Carol Mooney Murray was told that she would not see her 40th birthday if she didn’t look after her health.
The Cork woman has now shed a massive 18 and a half stone, which has transformed her life.
She turned to overeating as a way to cope with her mental health, after miscarriages and fertility troubles left her in a dark place.
Read more:Dublin woman shares the delicious recipes that she ate to lose four stone
She eventually hit an all time low, which became clear to her after her doctor was honest about her health.
“The heaviest I got was between 36 and 38 stone,” Carol told RSVP Magazine. “I went to my doctor for help and she did all sorts of tests. She told me that my liver was that of an alcoholic, because of the damage I was doing to my body. She said if I didn’t do something, I would end up dying. I wouldn’t see my 40th birthday.”
In the beginning, Carol was too anxious about her size to join any sort of weight loss group, so she started making changes on her own.
“I cut out the rubbish food and started eating more regularly and properly,” she said. “I wasn’t grazing on unhealthy foods.”
Over the course of seven months, she lost seven stone. At this point, she plucked up the courage to join a Slimming World group in order to get more support and follow a plan.
“From there on, I started really losing weight and taking it seriously,” said Carol. “I lost about five or six stone in the first year.”
She has now lost 18 and a half stone altogether, and the big reason she was able to stick with it and get that far is because she was doing it for herself.
“I think fundamentally what it came down to was I needed to lose weight to feel happy with me,” she said. “That’s when things really started to change.”
After she reached her target, Carol decided to get surgery to remove excess skin, which gave her another big boost.
“I had still been a size 20-22 because of the skin,” she said. “But after the surgery, I went from a size 20 to a size 16.”
Her physical transformation has completely changed her health and her daily life.
“I used to be overjoyed if I walked 500 steps a day,” Carol laughed. “I remember boasting when I was able to get to a 1000 steps, after a month of walking from my front door up my driveway.
“Now, I do between 14 and 18 thousand steps everyday. I can move so much better. I’m running around with the kids - we were on holidays swimming and cycling. I can now do as much as anyone, whereas I would have often sat and watched people do normal things and wished I could too.
“As for my health, I have PCOS and my weight loss has helped to regulate that. Before, I was prediabetic, I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol - there’s none of that now. I used to be on eight tablets a day, now all I take are multivitamins. It’s made a huge difference in medical bills.”
Now, instead of overeating or over restricting food, Carol enjoys all foods but does her best to go for healthier options.
“I love food and I love thinking about making nice food, I cook more now than I ever have,” she said. “I can go to a restaurant and eat something and I don’t feel guilty about it, but I do think, ‘how can I make this a little healthier at home?’
Her advice for anyone embarking on a weight loss journey is simple - do it for yourself and know that you can do it.
“Take the first step and believe in yourself,” she said. “Do it for you, not for anyone else. Just for you. And enjoy the process!”
Carol shares snaps of her meals, healthy recipes and how she’s doing on her Instagram page, @carol_mooney_murray.
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