Lindsay Melville grew up with just one rule around food - you must finish everything on your plate.

But while as a child she associated meals with love and affection, in adulthood her weight brought with it severe repercussions.

The turning point came last February when doctors revealed Lindsay, who lives in West Malling and was 25 stone at the time, was struggling to breathe while she slept and may need to wear an oxygen mask in bed for the rest of her life.

The shock was enough to send the 36-year-old on an incredible journey that saw her lose 13 stone - that’s half of her body weight - in just one year.

She said: “A sleep clinic ran tests and found I would struggle to breathe properly 67 times in an hour. A healthy rate is less than five.

“That was quite difficult to hear at the time, it’s more than once a minute. It affected my sleep, when I was awake I’d be tired and didn’t feel great.

“Then I’d go looking for food to give me the energy. It was a cycle.

“I’d go through phases where I’d find reasons not to go out with friends, or if I knew they were doing something active I would avoid it.”

She was told she had obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), a condition where the walls of the throat relax and narrow during sleep, interrupting normal breathing.

It affects around 3.9 million people in the UK - and thousands in Kent - and can be brought on by being overweight.

For Lindsay, the diagnosis brought her weight home. Reflecting on her overeating, she said: “I have three older siblings, and as a child I would always want exactly same amount of food as them; life was a competition and if they had an extra roast potato, I wanted one, too.

“In 2016, my father passed away and my emotional eating spiralled."

“When we were growing up, we didn’t have many rules around food, other than you must finish everything on your plate.

"Being able to provide food was my parents’ way of showing love and affection.

"And despite food being plentiful, I found myself hiding food and secret binging from a young age.

“As an adult, I spent years trying diet after diet, losing some weight but inevitably putting it back on, and more.

“In 2016, my father passed away and my emotional eating spiralled.

"In 2017 I was effectively demoted through a restructure at work. And then in 2018 I was diagnosed with OSA.

“I was so ashamed that I had done that to myself.

“The sleep clinic advised me to have a gastric band to lose the weight quickly, but I was adamant I would not go down the surgery route and I wouldn’t let myself live the rest of my life having to wear an oxygen mask at night.”

Instead the management development trainer signed up to LighterLife weight loss service in Dartford, which swaps full meals for shakes, soups, mousses and bars.

The diet programme also provides cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help members address their relationship with food.

The keen actress and singer said: “It was the psychological side of my weight gain that I never could crack. I didn’t understand my ‘why’ or change my behaviour so inevitably the weight returned, taking more of my self esteem away with each pound I gained.

“Thanks to the CBT I learnt things about myself that extend beyond my relationship with food into all parts of my life.

"I was able to recognise the emotional triggers that caused me to overeat.

“I feel great now, I’ve got a lot more energy and feel a lot more comfortable.”

As part of her new life Lindsay has taken up hobbies, some new and some old favourites.

She said: “When I was about 18 I used to sing and dance at hotels.

"I’ve started singing and acting again now which has been great for my confidence.

“At Christmas I played the pantomime dame, which was strange because I had lost all that weight and I had to get into a suit to make me look bigger.

“I’m also excited to be dating again, enjoying exercise and playing actively with my nine nieces and nephews.

“I am literally half the woman, living twice the life and you’ll now find me living without my weight holding me back.

"I just want other people to know there’s an alternative to depending on food and you can turn your life around.”

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