A RHYL woman who lost seven stone after joining Slimming World says the regular exercise she has enjoyed has “lifted my confidence” and “made anything seem possible”.

Claire Andrews, 33, joined Slimming World Online weighing 17 stone and four pounds, and has since reached her target weight of 10 stone and four pounds.

Claire, a care assistant who lost weight with the help of Rhyl group led by consultant Stef Breed, recalled the anxiety she felt when her eight-year-old son Finley, then four, asked if she would take part in the mum’s race at his first sports day at school.

She said: “‘Yes…yes of course,’ I smiled, panicking inside. I had anxiety and depression, and when four-year-old Finley had started school, I spent as little time with the other parents as I could.

“Now, I was going to have to show up to sports day and run in front of them – it was my worst nightmare.

“I forced myself to drive to the school, but when the race was about to start, I just couldn’t face it. I felt like everyone would be staring at me, judging me, as I came last.

“When he realised I wasn’t running, Finley burst into tears. I felt like the worst mum ever, and it battered my already very low self-esteem.”

The following Christmas, Claire had been excited to buy matching pyjamas for the whole family; herself, Finley, her son, Freddie, and her husband, Dan.

But when she looked at herself in the mirror with size-18 pyjamas on, feeling uncomfortable and self-conscious, her heart sank.

She added: “After just 10 minutes, I jumped up. ‘I’m too hot in these!’ I lied, forcing a smile. ‘I’m just going to take them off for now.’

“Sitting on my bed, I fought back the tears. I knew I was missing so much with my boys, but anxiety had me in its grasp.”

Claire said she had been unhappy with her weight since university, and turned to food for comfort during her recovery from having emergency C-sections when giving birth to both of her sons.

Lacking the energy to cook, she and Dan began eating more takeaways, while in 2013, before Finley was born, Claire had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

She said: “After Freddie was born in 2015, I’d been eased off the tablets, wanting to manage my condition long-term without medication.

“And, over time, as I got bigger, my weight felt like an added burden on my mental health.

I knew I had to do something, but I was terrified about the idea of walking through the doors of a weight-loss group, so in January 2018 I joined Slimming World Online, weighing 17st 4lbs.

“As the weeks passed, I learnt all about ‘Food Optimising’, and started cooking from scratch again. I stuck to the plan, and as the numbers on the scales began to fall, I started to feel a glimmer of hope.”

Soon after, Claire made a pivotal decision; telling her boys she was going to walk them to school.

It was a move that felt daunting to her at first but which she admirably stuck to and soon found it boosting her confidence.

She said: “I could feel the panic rising but looking at their gleeful little faces, I couldn’t let them down. I clung to the boys’ hands and chatted to them, and it felt OK.

“Yet on the way back alone, I felt exposed. I made sure not to catch anyone’s eyes and when I finally got home, I felt so relieved.

“Over the next few weeks, we walked to school every day and I slowly began to feel more confident.”

An increasingly more active lifestyle was beginning to have the desired effect – not only was Claire’s mood improving, but by March 2019, she had lost four stone.

It was by then, having “felt able to do things that had once seemed impossible”, that she felt confident enough to join a group.

She said: “My consultant, Caroline, and the other members at the group in Rhyl were friendly, welcoming and so supportive, and I picked up lots of new ideas.

I wanted to do more walking, so one afternoon, feeling brave, I wheeled my old bike out of the shed. I hadn’t ridden it for years. Tentatively, I climbed on and pedalled up the road and back down again.

“To my surprise, it felt really good. So, I got my sons’ bicycles out, too. When we got back home, the boys clearly buzzing, I realised something.

“I hadn’t worried about what anyone would think, I’d just let myself live in the moment and enjoy it – it felt so liberating!

“In April 2019, I bought kettlebells and do a home workout video using them, which I really enjoyed. By September 2019, I felt happier than I had in years.

“When I was walking, being outside in the fresh air really lifted my spirits, and the sense of achievement as I was getting fitter improved my mood immeasurably.

“After a couple of months, when Stef Breed took over my group as our new consultant, she was meeting a far more confident woman than the one who’d joined that spring.”

But when the world found itself in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, and the UK in its first national lockdown, Claire’s anxiety levels soared.

With her sons off school, and fearing accidentally carrying the coronavirus into the care home where she worked, Claire’s anxious thoughts would inevitably spiral, making sleeping far harder in doing so.

Yet this time, she knew a better way to manage her mental health rather than simply turn to comfort-eating.

Claire said: “I knew exercise was said to help with mental health, so I turned to activity rather than comfort food. I bought a weighted hula hoop and practised.

“After a while, I got so good that I could throw a rugby ball for the boys to catch, all the while keeping the hoop spinning!

“I also started doing a virtual HIIT (high-intensity interval training) yoga class and enjoyed it so much that, when face-to-face classes were allowed again, I went along.

“It’s something I would never have done before. Exercise made a huge difference in managing my anxiety in the later lockdowns, too, and is just a natural part of my daily life now.

“Since reaching my target weight of 10 stone and four pounds, I’m sure that being active has helped to keep me there.

“And I know, for me, it’s more than just physical. Regular activity has lifted my confidence and self-esteem, and made anything seem possible.”

From then on, Claire has gone from strength to strength. She and Dan married last June, having put the wedding off some time because of body image fears which were now a thing of the past.

She’s also climbed Snowdon with fellow ‘Slimmers’, and has signed herself and her boys up for some long hikes with friends.

Most importantly, though, she feels comfortable in her own skin again.

“The other day I pulled on a T-shirt and shorts and headed to the park with the boys,” Claire said.

“Finley’s friends were there, playing football, and as he ran off to join them, he called back to me: ‘Want to play, Mum?’.

“‘Definitely,’ I smiled, without a second of self-doubt.

“To me, moments like that mean the world.”

To find out more about Slimming World and how to join, visit www.slimmingworld.co.uk.