Charlene loses the pounds and gains her health

A Motherwell woman has turned her life around by losing five and a half stones in weight and reversing her diabetes!
Charlene Paterson before her weight loss and after losing more than five stone.Charlene Paterson before her weight loss and after losing more than five stone.
Charlene Paterson before her weight loss and after losing more than five stone.

Charlene Paterson, 36, knew she simply had to do something when she weighed just over 21 stone in April last year and found doing even the simplest things a struggle.

Having been on diets before and the yo-yo cycle of losing weight before putting it back on again, wasn’t helping her depression either.

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As Charlene’s medication levels increased to cope with the high cholesterol, her diabetes, and problems associated with the latter, she decided that enough was enough.

Speaking to the Times and Speaker, she said: “As a child I was always slim until aged nine. I started piling on the weight. After that I was always overweight and have been battling with my weight ever since.

“I was then bullied at school because of my weight, and it got to the point that I made the fat jokes about myself before anyone else did.

“I tried to portray myself as the fat happy one but secretly I was very depressed and had no confidence.

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“Back in 2012 I joined Weight Watchers in Motherwell, and I was shocked when I weighed in at 22 st 8lbs.

“I lost 4 stone 7lbs and was doing well then went on holiday and put some weight back on.

“After this I then got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and these events just made me feel awful, and guess where I ended up…back in the depression and comfort eating place.”

Charlene confirmed that life just got in the way, she didn’t bother looking after herself and everything ‘went south’.

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Determined to take control of her health, she signed up once more in April 2018.

Commenting further, she said: “I began to lose weight slowly and after four months I started to introduce exercise starting with walking. When the weight started coming off, I gained more confidence, and was able to do more so I plucked up the courage and started going to clubbercise. It was hard at first, but I ended up actually enjoying it. I would never have been able to do this if I wasn’t losing weight.

“As with most people I had my ups and downs, and have gained weight, but although I did revert back to my depressive cycle, this time however was different as I realised I was on a journey and not in a race and there would be little bumps in the road where life would get in the way sometimes.

I haven’t looked back and now I’ve lost five stone 7 lbs in total.

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I still have a way to go to get to my final goal weight, but I’m getting there slowly but surely.

Some of the positives are that my cholesterol level is now normal, and I no longer need to take medication for it. My sugar levels have come down and my diabetes medication has been decreased. At my last check up my sugar level was normal. I am due another check-up in May, and if I keep up the good work, I may be taken off all the medication. My doctor said I am well on my way to completely turning the type 2 diabetes around because of the weight loss.”