Mom drops six dress sizes after embarrassing fitting room experience

By Harrison Moore via SWNS

This mom dropped six dress sizes in six years and became a marathon runner after an "embarrassing" fitting room experience.

Alice Ingman, 59, weighed 18 stone in 2012 having started to put weight on while in her twenties.

Her weight was making life extremely difficult so she decided to do something about it by changing her diet and lifestyle.

By 2018, Alice had lost eight and a half stone (120 pounds) and five years on has been named Slimming World’s Diamond Member of the Year 2023 - a competition that celebrates weight maintenance.

She's also run three full marathons and 10 half marathons, and says running has been a big part of her weight loss journey, as it keeps her feeling "powerful, fit and strong."

Alice from, Wisbech, UK, said: "Feeling great in my clothes is amazing yet for me my health is the biggest gift of all.

"My family no longer worries about me, and you just can’t put a price on that feeling."

Alice says she gained weight steadily for years, suffering from painful acid reflux and reaching more than 250 pounds.

The catalyst was an "embarrassing" fitting room experience when she realized a variety of size 20 dresses were too small.

The retired personal assistant says despite being someone who enjoys meeting new people, she was nervous about taking the first step in her weight loss journey.

But after joining Slimming World, a weight loss organization based in Derbyshire, UK, she was given the guidance and support to change her life for the better.

Alice, a mom-of-one who currently weighs 137 pounds, said: “My weight was really taking a toll on my health.

"I had terrible acid reflux, my legs would rub together and cause painful sores, and I’d be completely out of breath after the most minimal physical activity.

"I knew that my family was worried about me too because I’d get tired so easily.

“I’d been relatively slim up until my mid-20s – the weight went on so gradually that I didn’t really notice at first.

"One afternoon I was shopping for new work clothes, convinced I was still a size 16.

"When I found myself in the changing room surrounded by size 20 skirts that didn’t fit, I knew I had to do something.”

Alice developed an eating plan and learned to build healthier habits around food, including cooking from scratch more and eating more fruit and vegetables.

She swapped the meal deals, carbs, chocolate and crisps for fruit, salad and healthy home-cooked curries and meal prepping has become a huge part of her daily routine

She also started exercising more and targeted running as an efficient, enjoyable way of losing weight.

Over the course of six years, Alice lost an incredible 120 pounds – a weight loss she has maintained since 2018 when she achieved her target weight.

She is now a size eight and an established marathon runner and says that shopping for clothes is no longer a dreaded chore but an enjoyable hobby.

Alice said: “I’ve always enjoyed food but had fallen out of love with cooking.

"Most of my meals had a plastic lid and were either from the takeaway or for the microwave.

"Slimming World showed me that I could still enjoy the flavors of food while losing weight.

"I absolutely love a curry – the spicier the better – so experimenting with my own recipes really kept me on track.

"It was a totally new way of looking at weight loss and I think that’s why it has worked so well for me.”

Dr. Amanda Avery, Slimming World’s Health and Research Consultant Dietitian, says: “At a time when people can feel bombarded with so many different ways to lose weight, it can be confusing to know which approach will truly work for you.

"Our research and Alice’s story show anyone who is trying to lose weight and keep it off, how important it is to make healthy lifestyle changes.

"As no two slimmers are the same, it’s the expertise and support members receive at their local Slimming World group which helps them to understand what those changes mean for them, just as Alice has done beautifully."