She started to pile on weight comfort eating after the loss of her mum
Summer before her weight loss
A 27-year-old woman who was so big she got stuck on a fairground ride found a way to lose 11 stone – and says people no longer recognise her. Summer Thomas says she used to fill her days eating share bags of crisps, whole packs of chocolate digestives and greasy takeaways after she turned to eating as a form of comfort after when she lost her mum and her step brother.
At her heaviest, she weighed 19st 3lbs and wore a UK dress size 22. While conscious of her body, the penny didn’t drop until she visited the fair one day with a mate – and got stuck on one of the rides.
“As I sat down and pulled the seat belt over the top of me, the clip wouldn’t go in,” said the care assistant, from Blaenau Gwent. “I thought I had gotten a dodgy one by mistake. The attendant saw I was struggling and came over to help – but it wouldn’t click into place.
“I was told I had to get off as I was too big for the ride. It was a struggle getting off the seat and I thought I was stuck. Until my friend hoisted me up. I was so humiliated – everyone was staring at me.”
Summer used to sneak packets of biscuits and sweets as a child, pushing the wrappers to the bottom of the bin to hide the evidence. The eating started after her mum died from a brain haemorrhage.
For her, eating was a way to control her emotions. She didn’t think anything of her weight until going to secondary school. Summer said: “I was surrounded by people who were so much smaller than me. I became self-conscious of how I looked.
“I tried to diet, but would quickly fall back into old habits. When I got my first job at McDonald’s, the access to burgers and endless fries each shift meant I only piled on more weight.”
Summer made the decision to join her local Slimming World and, within a year, lost three stone. It was short-lived, though, as her step brother then died in a car crash.
For breakfast, it’d be a sugary cup of tea with a whole pack of chocolate digestives, followed by a share bags of crisps as a snack and big multi-packs of chocolate bars. At dinner, it would be McDonald’s or KFC. Suddenly, her once baggy work clothes were tight.
She said: “It had spiralled out of control. I tried to still enjoy myself and went on nights out with friends. But once, while in Wetherspoons, a person looked at me and said: ‘Look at the size of her.’
“I felt sick. I knew I had let myself go, but for a stranger to say that about me – it was mortifying.”
Just before the horrifying ordeal at the fairground in September 2021, Summer had returned to Slimming World and had lost a stone.
Determined to stick to the diet plan and stop being the “fat friend”, she switched up her eating habits. For breakfast, it was granola with strawberries, lunch consisted of chicken and salad and dinner was a low-calorie ready meal with some vegetables.
The share bags of crisps were traded for one packet of a fat-free version. After two years, she had lost five stone.
But then, the progress stopped. After growing hopeless, she came across weight loss jabs and purchased Mounjaro on a monthly subscription basis.
Now, just over a year later, she weighs 8st 9lb and a UK dress size eight. She added: “I feel fantastic. I no longer get out of breath walking upstairs anymore. And I take our dogs out for two long walks every single day.
“I’m finally happy with my weight and slowly coming off the injections. Recently, I saw someone I knew in the supermarket and as I walked off, I heard them mutter that I must’ve had gastric sleeve surgery.
“I wasn’t offended – it was a sign of how different I looked and the progress I’ve made. I’m now in control of my relationship with food. And I’m excited to get back on those fair rides.”
