After her first pregnancy, Victoria was
determined to take control of her weight. Now a mum of three, she opens up her
photo album to tell her story
I used pregnancy as an excuse to eat anything
I wanted
Ian and I had been planning our wedding for
a while when I found out I was pregnant with Riley. As so many arrangements
were already in place, we thought we had better go ahead and have our big day,
which would fall just a few weeks after our son was due to arrive.
Eat
anything I wanted
During the pregnancy, I suffered with
terrible morning sickness and eating was the only thing that made me feel OK,
so I did rather a lot of it I would have a fry-up for breakfast, a massive roll
stuffed with cheese for lunch and a whole 12-inch deep-pan pizza with
everything on it for dinner. In between that I’d be snacking on a couple of Kit
Kats a day and ice cream - anything I fancied really. I used my pregnancy as an
excuse to eat whatever I wanted, even when I wasn’t hungry.
After six months of this, my weight had
ballooned. Although I was still working in a coffee shop, I stopped going out
anywhere else because I felt so embarrassed about the way I looked. If friends
called, I'd see their names come up on my mobile and I wouldn’t answer. They
would leave messages asking if we could meet up. But I felt ashamed of myself
and really didn’t want to see anyone.
School days, September 1997
Problem with my body image started at
secondary school
At
secondary chool
During pregnancy wasn't the first time I'd
felt insecure about my weight. I've always been sensitive to comments about my
body, and when I was at secondary school it became a problem with one girl in
particular. She would bully me and call me ‘fat’ when I walked down the
corridors. It became so nasty that I used to avoid going to school, as I just
couldn't face all the abuse. I turned to food for comfort and that's a really
difficult habit to break.
New mother, September 2006
After
Riley was born
After giving birth, my weight had soared to
14st 91b, I'd fooled myself into thinking that when I’d had the baby, the
weight would melt away but that wasn't the case.
I was the heaviest I'd ever been, and I
only had a few weeks before the wedding. It was a very stressful time - I was
trying to settle a new baby as well as plan the wedding, and I didn't feel good
about myself at ail.
I crash-dieted to try to get into my
wedding dress, but three weeks before the big day I went for a fitting and the
lady at the shop couldn't get the corset done up. I then practically starved
myself, eating only one meal a day. Looking back, I do have regrets. I wish I
could have felt better about myself and enjoyed those early days with my baby,
but that's hard to do when you don't feel happy in your own skin.
My big day, September 2006
I was unhappy with my weitght on my wedding
day
Even though marrying my wonderful husband,
Ian, was the thing I wanted most in the world. I didn't feel good on my wedding
day. I was really nervous about having my first dance because I knew everyone
would be looking at me. I hated having my picture taken, and on nearly every
shot I held my bouquet in front of my stomach to hide it.
Wedding
Things didn't get much better on our
honeymoon, as I spent the
entire week draped in baggy, black clothes. I even wore them around the pool,
as I didn't feel comfortable in a swimsuit. A low point was when we visited the
hotel’s spa and the therapist congratulated me on being pregnant! I went back
to my room and cried. Even though my ever- supportive husband told me that I
looked great, I didn't believe him.
