WW turned my life around. I lost 70 kilograms – that’s an entire person, and half my body weight. I used to be the size of two people, and now I am just one . . .

When I walked into my local WW meeting one Saturday morning in 2012, I weighed almost 143 kilograms. For years I had been eating for emotional comfort, rather than nourishment.

After my beloved sister, Christina, died from a rare type of bone cancer – the same year my son, Ethan, was born – I had turned to food, no longer caring about myself or my health. This is when my weight got completely out of control. I knew I had to change the unhealthy habits that had become part of my daily life, and I left that first WW meeting armed with the knowledge and tools I needed to bring about change, including cookbooks, measuring spoons and kitchen scales.

I already knew how to cook: a happy childhood spent kneading pasta and baking delicious cakes alongside my beautiful Nonna had blessed me with a love of good ingredients and sharing meals. I just needed to learn a different way of cooking; to make it healthy and nourishing, as well as delicious.