'Slinky' slimmer loses 8st after cancer battle!
After taking on cancer, 20-year-old Emma Parker pledged to tackle her weight too and lost more than 8st - nearly half her body weight - in seven months.
In August 2010, aged 18 and already unhappy with her weight, Emma was devastated when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So when doctors confirmed Emma was winning her battle with the cancer which affects the lymph nodes, she believed she had been given a ‘second chance at life’ and decided to join her local Slimming World group.
Emma, from Jacksdale in Nottinghamshire, says: “Having Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year made me realise how important life is and not to take things like your health for granted. I wanted to be as healthy as I could so that if anything ever happened again I would be fitter and stronger, and I wanted to change everything that made me unhappy, which my weight definitely did.”
Now, less than a year later, she’s lost 8st 3½lb, dropped seven dress sizes and been named Slimming World’s ‘Miss Slinky’ 2012.
Emma, who lives with her parents and works as a customer service advisor for the Co-operative Group, was overweight from the age of eight or nine. At her heaviest she weighed more than 18st and found simple tasks like cleaning, walking the dog or climbing stairs left her out of breath and her joints aching.
Eighteen months ago Emma discovered a lump in her neck and was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She says: “I’d been struggling with my breathing a lot and even started using an inhaler, then I got a cough that wouldn’t go away. I thought it was all down to my weight so it was a real shock when I found out I had cancer, especially as I was only 18. Now I’ve lost weight I feel so much fitter and healthier and I don’t get out of breath any more - even when I go jogging.”
After undergoing 12 gruelling chemotherapy sessions and a biopsy, Emma was delighted when doctors decided she didn’t need further treatment and, with her doctor’s approval, she started her weight loss journey by joining her local Slimming World group in Leabrooks, Alfreton, in March 2011.
She says: “I never tried any diets because I didn’t believe they’d work for me and I thought I’d always be big. My auntie was going to Slimming World and every time I saw her she looked better and better. I was nervous because I thought I’d be the youngest person there and worried people would laugh or stare, but there were people of all ages and I got such a warm welcome I immediately felt more relaxed. The results have been unbelievable too.”
Emma started following Slimming World’s Food Optimising healthy eating plan and replaced takeaways and fatty foods with healthy home-cooked meals including her favourite chilli con carne and rice. She says: “It isn’t really a diet. There’s so much variety that I’ve never felt bored and it encouraged me to try lots of new foods. I lost 4lb in my first week and that’s when I knew I could really do it, because I realised I could lose weight without feeling like I was missing out on the things I like.”
As she slimmed down, Emma found she had more energy and soon felt confident enough to go swimming with her friends, walking with her parents and she even began enjoying bike rides with her boyfriend.
By October 2011 she reached her target weight, dropping from 18st ½lb to 9st 11lb and from a size 22 to a size 10. Her group voted for her to represent them in Slimming World’s Miss Slinky 2012 competition and now she’s been named the national winner, taking home the ₤2,000 prize which she plans to spend on a new size-10 wardrobe.
“Every week my Slimming World Consultant Sue and the rest of the group would congratulate me on how well I was doing and it encouraged me to keep going,” says Emma. “At first no one knew that I’d had cancer, but the first time I was confident enough to turn up without my wig everyone was so amazing and supportive. My doctor at the hospital has been really impressed with my weight loss too - he says he doesn’t recognise me any more - and I’m hoping to be able to celebrate being all-clear for a year in February.
“Losing weight hasn’t just changed the way I look, it’s changed my whole outlook on life. I’m so much happier now and I believe I can achieve anything I want to. I feel that after having cancer, I’ve been given a second chance and I want to make the most of it - now thanks to Slimming World I’m doing just that.”
VITAL STATS
Name: Emma Parker
Age: 20
Height: 5ft 2in/157cm
Weight loss: 8st 3½lb/115.5lb/52.4kg
Starting weight: 18st ½lb/252.5lb/114.5kg
Current weight: 9st 11lb/137lb/62.1kg
Starting dress size: 22
Current dress size: 10
Joined Slimming World: March 2011
Group: Emma attends Sue Rutter’s Leabrooks Slimming World group which is held at Somerlea Park Centre, Leabrooks, Alfreton every Tuesday at 9.30am.
Before menu
Breakfast: usually nothing. If anything, a bowl of sugary cereal or toast with chocolate spread or peanut butter.
Lunch: sandwich made with sandwich filler, packet of crisps and chocolate bar. At college would grab something from the café like chips and beans or pie and vegetables or go out for fast food or a pasty.
Dinner: sausages, buttery mashed potato, Yorkshire puddings and gravy; chicken nuggets and chips; takeaway chip shop kebab or Chinese with chips.
Snacks: chocolate bars, crisps, ice cream, biscuits, the occasional piece of fruit.
After menu
Breakfast: poached egg and beans on wholemeal toast; Weetabix or porridge topped with chopped banana; or, if in a hurry, a high-fibre bar and a fat-free yogurt.
Lunch: chicken pasta salad or jacket potato and beans, with a Mullerlight yogurt and fruit.
Dinner: gammon steak topped with pineapple, peas and Slimming World chips; chilli con carne with rice; ham and egg linguine; or steak and Slimming World-style chips (baked in the oven) with grilled tomato and mushrooms.
Snacks: fat-free yogurts, fresh fruit, a bag of Walker’s French fries, a 2 finger Kit Kat, carrot sticks, sugar free jelly, fruit kebabs, meringue nests topped with fresh fruit and fat-free yogurt. - Ends -
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Notes to Editors
- Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system. There are two main types of lymphoma. These are Hodgkin's lymphoma and non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). In Hodgkin's lymphoma, cells in the lymph nodes become cancerous.(Cancer Research UK)
- Slimming World supports members to make healthy lifestyle changes. Its Food Optimising eating plan encourages a diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables, as recommended by the World Cancer Research Fund.
- Slimming World’s Miss Slinky competition celebrates those members who’ve undergone a stunning transformation and blossomed, slimming down beautifully and growing in confidence.
- Slimming World is the largest and most advanced slimming organisation in the UK. Margaret Miles-Bramwell (OBE, FRSA) founded the company in 1969 and there are now more than 8,000 groups held weekly nationwide via a network of more than 3,000 Slimming World trained Consultants.
- 400,000 members attend Slimming World every week and achieve outstanding success.
- Slimming World pioneered referral schemes in the UK and actively supports the building of partnerships with the NHS and local authorities to develop effective strategies to manage overweight and obesity in the community. Slimming World works with university researchers and specialists in an active research programme to further knowledge of the causes and treatment of obesity.
- Slimming World’s healthy eating plan, Food Optimising©, and the principles behind Slimming World’s philosophy are based on a deep understanding of the challenges faced by overweight people. Slimming World integrates practical, up-to-date dietary advice with a highly developed support system.
- Slimming World Consultants receive specific training in dietary aspects and the role of physical activity in weight control. The highly developed training focuses on facilitating behaviour change in a group environment, acknowledged by experts as being the most effective way to support long-term weight management.
To find out more about Slimming World visit www.slimmingworld.com or call 0844 897 8000.