Bridesmaid Loses Seven Stone After Seeing Herself In Friend’s Wedding Pics

Bridesmaids dresses are often unflattering but one Maid of Honour was so upset by the way she looked in her friend’s wedding photos, that she went on to lose seven stone.

Karen Copeland was a size 24 when she helped her best friend celebrate her wedding in August 2014, weighing 17 stone and eight pounds. And when the 39 year old saw the snaps she realised she had to do something about her ballooning size.

The mum-of-two, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, says she felt her bulky 17 stone 8lb frame had spoiled the pictures and vowed straight away to lose weight.

Karen swapped her bad eating habits for healthy food and within 12 months she lost almost seven stone, weighing 10st 12lbs and a svelte size 12.

She revealed she started piling on the pounds after an accident five years ago which left her with metal pins and plates in her ankle.

Her injured foot would swell up at the end of a long day hairdressing, forcing her to sit on the sofa with her feet up when she got home, where she would munch on chocolate and crisps. She also didn't eat proper meals while at work.

Desperate to lose weight, Karen joined her local Slimming World group and replaced her unhealthy diet with cereals, pastas and stir-frys.

Now Karen has Weetabix for breakfast with fresh berries and bananas and will take a healthy pasta salad or leftover stir fry to work for lunch. 

Karen said that it was seeing the photographs in full size finally gave her the wake-up call that she needed to lose the weight.

“At the time of my friend's wedding I thought I looked fine,” she said. “But when we had some photographs blown up to put around the house I just looked at myself and thought ‘oh that's shocking’.

“It looked like someone had pumped me up with a foot pump.”

Karen says that she was so ashamed by the photographs that she felt guilty for spoiling them for her friend.  

“When I saw those photos I just realised I looked horrendous. I felt like I spoiled all of those photographs. I really did. I felt really bad. I just thought ‘what's that fat lump doing in those nice pictures’.”

Karen says that the transformation was so dramatic that her customers thought she had left the salon.

“Now I don't look like that person whatsoever and people don't even recognise me.”

“I’ve gone from a size 22/24 to a size 12 so people really don't believe it - especially because I did it in 12 months.”

Karen says that as well as dramatically changing her appearance her weight loss has allowed her to enjoy whole new experiences that she would have otherwise been unable to do.

“It's great because now I can go swimming, play with my kids and do things like going to theme parks and flying which I was worried about before because of my size.

“Shopping is a new experience too. I'm not stuck in what I call the ‘fat shops’. I can go where I like.

“It's completely changed my life.”

[How I Lose 10 Stone]
[The Seven Worst Weight Loss Mistakes]