Life-changing photo set inspirational Chesterfield mum off on incredible weight loss journey

Natalie Brannigan who lives in Boythorpe, Chesterfield now weighs in at 8st 6.5lb less than three years after she tipped the scales at 15st 13.5lbs.

She piled on the pounds after giving birth to a daughter, the first girl for Natalie and partner Steve who were already parents of two boys.

Natalie, 35, said: “I gained a lot of weight mostly through lack of sleep and eating convenience foods. I would binge on chocolate, crisps and takeaways mostly at night in front of the TV after the children were in bed. I never did any exercise at all, I was embarrassed by my size, felt like people were judging me, I had no confidence and avoided social situations at all costs.

“The weight piled on quickly but I was oblivious to it. Stretchy leggings and baggy tops were my friend and seemed to stretch with me which made the issue easier to ignore. Clothes shopping and finding clothes that fit properly was a nightmare and often ended in tears, which was problematic as I am an emotional eater so I would eat junk food thinking it would make me feel better when actually it just made me feel worse, I was trapped in an emotional eating circle that was spiralling out of control.

"At my heaviest I had zero energy, zero motivation, zero confidence. I couldn’t walk upstairs without being out of breath, I couldn’t play with my children, I didn’t have a social life at all, I was completely miserable and the only person standing in my way, was me!

"I attended a weekly Mum and Baby group with my daughter and in the final session, all the mums stood together with their babies and had a group photo taken. The next day I was sent a message with a copy of the photo and after looking at it for a while I wondered why I wasn’t in the photo, and who the lady was stood at the end? That lady was me! I was absolutely mortified by how much weight I has gained, frustrated at how I had let myself get to that size and equally upset that I no longer recognised myself. I decided that day that I needed to make some changes.”

Natalie found the help that she needed when she signed up to the Slimming World group in Boythorpe in May 2021. She said: “Walking through the doors when I joined Slimming World was terrifying, but I knew it was a step I needed to take to improve my mental and physical health.

“I had followed Slimming Worlds Food Optimising Plan before and lost weight, so I knew it worked, it was also the only plan I know that allowed me eat all my favourite food like, chips, burgers, pizza, pasta and chocolate. I also like big portions which again is not a problem with Slimming World.

“Some of the changes I made were small but made all the difference, for example, swapping full fat fizzy drinks to sugar free and changing from sugar to sweetener in hot drinks.

"Rather than reaching for convenience foods for meals and snacking on biscuits and crisps, I now make healthy homemade family meals such as lasagne, roast dinners, cottage pie.

“My partner Steve has been my biggest supporter throughout my weight loss journey, he has celebrated my weight losses with me and supported me on weeks where I’ve struggled. After seeing the great results, I got from Food Optimising, he decided to become a member himself and come to group with me, he has currently lost 3 and a half stone, I’m very proud of him!"

Natalie has every reason to feel proud of her achievements. She was voted Woman of the year 2021, 2022, 2023, Miss Slinky 2021, 2023 and The Greatest Loser 2024 by members of her Slimming World group.

She continues to be a motivational force, posting details of her daily meals and weekly weigh-ins on Instagram (@nats.swjourney) where she is followed by more than 4,000 people.

Exercise has played an important role in Natalie’s journey. She said: “I took up weighted hula hooping to keep fit, it was a good choice for me as I could do it at home whenever I had some spare time. Last year I did a 60-mile sponsored walk for APP charity raising over £400 which I was very proud of and wasn’t something I could have even attempted before my weight loss.”

Losing weight has given Natalie the confidence to go out and mix. She said: “Socialising is my new hobby, I missed out on so much and shut myself away for so long due to embarrassment of my size and fear of judgement that I forgot what it was like to go out and have fun. Now I have a busy social life and even have a monthly bingo night with a group of ladies from the Slimming World group I attend!”

Natalie has also trained as a Slimming World Consultant and will relaunch group meetings at St Andrews Church, Newbold Road, Chesterfield on April 5. Meetings will be held there on Fridays at 9am.

She said: “I cannot wait to start my role as a Slimming World Consultant and help people achieve their dream weight, improve their health and gain confidence themselves.”