After years of taunting and abuse as a teenager Sally Widd tried to commit suicide. She didn't succeed and continued to put weight on until one day she decided it was time to do something about her future. In just over a year she lost more than six stones and rediscovered her life again. She talked to Alexandra Phillips about overcoming her unhappy childhood and her new found confidence.

AT THE AGE of 13 Sally Widd was so desperately unhappy she swallowed 100 paracetamol and a bottle of whiskey. She had been driven to breaking point by the kids at school who continually taunted her about her weight.

"From the age of about 11 I was verbally and physically abused," said Sally, 35. "The other kids would kick me and beat me up because they said I was fat. I felt like I couldn't put up with it anymore. I had no confidence and a very low self esteem. It seemed like the only way out.

"If I had to live my time again I would avoid my teenage years altogether. I felt isolated and alone."

After taking the tablets she fell unconscious for a while and was sick in her sleep. When she woke up she panicked and tried to clean herself up before anybody found out. But her mum caught her in the bathroom and found the tablet boxes hidden behind the curtains.

"It was a hard time for us all and I had to go for counselling. My mum and dad did everything they could to help and visited the schools but things were very different to how they are now. I remember my mum was scared that I would get a police record for trying to kill myself."

At almost six feet, Sally, who lives in Bradford Moor, is very tall and to look at her now you would never believe that she had once been so overweight. She has a new found confidence and lust for life and in just over a year her weight has plummeted from 18 stones to just over 12 stones.

"I feel like a completely different person. I can wear the clothes I have always wanted to and I make more of an effort. I wear make-up and go out a lot more and I've even had my navel pierced. I've got more zest for life and my confidence has soared. It's just great. I'm really happy and intend to stay this way."

Sally, who works at a day centre, claims the name calling began because she was so much bigger than the other children in school.

"I was taller and bigger boned than them but I don't think I was fat. Then I started to eat for comfort because they would call me names and it became a vicious circle. I'd get upset because I was big and then because I was upset I would eat. I self prophesised it."

Despite the dread she faced each morning at the prospect of another day's abuse, Sally never skipped school. But the children continued to taunt and the eating got worse.

By the time she left school at 16 she was mentally and physically scarred and weighed more than 14 stones.

"I didn't think there was anything I could do about it. I just thought I was fat and that was that. I believed everything the children had said about me and their bullying became a part of everyday life."

Sally, originally from Pontefract, moved to Bradford 12 years ago. Her father, an insurance manager, would move around the country looking for work which meant that Sally was moved from school to school.

"But even then I couldn't get away from it," she said. "The bullies just seemed to follow me and I got picked on wherever I went. I remember having to choose a different route home from school every evening to avoid being followed or pounced upon."

Sally recalls how it was the girls who always poked fun at her as she was considered one of the lads.

"The girls were a lot more spiteful than the boys who I would have a laugh with sometimes but the girls were just intent on causing trouble for me."

When she left school at 16 she joined nursing college and lost three stones.

"They didn't like nurses to be overweight and I had to lose some weight. It felt great and I was really pleased but it didn't last and the weight went back on."

She continued to eat her way to more than 18 stones and a very unhealthy lifestyle.

"It wasn't just chocolate and sweet foods I would eat, it was sandwiches and anything else. But it got to the point where I was scared. I was having trouble making my way around because I was so big.

"I started thinking to myself that I was only in my early 30's and I was not leading a normal life. I was a size 26 and I loathed myself. I never wore make-up because there was no point and the only clothes I could get to fit me were jeans and joggers."

The extent of her probelm hit home when Sally was trying clothes on in a shop designed to cater for larger women.

"I remember I had been in and out of the changing rooms for ages trying different items on and when I went to the counter the assistant referred to me as a gentleman. It happened a few times at petrol stations and other shops and I found it very diffciult to cope with. I knew I was big all over but I never thought I had a man's face. It was absolutely awful. I was totally gutted."

Then one morning Sally woke up and she knew that she had to lose weight if she wanted to get her life back. She enrolled with Weight Watchers, started exercising and has not looked back since.

"I was sick of trying to pretend that big is beautiful. I'd go through phases of pretending my weight didn't bother me and I'd make jokes about it but deep down it did and it had been the cause of all of my unhappiness."

She still manages to eat what she wants but controls the kind of food she eats. And she has the willpower to do it.

"I've even surprised myself. It's not been as hard as I expected and I have been so determined. When I go out at night I've even swapped pints of cider for a babycham because it's less fattening.

"But without the support of my family and friends and their belief in me I would not have come this far.

"I feel absolutely fantastic. On top of the world. I feel like I've got my life back and I've got the strength to face other things that have frightened me."

Sally now plans to tackle her fear of heights and hopes one day to jump from an aeroplane.

"It will just prove how far I've come," she said.

And to remind herself of how she used to look Sally keeps a pair of size 26 jeans, which she was wearing just before she started to diet, in her wardrobe. The rest she threw away.

"I keep this pair as a reminder because they are so big and I would never want to go back to this again. My other clothes weren't even good enough to give to a charity shop and I just threw them away."

Even her work colleagues are astounded by the difference and find it hard to believe she was as big as she was.

"They have seen me in all shapes and sizes," said Sally. "But never this size."

Sally has already met her goal weight which she never thought would be possible and is now determined to lose another half stone.

"I know that I can do it and it has not even been that hard. The harder thing is to maintain the weight I'm at now and to stop myself eating more now that I've reached my goal. But I feel so happy that there's no way I'm going to do that."

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