Ely woman sheds an amazing 10 stone thanks to running and blackcurrants
A woman from Ely has lost an incredible 10 stone in weight to go from the fattest girl at university to a fitness fanatic.
Laura Dryden says that as a teenager she considered herself the ‘biggest’ girl in school. And the unwanted tag continued into university, where she struggled to walk across campus.
When the test engineer tipped the scales at 18-and-a-half stone, she realised that the time for cakes had gone and shed the pounds thanks to running a popular blackcurrant supplement.
The 29-year-old now weighs nine-and-a-half stone, has been documenting her journey on YouTube and Instagram. She runs four times a week and credits the blackcurrant supplement - called ‘CurraNZ’ - with helping her exercise harder for longer, enabling her to lose so much weight.
She explained: “I gained weight quite quickly at the end of primary school and always remember being ‘the big girl’ in class.
“I wasn’t really active and I didn’t like sports at all. The weight just kept creeping up the more I ate through the stress of college and university.
“I was so down and constantly disappointed when trying to buy clothes. I wanted to wear what was in fashion but that wasn't always possible because of my size.
"At university, getting around campus was a nightmare and I was always so out of breath just walking to classes.
“And I’d never weighed myself up until that point. But, in the end, I was horrified by the number I saw on the scales.
“It spurred me on to get to a healthier weight and lead a healthier lifestyle. I didn't want to feel miserable anymore.”
Laura, who studied forensic computing at the University of Lancaster, began her weight loss journey eight years ago and cites a holiday to Egypt as the catalyst for change.
She added: “The trip to Egypt was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was really uncomfortable, I had no confidence, I didn’t want to take off my clothes to be in my swimsuit and I didn’t want to show my body to anyone.
“I was just generally unhappy. When I got back, I knew it was time to make the change”
She began by reducing her portion sizes while starting a fitness game on her Xbox console.
And when she felt she’d lost enough weight to give it go, Laura tried jogging for the first time in 2013 and has never looked back.
She added: “I did my first half marathon within a few months of taking up running - which was maybe a foolish thing to do but I don’t regret anything.”
She's now pounding the streets four times a week - completing two three-mile runs midweek and two five-mile runs at the weekend.
She maintains: "Crucially, my confidence has improved. I used to shy away from talking to people. I'm slowly coming out of my shell.”
Meanwhile she also credits CurraNZ blackcurrant supplement for aiding her weight loss and training recovery.
The blackcurrants themselves are grown in New Zealand - and because of the Southern Hemisphere’s intense UV light, this produces unusually high levels of protective and health-giving nutrients compared with berries grown elsewhere.
The key ingredients are ‘anthocyanins’, pigments in the fruit's skin responsible for their dark purple colouring, which belong to a group of flavonoids called ‘polyphenols’ and possess high levels of antioxidants.
