11:20am Wednesday 29th July 2009
By Katie Adams
A mother-of-two has lost seven stone in weight after reaching the age at which her father suffered his first heart attack.
Kathy Iles, 44, from Cornonation Road in Melksham, said keeping up with her 29-year-old husband Matt’s active lifestyle, as well as realising she had reached the age her late father had first suffered a heart attack forced her to change the way she was living.
Her remarkable weight loss achievement has inspired her to lose another four stone.
She said: “About the time I realised that I had got to the same age my dad, Hal, was when he had his first heart attack I knew I had to do something.
“He was about 43 when that happened and I just thought, I am too young for all that I don’t want to go that way.
“My husband likes to snowboard and we went on a skiing holiday a couple of years ago and I couldn’t do anything because I was too fat and unfit, I was about 22 stone at that point and a size 28 to 30.”
It was around September 2007 that her daugter Hayley, 23, who lives in Frome, had joined Weight Watchers and lost several stone and this inspired Mrs Iles to do the same and join the Melksham group, which meets at the Assembly Rooms in Market Place.
She said: “I used to think i was healthy because I never thought long and hard enough about it. I used to eat a lot of processed food and I wasn’t careful about the cuts of meat I bought.
“The main thing I have cut out now is wheat, my body doesn’t like it and it used to give me heartburn to the point that I would be sleeping sitting upright in bed.
“Now I avoid wheat it’s all stopped and I haven’t had any heartburn since.”
Since joining Weight Watchers, Mrs Iles, who works in Semington as a charity administrator, has dropped to a size 16 to 18 and she is still looking to lose another four stone and get down to her target weight of 11 stone.
She now eats food following a points system provided by Weight Watchers and also walks every day and cycles to keep fit.
She said: “My husband lost a couple of stone because he eats what I eat now. He never minded either way what I looked like as he met me when I was bigger, but of course he is pleased that I can do things now and take part in the things he enjoys.”
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