Looking around the playground, Bethany Wragg was overcome with emotion – but it wasn’t from seeing her child laughing and playing with her peers… it was shame.
The 41-year-old hairdresser, from Sheffield, reached 16st 4lbs and was wearing a size 24 at her heaviest, but was compelled to confront her weight issues after a hurtful comment from her daughter.
Ms Wragg said: ‘When my daughter started school, I realised I was the biggest out of all of the mums.
‘Once my daughter turned to me in the playground and said in front of everyone her friend thought I was fat, I wanted the world to swallow me up.
‘My lowest moment came when I went to a theme park with my daughter and had to have an extender belt put on so that I could fit on a ride.’
Ms Wragg struggled to shift the pounds but finally managed to slim down to 10st after sticking to a Slimming World diet for three years and with regular bike riding.
She said: ‘I tried everything to lose weight, if it’s out there, I’ve tried it five times over, but nothing worked.
‘As I approached 40, I decided I wanted to do a big celebration and that I wanted to look and feel my best for it.
Bethany Wragg reached 16st 4lbs and was wearing a size 24 at her heaviest
The mother-of-one lost six stone by following a Slimming World diet plan
‘I stuck to a Slimming World plan, and fell in love with bike riding, going for 10 mile rides every weekend.
‘I lost six stone over three years, and I feel like a completely different person.
‘I can fit into short dresses I never had chance to wear in my 20s, and go to shops I’ve never been able to buy from before.
‘But, it wasn’t a quick fix unfortunately.’
As she approached 40, Ms Wragg became more financially stable, and her daughter, now 19, became more independent, giving her more time and energy to focus on her health.
Her daughter has also joined her on her weight loss journey, and the duo now plan healthy meals together, which helps to keep them both motivated.
And last year, Ms Wragg and her husband decided to buy a camper van, and now regularly go on 10-mile bike rides at the weekend, and cycle around the local area three times a week.
She said: ‘I’ve absolutely fallen in love with bike riding, and I go on long walks with my dog now as well, instead of using the car for the five-minute drive to the local park.’
She now goes on long bike rides and has totally transformed her health
She felt ashamed to be the ‘biggest mum in the playground’
She now loves wearing short dresses she could never wear when she was younger
Ms Wragg said she was a sporty and active child, but as she got older, swapped dancing and netball for takeaways and the pub, leading her to pile on the pounds.
To try and combat her weight gain, Ms Wragg tried ‘everything under the sun’, including shake diets, low carb diets, and hiring a personal trainer.
But she claims that dieting always failed due to a lack of willpower, and ‘laziness’.
She said: ‘I used to be a competitive dancer, and I was really sporty at school as well, I was in the netball and rounders team.
‘When I left home, I swapped extracurricular activities and healthy meals for takeaways three times a week, microwave burgers and drinking at the pub.’
She joined her local Slimming World group, for the fifth time, January 2022 and this time stuck religiously to the diet plans and weekly meetings.
She swapped fry ups and frozen pizzas for overnight oats and homemade chilli.
‘Before my weight loss I would constantly be snacking.
Her daughter’s friend called her ‘fat’
She was inspired to slim down ahead of her 40th birthday
‘I was always secret eating, and have been known to buy chocolate as gifts for friends and family, and then eat it myself.
‘I cut all of this out, and now cook from scratch, and snack on fruits and veggies.
‘I began to look forward to the weekly weighing,’ she said.
‘The more my dress sizes went down, the better I felt.’
Now a size 10 the mum is ‘proud’ of her weight loss, but admits she feels ‘bitter’ that weight loss jabs were not around when she was trying to lose weight.
She said: ‘I’m always supportive of anyone who loses weight, but I do feel a little bitter.
‘Weight loss jabs weren’t really a thing a few years ago, and now I see people losing the same amount of weight in a few months as it took me three years to.
‘I absolutely would have tried them if they were available when I was at my biggest.
‘It wasn’t until summer 2024 that I started to notice them being advertised, and then I started getting asked if I’d taken them, and had to constantly defend how I’d lost weight.’
Slimming World members attend a weekly ‘weigh in’ session, and are encouraged to stick to a low calorie diet which focuses on homemade meals and to avoid calorific but nutritionally poor snacks and drinks.
