Counselling cured me of my eating 'addiction'

"I now know that at times of high emotion and stress I eat," says Elizabeth, now 33, "although at the time I didn't realise it."

After a brain operation, steroids and radiotherapy Elizabeth's weight increased quite dramatically and she was warned that due to her treatment and weight she may never be able to have children.

"I had just got married and I really wanted children so I managed to lose a little weight and we got lucky."

Despite doctors' warnings Sasha was born five years ago and two years later little Amber appeared. But the weight had crept back up and it started to affect Elizabeth's health.

"On the outside I was a positive confident person, but inside I didn't feel happy with myself at all. I wasn't a big binger and didn't gorge myself with food, I had just developed an unhealthy relationship with it," says Elizabeth from Moortown,

in Leeds.

In the end she decided that she had to do something and at one stage contemplated a gastric bypass or band.

But a friend suggested she try Lighter Life.

The diet programme is for people aged 16 and over and have Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 25. The programme lasts for a maximum of 12 weeks and entails taking three Lighter Life soups and shakes a day which have a total of 530 calories a day.

Lighter Life has come under fire after two women died while on the programme. Inquests on both women, including Samantha Clowe from Yorkshire were inconclusive, but it brought bad publicity for the brand.

"For me it was the perfect thing," maintains Elizabeth.

"Being obese brings serious health implications in itself. It is frustrating when people concentrate on the 530 calorie thing. What is important is the counselling and entire approach of Lighter Life.

"It helped me understand so much more about myself and my relationship with food.

"If I had had the surgery I wouldn't have got to the root cause of my problems with food and so it probably wouldn't have worked."

Elizabeth said Lighter Life treated her relationship with food like an addiction.

"I still have issues with food but I have learnt to control them. I really really loved bread. I now try to restrict myself to just having bread at weekends. It is about moderation.

"The government say eat less, exercise more and you will tackle obesity but it is so much more complicated than that. You have to learn to understand why you have a problem with food and until you do that through counselling and group therapy you will never successfully lose weight."

Elizabeth was so impressed with Lighter Life after losing nearly five stone, that she gave up her job in law and trained to become a Lighter Life counsellor. She now weighs 10 stone and feels so much better about herself.

"I can go into a shop and buy clothes that I like and make me feel good which is so liberating. My little girl never said anything about my weight but when I lost it she said 'you aren't a big mummy any more, you are a pretty mummy.'"

n Leeds-based LighterLife is raising funds for Yorkshire Cancer Research this month with a Strictly Stylish Fashion Show on Saturday February 27 to celebrate their clients' weight loss at Aspire in Leeds. Celebrity guest will be Apprentice star Claire Young and guest speakers including Etta Cohen, founder of Forward Ladies, and Mark Hoban of TV's Last Man Standing as the compre.

Tickets cost 20. Call Melanie Ellyard on 0113 2565789 or email pudsey [email protected]. For details visit www.strictlystylish.co.uk.