As Alison Davis drunkenly staggered back from the pub last December she came across a commotion of sirens and fire engines.
As the smell of smoke invaded her nostrils she saw to her horror that her flat was burning down.
She stood there in shock – all her possessions were destroyed and her beloved cat was killed, leaving her with nothing but the clothes she was wearing.
And all because she was in such a rush to get to the pub.
Already tipsy after drinking at a friend’s house, she had unwittingly flung her top on to her bedside lamp as she hurried off to join her friends to sink even more pints.
Overheating, the lamp set her clothing alight and soon the fire had destroyed her flat.
“I couldn’t believe that my life had come to that,” she says.
“I’d got in with a local crowd and had started drinking five nights out of seven. If I’d been sober I’d never have been so careless and left the light on.
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"Back then I was out of control. I weighed almost 19 stone and was eating takeaways and drinking too much and didn’t really care what I was doing to myself.
“But seeing 29 years of my life going up in flames because of my slobby lifestyle was the wake up call I needed.”
The next day 5ft 7in Alison went to buy some new clothes but was mortified when she couldn’t fit into a size 22.
She says: “I’d been kidding myself that I was a size 18 but thanks to binge drinking those days were long gone.”
There and then Alison vowed to quit drinking, smoking and eating junk food – and this week she weighed in at 10st 10lbs and is a trim size 10.
She says: “As I was sifting through the remains of my life I began thinking of how bad my lifestyle was.
“I would normally eat six takeaways a week and binge drink every other night.
"All I did was drink and sleep, then get a takeaway. I never exercised and would spend all my spare time slobbed out in front of the telly.
“It didn’t bother me that my weight was spiralling out of control and I’d hit the 19 stone mark.
"My drinking was so bad – to the point I would drink five bottles of wine, 12 pints of beer or a whole bottle of brandy in one go.”
Since her early teens Alison, who lives in Brighton, had always been a big girl – never less than a size 16 and weighing 14 stone.
She says: “I suffered from the hormonal condition polycystic ovaries which made me put on weight, and I was always the biggest in my class.
"After I left school I didn’t get any lighter because I just loved junk food. But I wanted to be slim and wear skimpy, trendy clothes like my friends so I tried every fad going.
"These mostly involved starving myself, which of course meant I gave up after a
day then binged.
day then binged.
“I used every excuse going to stay big, but the truth was that I ate badly. After I started work at a finance company I lived on my own which meant I could eat what I wanted.
"So I’d have a fry up or nothing for breakfast, lunch would be a ready meal or a full McDonald’s Meal Deal with extra chicken nuggets and fries , and then at about 11pm I’d order a giant meat feast pizza takeaway.
"They always had a buy-one-get-one-free offer and, of course, not able to turn down anything free, I’d eat both!”
Despite going travelling for a year to the Caribbean Alison didn’t lose any weight, and when she returned home in 2013 and got a local temping job she fell in with a crowd of unemployed people and drank most days.
She says: “Soon I was joining them and getting drunk all the time. Then of course, hungover and too lazy to cook, I’d eat more junk food out of pure convenience.”
Her long-term friends noticed the difference in her and her best friend Helen, who was a healthy size 8 and barely drank, begged her to take better care of herself and change her ways.
Alison says: “She told me I was out of control and was worried about me, but it wouldn’t sink in.
“I was caught in a vicious circle. I hated my size and knew I was fat because I ate and drank too much and this made me depressed so I ate and drank more to comfort myself.”
After Alison’s life literally went up in flames, she had to move back in with her parents until the council could repair her flat and her mum and friend recommended an app called Myfitnesspal which shows the calories in the food you eat as well as the calories you are burning off.
She says: “I decided to use it to overhaul my lifestyle. I started eating 2,000 calories a day but made up of lots of vegetables instead of junk foods and I took up exercising.
“I had never done anything before. Stairs left me breathless but I went for 10 minute walks and gradually began to build up.
"Slowly but surely I went further and when I moved back to Brighton I began taking long beach walks.
“I have now eaten every vegetable going and I’ve even learnt what butternut squash is!
“I think I’d be sick if I ate a whole pizza now.
"I eat porridge for breakfast, fruit for lunch and sweet potato and chicken for dinner or veggie stew I’ve made in a slowcooker.
“And I drink just water and the occasional glass of fruit juice instead of a whole carton in one go.”
Alison’s walks turned into eight-mile jogs and she started going to spinning classes, the gym and took up swimming.
She says: “By February I’d already lost half a stone and then I lost between two and six pounds each week. I suddenly realised I was going to succeed this time.”
Ten months after the fire, Alison has lost almost 8 stone and dropped seven dress sizes.
Alison says: “My life has totally changed and I feel great. I can’t believe the change in my body.
"I can see bones I never knew I had, I walk out of the changing room at the swimming pool and don’t have to race to the water wrapped in a towel because I’m so ashamed of my body.
“Instead, I’m amazed at what it can do – run, swim, cycle, everything! I find exercise is so good for clearing my head.”
In September Alison celebrated her 30th birthday with her long-term friends who are all so proud of her achievement and Alison had her first drink in nine months.
But for once, she knew to stop when she started to feel drunk.
“It was nice to have alcohol as a treat rather than something I just poured down my throat every day,” she says.
“Now I feel like a new woman.
"I walk past shop windows and smile when I catch sight of my reflection and I can wear bright body con dresses instead of black baggy smocks and jogging bottoms which I’ve worn for half my life.
"It sounds corny but after the fire, it’s almost like the phoenix has risen from the ashes!”
Fat file
Weight before : Nearly 19 stone
Dress size : 24
Weight now : 10st 10lbs
Dress size : 10
What Alison ate before
Breakfast: Greasy fry up or nothing
Lunch: Pasta carbonara readymeal or McDonald’s Meal Deal
Dinner: Two 12-inch meat feast takeaway pizzas
Drinks: Beer, wine, brandy
What Alison eats now
Breakfast: Porridge with berries
Lunch: Fruit with natural yoghurt
Dinner: Chicken breast with sweet potato mash and
vegetables, or vegetable stew
vegetables, or vegetable stew
Drinks: water, Diet Coke.
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