I joined Slimming World with my mum and we’ve now lost 6.5 stone between us

Donna Ayre and Chelsea Main, a mum and daughter from Newcastle, have gone on a transformative weight loss journey after they joined Slimming World together.

Chelsea has lost around five stone, which has seen her drop from a waist size of 30 down to a 22.

Her mum, Donna, who works as a gym manager, has lost one-and-a-half stone since joining Slimming World in September 2024.

Operations manager Chelsea has revealed that a disastrous wedding dress fitting gave her the kickstart that she needed to start her weight loss journey.

The 31-year-old said: “I got married last year and when I went for my first dress fitting, I got that dread that all women have as my dress didn’t fit anymore.

“I left my fitting and just started crying in the middle of town, it was a good job that I had my mam with me.

“She was there to talk me through my breakdown and gave me some hard truths.

“It’s from this that I started following Slimming World online and managed to so much weight that my dress actually had to be altered due to me losing so much.

“I really enjoyed my wedding and honeymoon with my husband Kyle and then my mam decided she also wanted to lose some weight so we decided to go together to Maria’s class and help each other.”

The pair have revealed that before they decided to lose weight, they would regularly eat takeaways, snacks and have big meal portions.

Now the duo have switched this up for healthier alternatives such as fruit and vegetables, as well as making meals from Slimming World recipes.

Click here to sign up for NewcastleWorld: Essential, our weekly email newsletter of the city’s best bits, sent every Thursday

Chelsea has praised her group leader, Maria, for helping her lose weight and revealed that she had initially looked at things such as surgery and weight loss injections before joining.

She added: “Maria was very insightful and gave me and my mam the time we needed to understand the step

“We are a small group, but we talk as if we are a family. I get excited when it comes to Monday as I know I’ll get to see all the girls.

“I looked into weight loss injections and even surgery but I wanted to do this naturally and thought that isn’t just my body but my mindset that needs to change.

“I knew that if I just went for a quick fix, I would just keep eating the way that I was as I didn’t have a handle on my emotions or mental health, which is what lead to my weight gain.”

You can find out more about Slimming World by visiting: https://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/.

Have you got a story you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld at https://www.yourworld.net/submit/.

It's free to use and, once checked, your story will appear on our website and, space allowing, in our newspapers.