WALKING into the WeightWatchers meeting with her mum, then-eight-year-old Sarah Le Brocq was wide-eyed.
It was 1990 and she was the only child among a sea of plus-size adults, all desperate to shed weight.
“I was probably slightly plump but basically a normal child,” the 42-year-old single mum to Emily, five, says.
“However, as I sat and listened to grown-ups talk about diet plans and calorie counting I immediately started to wonder: ‘Am I fat?’”
Sarah, from Harrogate, North Yorks, believes these meetings played a key role in triggering her lifelong battle with yo-yo dieting.
Her experience supports new research by ZAVA Online Doctor that found 12 per cent of Brits first dieted at the age of just 15 or less.
A staggering 49 per cent reported feeling ashamed of their weight, while a further 48 per cent have struggled with their self-esteem as a result of their size – a statistic Sarah can relate to.
At her biggest, in April 2023, Sarah weighed 25st, wore size 28 clothing and had a BMI of 54.8 – marking her as morbidly obese.
Now on privately-prescribed Mounjaro, which she has been taking since December, after using Wegovy for a year, she is 18st and a size 18.
Divorced Sarah, who is 5ft 7in. – says: “I can chase after my daughter and go to the gym. The food noise is gone.”
Lifelong stigma
However, the stigma she encountered and her childhood experience of dieting was so severe it followed her throughout her life.
She spoke about it in an academic paper published in The Journal of Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Weight Loss Jabs – Pros vs Cons” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6365802560112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“I didn’t wear a wedding dress as I didn’t want to be fat in a wedding dress,” she says in the paper.
“I just wore a skirt and top. Every little girl dreams of being a princess on their wedding day, and I haven’t had that yet.”
Sarah also opened up about the difficulties she’s encountered in everyday life as a result of her weight.
“When I’ve travelled in economy in the past, I have booked a window seat to squash away from everyone,” she says.
“And with my previous partner, I used to book his seat behind me so that he didn’t know I was asking for a seatbelt extension, and he had more leg room. He has never known that I did this.”
She also revealed how she had been dismissed by health care professionals, saying: “Whilst trying to get pregnant, I had a friend who is within the healthy weight range who was also trying to get pregnant and of the same age.
“We both had difficulties after approximately two years, so decided to explore further support with our doctor.
“I was met with ‘[you] need to lose weight’, whilst my friend was offered a plethora of fertility testing.”
‘I felt frumpy’
Growing up, as a teen Sarah was always very aware of her size.
“I attended an all-girls school in Jersey in the Channel Islands, where I grew up,” she says.
“I wasn’t bullied but was always the fatter girl.
“My best friend was naturally thin. I, on the other hand, was – aged 15 – trying soup diets, all-fruit diets and calorie counting meal plans.”
At 16, Sarah weighed 13st and wore a size 14 dress.
“But I didn’t feel ‘normal’,” she says. “I felt frumpy.”
[quote credit=”Sarah Le Brocq”]I was convinced I could be slimmer. Dieting consumed my every thought.[/quote]Just before starting her A-Levels in July 1998, Sarah got down to size 10 on a milkshake diet and was overjoyed.
“I had a little leather skirt I could finally fit into,” she recalls.
“It was exciting to finally be like my slim pals.
“But even then, I was convinced I could be slimmer. Dieting consumed my every thought.”
After school Sarah attended Sheffield Hallam University to study for a pharmaceutical degree.
“Suddenly I was free to eat what I wanted,” she says.
“I was a typical student, going to parties and enjoying Haribo sweets and pizzas during late-night cramming sessions.
“Quickly, I ballooned from a size 10 to 20, hitting the scales at 18st. I hated my body.
“When I applied for my first job post-uni, I had to go to Evans, at the time the only plus size shop, to buy a suit. I felt like a 50-year-old.”
Through her twenties, Sarah was a “diet junkie”, her weight yo-yoing as she tried various diets including the cabbage soup diet and fasting.
“I would lose weight but would regain it,” she says.
TV attempt to stay skinny
Aged 29, Sarah, desperate to be slim, took part in a weight loss television show called Fat: The Fight of my Life.
“I worked with a PT for 10 hours weekly,” she says.
“I lost 8st 6lbs in nine months and even completed an Olympic distance triathlon at the end of the show. I was thrilled.”
But still she didn’t like how she looked – or how it made her feel.
“It affected my love life,” she says.
“I would choose men who I felt needed fixing.
“When I ended these relationships, I realised my biggest relationship all my life was actually with food.”
So, using her degree, Sarah started investigating what causes obesity.
She has gone on to sit on the strategic council for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity.
Don’t ‘blame the fatty’
“I thought I was just eating too much and not exercising enough,” she says.
“But obesity is caused by a myriad of social, environmental, physical, biological, and psychological factors.
“A child’s exposure to adult diet programmes will affect their view of themselves for years.”
It was this realisation which led Sarah to set up the All About Obesity charity, which campaigns for greater awareness of obesity as a chronic condition.
“Society sees a obese person and immediately thinks they are lazy,” she says.
“I want to help people understand obesity is not a case of ‘blame the fatty’.”
Life-changing decision
In March 2019 Sarah gave birth to her daughter Emily.
“Holding her in my arms I vowed to never expose her to diet clubs,” she says.
“It was her who made me go on diet jabs – I’d resisted bariatric surgery due to potential complications.
“I’m sure some people think diet jabs are cheating but my science degree helped me understand how life-changing they’d be for me.
[quote credit=”Sarah Le Brocq”]Society sees a obese person and immediately thinks they are lazy. I want to help people understand obesity is not a case of ‘blame the fatty’[/quote]“Emily made me determined to raise her to love her body, to learn only about healthy eating and to not be exposed to the diet culture.
“Meanwhile, I am not battling cravings and for the first time in 34 years can look in the mirror and not be horrified.
“The once-a-week jabs are finally enabling me to win my battle with the bulge.
“I know I will be on the injectables all my life, but their effect is not just about dropping the weight.
“It is letting me rebuild my self-esteem and body positivity.
“My mum and I have discussed my feelings and she understands. I do not blame her. I blame the fat-shaming culture of the time.
“For the first time in my life, I feel good about my body. It has taken 42 years and I will not be ‘jab-shamed’ for taking the easy way out.
“There is no easy solution to a person’s battle with the chronic disease of obesity.
“Like me you have to find what works for you. I am simply trying to treat my condition with the best tool for me.”
WeightWatchers has been approached for a comment.
