A NIGHT shift meant a bacon sandwich for Penni Sarling.
Then there were the bags of crisps and the rounds of sandwiches which all contributed to Penni’s size 22 frame.
But an innocent, if rather tactless, comment from her daughter Holly gave Penni the push she needed to do something about her weight – and she has never looked back.
Holly, who is nine, told Penni one day: “Mum, you’ve got a big bum.”
The harsh truth struck a chord and Penni decided enough was enough.
She then weighed 16st 10lbs, while being just 5ft 3ins tall. But nine months on, Penni has lost almost five stone and is a fetching size 12.
Penni, 37, of Millwrights, Tiptree, said: “It was my portion sizes which were wrong, mostly. I work on the night shift as a support worker for people with challenging behaviour.
“I used to use the nightwork as an excuse. I would come home and have a bacon sandwich. I’d have two or three bags of crisps. It was a way of life, it was what I knew.
Penni said she had been putting on weight since she was 20.
“It was down to poor diet and lack of exercise. It got to the point where I couldn’t walk down the street without feeling breathless,” she said.
But Penni adopted a new mantra – everything in moderation – and is a third of the woman she used to be.
She started a programme, My Weight Matters, which is a free initiative from community healthcare provider Anglian Community Enterprise.
The initiative provides one-to-one weight management advice on what food to eat and when.
Now a gym junkie, Penni is booked into next May’s Bupa 10km London Run and is confident of securing a place in next year’s London Marathon.
Penni, who also works in a school, said: “I mostly eat fruit for breakfast now and if I am working a nightshift, I have pasta in the evening, which will keep me going.
“I do still go out for a cooked breakfast, but it is only now and then, not a habit. Everything is in moderation.”
For more details about My Weight Matters, call 01206 363002.