Mother who was too embarrassed to take pictures with her daughter drops SIX dress sizes and sheds 7st after giving up her unhealthy habit of four takeaways a week
- Lara McReynolds, 32, from Clydebank, tipped the scales at 18st 6lb last year
- She decided to make a change after struggling to play with her young daughter
- The GP receptionist would gorge on kebabs and McDonald’s
A single mother who was embarrassed to take pictures with her daughter due to her size 22 frame has revealed how she shed 7st.
Lara McReynolds, 32, a GP receptionist from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, tipped the scales at 18st 6lb at her heaviest, and found her size got in the way of her being able to play with her seven-year-old daughter, Halle.
She hated how she looked in photos and would only take pictures of her face to hide her body.
Lara, who would gorge on four takeaways a week, was determined to make a change and joined the 1:1 diet which includes a range of low calorie meal replacement products such as soups, shakes and bars.
She has now slimmed down to a size 12, losing an incredible six dress sizes.
A single mother who was embarrassed to take pictures with her daughter due to her size 22 frame has revealed how she shed 7st. Pictured, in June 2019 at size 22, weighing 18 stone, with her daughter Halle
Lara, pictured in November 2020 wearing a size 22 silver dress on a night out, decided it was time to make a change to her lifestyle
Lara now at a size 12 after shedding 7st by using their diet which includes low calorie meal replacement products such as shakes and soups
Her waist has also trimmed down from 47 inches to 31 inches.
The mother said she ‘missed out’ on doing everyday activities with her daughter due to her weight and felt the pressure of being a single parent meant she would ‘have to do something about her weight’.
Lara said: ‘Being a single parent it hit me one day that I can’t just keep getting bigger and bigger and miss out on doing activities with my daughter.
‘I needed to make sure I was healthy so I can live a long life and be there for her.
‘There are hardly any pictures of me and Halle together from before, and the ones there are they are just our faces so people wouldn’t see my body.
‘I was embarrassed being in pictures with her because of my weight.’
The mother-of-one said she would eat up to four takeaways a week as she found it hard to get motivated to cook after putting Halle to bed and was ‘constantly eating’.
She would see takeaways as a reward during a hard week, juggling the pressures of single parenthood and work.
Pictured above mother of one Lara in 2019 (left) at 22 stone and now (right) at a size 12 is feeling fit, healthy and more confident after feeling she wouldn’t be there for her daughter if she didn’t make the necessary changes to her health
Lara in 2020. She said she would eat up to four takeaways a week after feeling too tired after putting her daughter to bed
Lara’s diet before
Breakfast: McDonald’s coffee and McMuffin,
Lunch: Sandwich with juice, crisps and chocolate
Dinner: Takeaway like Chinese, pizza, kebab
Lara’s diet after
Breakfast: Coffee and 1:1 diet ready made shake
Lunch: Chicken salad
Dinner: Omelette with veg
She said: ‘I was eating constantly, I felt like I always had food on me. I ate a lot of junk food and comfort eat by rewarding myself with takeaways on good days or bad.
‘I was having three or four a week, it was just quick and easy. I would make dinner for my daughter about 5pm, then do the bedtime routine, so by the time I sat down it was 7pm and I didn’t want to start cooking a big meal.
‘I have a sweet tooth so I was bad for eating sweeties and cakes.’
Lara McReynolds, 32, tipped the scales at 18.6st last year and struggled to play with her daughter Halle, aged seven. She hated how she looked in photos and would only take pictures of her face to hide her body
Lara shows the huge difference in her weight by wearing the same silver dress that she wore on a night out in 2020
Lara now says her daughter loves that she can now run around and play with her after the drastic weight loss.
Lara joined her local 1:1 group and now eats around 1,500 calories a day.
She said: ‘I had done the diet in the past and never kept it up but this time I was determined to do it and lose the weight.
‘It’s crazy the difference I have seen in my measurements. Now I am happy taking pictures with Halle. I am more active and able to do stuff with Halle, we go out and about much more.
Lara McReynolds and daughter Halle together now she has lost the weight – she said she wants to be ‘there for her daughter’
Lara is now happy to take pictures with Halle – before she would hide her body and felt self-conscious of her weight
Lara now, says that she is now eating around 1,500 calories a day and has replaced kebabs and McDonald’s with salad and omelettes as well as the 1:1 diet supplements
‘We play together and I can chase her around which I would never have been able to do before. I am eating around 1,500 calories a day now.
‘I lost the weight without exercising really which was a bonus, I have never been much of a gym goer.
‘Halle loves that I have lost the weight now, she thinks it is fantastic, and she helps keep me on track.’
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