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From this... to gym owner! Mandy sheds 7½ stone
A WOMAN who used to think exercise was "the work of the devil" now runs her own gym.
Two years ago Mandy Cameron weighed 17.5 stone and struggled to walk half a mile.
But she turned her life around after needing surgery and doctors warned her that her weight put her at risk from the anaesthetic.
The 37-year-old Queensbury woman said: "It was scary but I had to have the operation."
As she was recuperating she looked at some holiday photos and decided to do something about her size.
She said: "As you get bigger you don't realise it even though it's quite evident to everybody else. But the photos were horrendous."
"I went to the doctor convinced there was something wrong with me. He just told me to eat less and move more – and that's the answer really.
But slashing her portions, she began to exercise, but found it difficult.
"I used to think exercise was the work of the devil," she said. "I started jogging on the roads, but it was too painful, and I was uncomfortable exercising when people could see me. So I got a treadmill in the garage.
"The first time I walked half a mile I was so proud – it was something I couldn't do at the time. It pushed me on to want to go further and faster."
Now she runs three miles every day, and has lost 7.5 stone.
"That's like an extra person," she said.
Inspired, she trained as a fitness instructor and found work at a gym before setting up The Treadmill at Holmfield Mills, Holmfield, Halifax – which she designed with fitness-phobes in mind.
Ms Cameron said: "When you're overweight the last thing you want to do is get on a treadmill and look in a mirror."
The centre also offers free diet and fitness advice to patients referred by their GPs as part of NHS Calderdale's weight management scheme.
Ms Cameron, a former engineer, says if she can do it, anyone can.
"I was never the star at PE or anything," she said. "But now I'm comfortable with myself and I feel better about everything."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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