A woman turned to food to cope with the grief after losing her friend when she was 15 and ballooned to 21 stone.

Natasha Bunby from West Sussex has now lost 11 stone after her son made a heartbreaking comment about her weight.

When Natasha was 15, she lost her best friend, Cara, to meningitis. She turned to food to cope with the grief and ballooned to 21 stone.

She said: “Over the years, my weight rose as I rewarded myself with food when things were good and comforted myself with it when I felt bad.”

When she was 29, she was diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis that affects the brain and spinal cord.

She said: “Visiting me in hospital, mum took me for a push around the grounds with the boys, and she lost control of my wheelchair on a slope.”

A passer-by helped but her son made a heartbreaking comment that left her speechless. He said: “Mum, if you’re going to be in a wheelchair, how will we do things if we can’t push you?”

Natasha said: “It was an 11-year-old’s innocent ­question, but it cut right to the heart of the matter.”

After the heartbreaking incident, she decided to join Slimming World and from that day, she totally gave up pasta and curry sauce and all the unhealthy food that she had been eating since she was a teenager.

She started planning her meals. She would make Slimming World versions of chili, bolognese, Chinese takeaway-style meals, and curries.

She said: “By now, things, like getting in the shower and pulling myself up from my wheelchair to dress myself, had become easier, and I felt as though losing weight was giving me a new lease of life.”

In a year and nine months, she lost 11 stone.

Natasha then helped her husband Mark to lose weight and he has also lost over 5 stone.

After becoming a ­Slimming World Consultant, she was announced as Slimming World’s Top Target Consultant.

Natasha now hopes to be a model and represent wheelchair users.

She said: “I hope my modeling will help to make wheelchair users more visible and show all of the things we can achieve.”

 

 

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