Bethany Wragg reached 16st 4lbs and a size 24 at her heaviest
Bethany Wragg before her weight loss
A mum who spent three years losing six stone the “hard way” says she feels “bitter” seeing those on weight loss jabs shed the pounds in just a “few months”. Bethany Wragg, 41, reached 16st 4lbs and a size 24 at her heaviest and was “embarrassed” after realising she was the “biggest mum in the playground”.
The hairdresser, from Sheffield, struggled to shift the pounds but finally managed to slim down to 10st after a gruelling three years on a Slimming World diet and regular bike riding. Now a size 10 the mum is “proud” of her weight loss, but admits she feels “bitter” that weight loss jabs were not around when she was trying to lose weight.
Bethany said: “I tried everything to lose weight, if it’s out there, I’ve tried it five times over, but nothing worked. As I approached 40, I decided I wanted to do a big celebration and that I wanted to look and feel my best for it.
“I stuck to a Slimming World plan, and fell in love with bike-riding, going for 10-mile rides every weekend. I lost six stone over three years, and I feel like a completely different person.
“I can fit into short dresses I never had chance to wear in my 20s, and go to shops I’ve never been able to buy from before. But it wasn’t a quick fix, unfortunately.
“I’m always supportive of anyone who loses weight, but I do feel a little bitter. Weight loss jabs weren’t really a thing a few years ago, and now I see people losing the same amount of weight in a few months as it took me three years to.
“I absolutely would have tried them if they were available when I was at my biggest. It wasn’t until summer 2024 that I started to notice them being advertised, and then I started getting asked if I’d taken them, and had to constantly defend how I’d lost weight.”
Bethany said she was a sporty and active child, but as she got older, swapped dancing and netball for takeaways and the pub, leading her to pile on the pounds. She said: “I used to be a competitive dancer, and I was really sporty at school as well, I was in the netball and rounders team.
“When I left home, I swapped extracurricular activities and healthy meals for takeaways three times a week, microwave burgers and drinking at the pub.”
She would spend her wages on sweets, crisps and takeaways and started to get embarrassed about her weight at the school playground – making “fat jokes” about herself so no one else could. Bethany said: “When my daughter started school, I realised I was the biggest out of all of the mums.
“Once my daughter turned to me in the playground and said in front of everyone her friend thought I was fat, I wanted the world to swallow me up. My lowest moment came when I went to a theme park with my daughter and had to have an extender belt put on so that I could fit on a ride.”
Bethany shied away from using scales, but the biggest weight she ever recorded was 16st 4lbs. To try and combat her weight gain, Bethany tried “everything under the sun”, including shake diets, low-carb diets, and hiring a personal trainer.
But she said dieting always failed due to a lack of willpower, and “laziness”. As she approached 40, Bethany became more financially stable, and her daughter became more independent, giving the mum more time and energy to focus on her health.
She joined her local Slimming World group, for the fifth time, January 2022 and this time stuck religiously to the diet plans and weekly meetings. She swapped fry-ups and frozen pizzas for overnight oats and homemade chilli.
“Before my weight loss I would constantly be snacking. I was always secret eating, and have been known to buy chocolate as gifts for friends and family, and then eat it myself.
“I cut all of this out, and now cook from scratch, and snack on fruits and veggies. I began to look forward to the weekly weighing,” she said. The more my dress sizes went down, the better I felt.”
Her daughter, now 19, has also joined her on her weight-loss journey, and the duo now plan healthy meals together, which helps to keep them both motivated. Last year, Bethany and her husband decided to buy a camper van, and now regularly go on 10-mile bike rides at the weekend, and cycle around the local area three times a week.
“I’ve absolutely fallen in love with bike-riding, and I go on long walks with my dog now as well, instead of using the car for the five-minute drive to the local park,” she said.
Bethany’s diet before weight loss
Breakfast: Fry up, pastries or chocolate and sweets
Lunch: Loaded fries, pork sandwiches, crisps and fizzy pop
Dinner: Microwave burgers, frozen pizzas or takeaway
Bethany’s diet now
Breakfast: Overnight oats, Weetabix, berries
Lunch: Leftover homemade chilli, pasta salad
Dinner: Homemade burgers, roast dinner, homemade curry