family holiday ever. “It was so different going on holiday slimmer – I had so much fun”, she said. “I wasn’t going to go when I was fat. I thought ‘I’m not putting myself through that’.”

Karen Hume has gone from almost 20 stones to just under 10.

Karen thinks Slimming World has stuck because of the focus on changing her lifestyle. She said: “My family and friends are all amazed by how much I can eat and still lose weight.”

She still tucks in to burgers, pizza and curries, but now she makes her own with healthy ingredients – and she says they taste even better.

Karen enjoys weekly Pentland walks with her Slimming World friends and is a regular swimmer as well as enjoying hula hooping and skipping at home. An asthmatic, she hasn’t used her inhaler for a year and her chronic foot and knee pain has disappeared.

The only downside of her massive slim-down is that she has developed an expensive shopping habit. She said: “I love shopping for clothes now. All my old clothes are in the bin.”

Karen describes her former self as a “joker” who made fun of herself and wouldn’t look people in the eye, she was so embarrassed about her size. She said: “I didn’t like going out at all. I always felt people were looking at me and I wouldn’t look them in the face.

“Now I go out with friends and I’m the first one on the dance floor.”

After dropping the pounds Karen has been chosen to represent Scotland in the Slimming World Woman of the Year semi-finals in Derby in October when she stands to scoop a Mexican holiday or £3000 in cash.

She said: “I’m looking forward to it. I’m so proud to have got to where I am – anything else is a bonus.”