A morbidly obese woman taunted by cries of ‘Run fat girl, run’ in the street has shed a remarkable 12 stone – and completed a half marathon.
Jo Jeffery, 46, from Wyke in West Yorkshire, was ‘hooked’ on Greggs sausage rolls and saw her weight rocket to 24 stone 10 lbs, wearing size 30 clothing at her heaviest.
The underwriter, who is 5ft 5in, could barely walk the short distance from her car to her office, yet mustered the energy several times a week to go to Greggs and buy their three-for-£1 packs of the savoury pastries, containing 981 calories, which she would wolf down in one sitting.
Jo, who now runs every day and is training for next year’s 13-mile Great North Run, said: ‘My weakness was Greggs sausage rolls and crisps.
‘They had them on offer – three for £1 – so I’d go there several times a week and scoff three in one sitting. ‘
Transformation: Jo saw her weight rocket to 24 stone 10 lbs, wearing size 30 clothing at her heaviest (left) but she has since slimmed down to an impressive 12 stone 9 lbs (right)
Jo, who now weighs a much healthier 12 stone 9 lbs, used to make regular visits to her work vending machine, purchasing chocolate bars and bags of crisps.
Then, at lunchtime, she would gobble down a butter-laden pork dripping Sandwich, with more crisps and chocolate, followed by fried food, like chicken and chips, in the evening – also snacking on high calorie goodies, like sausage rolls.
Growing up big: Jo’s weight issues began at a young age
‘I’d always been big and, when I was younger, I put it down to puppy fat, but it never disappeared,’ she said.
‘I loved crisps, chocolate and anything I could put in the deep-fat-fryer really.
‘Growing up, my mum [Jean Leeming, now 75] wasn’t really big on vegetables, we’d have them with a Sunday roast, but that would be it.
‘For the rest of the week, we’d eat lamb chops and potatoes.’
Bad habits: Jo could barely walk the short distance from her car to her office, yet mustered the energy several times a week to go to Greggs and buy their three-for-£1 packs of sausage rolls
Unhealthy: At lunchtime, Jo would gobble down a butter-laden pork dripping sandwich, with more crisps and chocolate, followed by fried food, like chicken and chips, in the evening – also snacking on high calorie goodies, like sausage rolls
When Jo’s boyfriend Mark, now 47, proposed two years into their relationship, she finally found an incentive to slim down – shedding 5 stone ahead of her wedding in 2000.
She did it with the help of Slimming World, where she even became a class leader.
But after getting settled into a happy marriage, Jo allowed the weight to creep back on – ditching the slimming group and returning to a life of old calorie-laden meals.
‘What’s the point?’ Jo resigns herself to being overweight
She admitted: ‘I just got to the point where I thought, “What’s the point? I’m too fat to do anything about my weight.”
‘I felt I might as well just carry on eating – as if there was no other option for me.’
Then, again, in 2006 – triggered by a realisation she needed to slim down – she re-joined the dieting group, losing an impressive 6 stone 7 lbs – before putting it all back on.
Jo with now-husband Mark. After getting settled into a happy marriage, Jo allowed the weight to creep back on – ditching the slimming group and returning to a life of old calorie-laden meals
As Jo spent years yo-yo dieting, by 2014, she would be sweating and gasping for breath, just after walking the 150m from her work car park to her desk
Lifestyle overhaul: Jo, who now runs every day and is training for next year’s 13-mile Great North Run, said: ‘My weakness was Greggs sausage rolls and crisps’
‘I was yo-yo dieting and getting nowhere,’ Jo recalled. ‘I was changing my diet, but I wasn’t looking at my lifestyle.’
By 2014, she would be sweating and gasping for breath, just after walking the 150m from her work car park to her desk.
‘I was at a friend’s birthday and I couldn’t even lean forwards to get my drink from the sofa, so someone had to get it for me because I was so big,’ she cringed.
‘Devastated’: Comment that marked a turning point for Jo
‘People had to help me to get up and I’d be leaning on my husband, if we walked around. I felt like an old lady, not a woman in her forties.
‘The doctor even asked, unprompted, if I’d considered weight loss surgery. Devastated, this was the shock I finally needed to make me change,’
On November 11, 2014, Jo joined Weight Watchers, starting yet another slimming plan – but this time with a difference.
Incentive: When Jo’s boyfriend Mark (pictured) proposed two years into their relationship, she finally found an incentive to slim down – shedding 5 stone ahead of her wedding in 2000
New start: Jo, who now eats a healthy breakfast of yoghurt and banana, a salad for lunch, and chicken and vegetables for dinner – without a sausage roll in sight – has also started running
‘I totally changed my lifestyle,’ she said. ‘I realised that, by carrying all this weight around, I was killing myself and putting so much pressure on my organs.
‘I suddenly felt desperate to change.’
After shedding some weight, with the help of her diet class, Jo, who now eats a healthy breakfast of yoghurt and banana, a salad for lunch, and chicken and vegetables for dinner – without a sausage roll in sight – has also started running.
‘Still weighing 15 stone 7lb at first, I must have been a sight for sore eyes,’ she admitted.
‘Strangers would shout, “Run fat girl, run,” at me in the street, but I ignored them.
‘And, after a while, I was doing longer and longer distances with ease.’
Joining her local running club, RunTogether Oakwell Running Bears and Cubs, in September 2016 she had the last laugh when, later that month she completed a half marathon in two hours 54 minutes.
She said: ‘Instead of wobbling along, I was striding ahead. Forget the fat girl, I’m more of a game girl these days.’