I lost 7st without shelling out £££s on fat jabs – with simple tweaks so subtle my husband shed 5st without even trying
WHEN Leigh-Ann Turpin finished a marathon she should have been celebrating. Instead, she was humiliated by her photo at the finishing line.
Weighing 20 stone, the 42-year-old was shocked she had made it over the line at all.
Her family had been worried when she decided to run the Brighton Marathon in April 2018, encouraged by the fact that she had completed a 10K.
She found the training difficult, but she stuck with it, and by the time she was at the start line, the hairdresser, from Stanford-Le-Hope, Essex felt as fit as everyone else.
“But in reality, I wasn’t,” she says. “I was just under 20 stone, and had never run a marathon before.
“I felt like dying as I finally made it over the finish, but what a sense of achievement.
“That was, until I looked at the picture of me coming through the finish line.
“I was so enormous, I never realised I was that big, until I could see it there right in front of me. I was horrified.
“I was definitely in denial about it and very unhappy with how I looked.
“I was low in myself, had no confidence, I hated looking in mirrors.”
It was the push that Leigh-Ann needed, having gotten into the habit of gorging on takeaways with her husband Wayne, 47.
She and Wayne, who share two kids - Ronnie, 18, and Frankie, 16 - embarked on a weight loss journey together.
They lost 12st combined by changing their indulgent diet.
“Wayne has been so proud of what I've achieved, and it’s definitely brought some romance back into our lives,” she says.
“We fancy each other again, and Wayne is always telling me I look lovely.
“We’ve been together since 2005 after meeting at a local car club meeting - I was the chairman of the car club and Wayne was a member.
“But after years of being overweight, the spark had definitely dimmed.
“We had no energy for the bedroom, let alone anything else, but we have lots more now.
We had no energy for the bedroom, let alone anything else, but we have lots more now
Leigh-Ann Turpin
“When I was 20 stone, I’d cover up my body in baggy black clothes, now I’ll wear something, and he’ll say ‘what’s this little number?’.
“It’s made us both appreciate each other a bit more. I have a lot to thank that marathon for.”
And though weight loss injections weren’t around yet, Leigh-Ann says she wouldn’t have touched them.
Leigh-Ann revealed: “I’d never have used any slimming jabs - that isn’t for me.
“I’ve done it all without using Ozempic. They can be a good aid, but you should still follow healthy eating too.”
'Too ashamed'
Leigh-Ann, a hairdresser, had struggled with her weight all her life.
She says she got bigger after having children and piled on most of the weight between 2013 and 2018.
“Working in a hair salon there was never enough time to grab a proper lunch, so I was always eating on the go,” she recalled.
“For breakfast I would eat rounds of toast and jam, then have a sandwich with crisps and chocolate for lunch, followed by a takeaway or something from the freezer that I could just stick in the oven for dinner.
“Wayne and I both loved an Indian takeaway and we would get the whole works, tucking into a Jalfrezi, with rice, poppadoms and dips - everything naughty that you could possibly get.
“In the salon, I’d often hear people refer to me as ‘the big girl cut my hair’ and I hated that.”
Leigh-Ann had been on the merry-go-round of dieting for years, unable to find a method that stuck.
“I tried to lose weight - I was attempting a new diet every week, I just couldn't stick to it," she said.
“I needed someone to give me support and make me accountable but I was too ashamed to join any slimming groups, convinced that people would judge me if I walked into a class.
“I calorie counted and even tried liquid diets, but I was getting nowhere.
“Wayne would encourage me, telling me I could do it, but otherwise, I didn’t have any support. I’d start off the day with good intentions, and not eat anything, but by night time I’d be starving, so I’d wolf down huge portions.”
Turning point
The marathon came about after Leigh-Ann successfully completed a 10K.
She said: “I’d never even attempted a marathon before, and my friend Dawn was there egging me on.
“At the 13-mile mark, she even hopped over the barrier to join me, urging me on to the finish line.
“Mum had been worried about me doing the marathon,” Leigh-Ann admits.
“I did a bit of training for it, and would go out running, but by the time of the marathon, I think I thought I was one of the fit runners, just like everyone else.
“Mum didn’t want me to keel over with a heart attack with the exertion of it all.
“I brushed off her worries and didn’t understand what she was talking about…until I saw that photo of me at the end.
“I looked at the picture of an unhealthy me. I had always been unhappy with what I looked like and my excess flab, but that really drove it home to me. I knew then that I was lucky to still be alive.”
I knew then that I was lucky to still be alive
Leigh-Ann Turpin
It was the turning point for Leigh-Ann. She knew she had to do something about it.
“I confided in a friend at work about how I was feeling - she was losing weight, and would bring nice things to eat at work. So why was she losing weight and not me?
“She told me she went to Slimming World and asked me to come with her.
“I told her about my fears of walking into a slimming group, and she laughed and said it wasn’t like that at all, and they were lovely.
“She convinced me to try it. So I went to my first meeting, and I got the warmest welcome I could have imagined.
“I never thought it would have been like that. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
“I changed what I was eating, and now for breakfast I ate overnight oats with yoghurt, then chicken, eggs and Ryvita for lunch or a tuna pasta, followed by homemade spaghetti bolognaise for dinner.
“They taught me how to cook better and from scratch and for the first time in my life, the pounds started falling off me.”
Slimming World encourages dieters to swap high-fat foods for low-fat foods that are naturally filling.
They have a “Syn Free” list of foods that can be eaten in unlimited amounts, and “Syns” which need to be limited per day.
Leigh-Ann says: “It’s all about food optimising.
“Slimming World teaches you how to take control and make better choices.
“You can also make fakeaways or lower Syn versions of your favourite foods.
“It’s such a good lifestyle, eating great food and losing weight - what more could you want?”.
Leigh-Ann lost eight stone from 2019.
“Wayne has also lost almost five stone too, just by eating what I’m cooking for me,” she says.
“I make the same meals for both of us. So between us we have lost 12 stone.
“Wayne has suffered two strokes previously, so it has improved his general health no end.
“Now I have so much more energy, and I feel motivated every day.
“Our kids are so proud of me and they even enjoy the Slimming World recipes too.
“It took that marathon photo to change my life around - so I’m so glad that I entered.
“When I set off from the starting line, I never imagined that it would end up changing my life so much.
“And despite mum’s worries, I’m so glad I did it, or else I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Leigh-Ann hasn’t run a marathon since 2018.
“But I would like to one day,” she says. “And this time I wouldn’t be ashamed of myself at the finishing line. And I’d be a lot fitter and mum wouldn’t worry about me doing it.”
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
Weight loss jabs are all the rage as studies and patient stories reveal they help people shed flab at almost unbelievable rates, as well as appearing to reduce the risk of serious diseases.
Wegovy – a modified version of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic – and Mounjaro are the leading weight loss injections used in the UK.
Wegovy, real name semaglutide, has been used on the NHS for years while Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a newer and more powerful addition to the market.
Mounjaro accounts for most private prescriptions for weight loss and is set to join Wegovy as an NHS staple this year.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less so your body burns fat for energy instead and you lose weight.
They do this my mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full, so the drugs are officially called GLP-1 receptor agonists.
They slow down digestion and increase insulin production, lowering blood sugar, which is why they were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes in which patients' sugar levels are too high.
Can I get them?
NHS prescriptions of weight loss drugs, mainly Wegovy and an older version called Saxenda (chemical name liraglutide), are controlled through specialist weight loss clinics.
Typically a patient will have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, classifying them as medically obese, and also have a weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure.
GPs generally do not prescribe the drugs for weight loss.
Private prescribers offer the jabs, most commonly Mounjaro, to anyone who is obese (BMI of 30+) or overweight (BMI 25-30) with a weight-related health risk.
Private pharmacies have been rapped for handing them out too easily and video calls or face-to-face appointments are now mandatory to check a patient is being truthful about their size and health.
Are there any risks?
Yes – side effects are common but most are relatively mild.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
Evidence has so far been inconclusive about whether the injections are damaging to patients' mental health.
Figures obtained by The Sun show that, up to January 2025, 85 patient deaths in the UK were suspected to be linked to the medicines.
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