'I had a crisp addiction - I didn't leave my house for five years'

A crisp addict who tipped the scales at 27 stone says she did not leave the house for five years. Georgia Walley, 26, found herself struggling to even walk to the shops after her weight ballooned, but she turned down weight loss jabs due to a fear of needles.

She attempted various fad diets and weight loss tricks but found it difficult to lose the weight. Georgia would indulge in bags of Doritos, as she struggled to improve her diet.

However, when her doctor told her she needed to lose 7 stone to have her gallbladder removed, she decided to join Slimming World. She lost 9st after joining her Slimming World group by making one simple change - her diet.

Without stepping foot in a gym, she slimmed down to a size 12 just by managing her food intake more carefully. Georgia, a transport assistant from Derby, said: "I'd been dieting for years as I'd always been big.

"I was trying all different things but nothing worked for me. When I was at my biggest I didn't leave my house for five years. I was always out of breath and I was paranoid that people were staring at me."

"When I did leave I was struggling with my breathing, I was just so lazy. I would spend all day in my room secretly eating. I woke up one day and was just sick of being this big. I had gallstones and needed my gallbladder removed.

"The doctor told me I had to lose seven stone before my surgery. I've always been the sort of person that thought they could do it on their own and I don't like needles so I wouldn't even consider the jabs.

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"I've also heard a lot of horror stories about them. I thought if I can do it on my own with just eating, then I don't need any injections, so I joined Slimming World in February last year."

Previously, Georgia would bypass breakfast entirely, choosing instead to munch on crisps and chocolate before consuming four slices of cheese on toast for lunch, followed by an enormous helping of spaghetti bolognaise for dinner.

These days, she tucks into nutritious snack bars alongside black coffee for breakfast, plant-based sausages with eggs at lunchtime, and pre-prepared chicken with egg noodles for her evening meal.

Georgia continued: "I wasn't eating breakfast in the morning which I feel is a big problem, I had a big meal when I woke up later in the day. I wasn't drinking water throughout the day.

"I had two meals a day but snacked in between them - I could eat four bags of crisps after each other and not think anything of it. It was probably Doritos for me, the blue ones.

"I was a proper crisp addict, but now I don't touch them. I was Into chocolate too. My problem wasn't that I couldn't just have one, I had to have three or four of something.

"Bread was my weakness, too, I ate bread with every meal I had. Even if I had a Sunday roast or spaghetti bolognaise, I had bread with it. Now I don't even eat bread. Before I wouldn't eat a tomato, a cucumber, or any fruit or veg, but now I add them into most meals.

"Most people eat such small meals but I have a treat day, and I'll still have a chocolate bar. I use the syns system at Slimming World so that I can keep eating sweet treats. I've not been to the gym or exercised to lose weight. When I first started I thought I'd have to cut my meals down but you wouldn't believe how much you can eat."

She says she looks much younger now and people are always left shocked when she reveals she does not exercise. Georgia added: "The biggest I've ever been was 27st between 2020 and 2021. It's so weird, being this size I feel so small.

"People always have the same reaction when I tell them I don't workout - they're always shocked. I was losing 8 or 9lb a week which was amazing. And I've done this purely just changing my diet."