Claire Ferris weighed 18st 7lbs and was struggling to squeeze into a size 22 at her biggest. But after a “mortifying” comment from a woman in her neighbourhood in November 2019, she knew "enough was enough” and decided to try and lose some weight.

       The 42-year-old had previously refused advice from doctors to have a gastric band fitted, resulting in her deciding to walk 10-12 miles a day in January 2020 to lose weight naturally.

       Over the course of a year, Ms Ferris lost six stone and now weighs a healthier 12st 7lbs - meaning she can fit into size 12-14 with ease.

       Ms Ferris, who is currently unemployed and from Studley, Warwickshire, said: “There was one woman I talked to when I was out and about.

       "She came across to me and said: 'Congratulations, when is it due?’

       "I was mortified when I realised she thought I was expecting and I told her: ‘I’m not pregnant’, and I started crying.

       “My tummy actually looked like a baby bump - not a just flab. That really upset me."

       After setting herself walking challenges and slowly building up her endurance, she was breezing down the pavements and strolling more than 10 miles a day.

       Ms Ferris would often walk six miles in the morning and another six miles in the afternoon.

       She added: “At the start, I was walking around the roads and beating my heart out because my thighs were rubbing together, my heels were bleeding and my feet were swollen.

       “People say 'it must be a walk in the park for you', but it wasn’t. It was really, really painful.

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       “Then the weight started to come off and I became obsessed with walking. It was like an addiction.

       “There was this triangle trail that’s three miles in total. I couldn’t do more than once at the beginning and by the end, I was doing four or five times a day.”

       Ms Ferris also took up swimming as part of her weight loss routine.

       She said: “At swimming, this man once came up to me and said: ‘You’d be very pretty if you lost a few stones.'

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       “He said I must be living in the takeaways because he thought I couldn't possibly be eating healthily and be big like that.

       “I stopped going for a few weeks because it made me feel like fat people shouldn’t be in the pool - but I realised it was his problem, not mine, and went back.

       “I felt like giving up at that point but I had so much support from other people there which put me back on track.”

       Ms Ferris now counts her calories every day and makes a lot of food on her own, using healthier alternatives of the food she loves.

       She has also reduced her alcohol intake from a bottle of wine every weekend to only drinking a glass or two on special occasions, such as Christmas and birthdays.

       Ms Ferris said: “I used to suffer a lot from depression but it’s gone since I lost the weight. I just feel so happy about myself and confident to do things I couldn’t do before, like I will go on the bus on my own or walk into the shop on my own without thinking.”