A WOMAN has revealed how she shed a whopping six stone whilst still enjoying a cheeky McDonald’s, KFC and Nando’s.
After breaking her wrist in 2023, Latoyah Egerton, 36, from Exeter, found herself unable to cook and resorted to ready meals, which caused her weight to balloon to around 20 stone (127kg) by December that year.
Before the incident, the foodie was crafting easy-to-follow recipes for takeaway alternatives from popular fast food chains such as KFC, McDonald’s and Nando’s during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Latoyah’s content quickly went viral on her Sugar Pink Food social media platforms, with her Instagram account now boasting close to a whopping 90k followers.
By swapping out certain ingredients with lower-calorie alternatives, like using cooking spray instead of oil, lean beef mince and wraps instead of bread, the foodie was able to whip up healthier versions of beloved takeaways, including toasted Big Mac wraps.
After penning a letter to herself on New Year’s Eve, vowing “no more excuses”, Latoyah said she started cooking again in 2024 and enjoyed her favourite fakeaways and other recipes, like her hunter’s chicken tacos, which are just 216 calories each.
By December 2024, she had managed to shed an impressive 5st 9lbs (36kg) and now feels like “a different person”, reported Devon Live.
The 36-year-old is keen to help others achieve the same transformation, insisting that weight loss doesn’t have to be “boring”.
She told PA Real Life: “What I’ve learned the most is that change has to come from within.
“I think in 2023, I was almost excusing the weight gain because of the broken wrist… whereas in reality, the only person that could have turned that situation around was myself.”
To those who’ve praised her makeover online with comments like “you look gorgeous now”, she clapped back: “I was always gorgeous – I just had a little extra packaging. Gorgeous is not a size, it’s a mindset.”
The author of two cookbooks, ‘Slimming And Tasty’ and ‘Slimming And Speedy’, she shared her lifelong battle with weight, recalling how savage childhood bullying over her body stuck with her into adulthood.
Despite being only “slightly bigger” than peers, the names like “fat” and “the fat one” made her believe she was overweight.
Once an adult, Latoyah saw her weight “fluctuate up and down”, but breaking her wrist in 2023 left her unable to cook, triggering a “downward spiral”.
She said: “I wasn’t able to eat the usual meals that I would enjoy, the healthy meals, because I couldn’t prepare anything.
”I couldn’t chop any vegetables, and I was having to eat ready meals that I could microwave because I couldn’t use a knife and fork to cut anything up either.
“My job is to create recipes and cook food, so I couldn’t do what I love, and it just sent me on a downward spiral.”
Chew your food
This mindfulness trick is used to focus your brain on the food you are eating – how it tastes and feels – rather than scoffing it in a hurry. If the brain does not register that you have eaten, you’ll soon crave more food.
Avocado a day
Eating avocado every day can fight visceral fat in women, which collects around the organs in the stomach and can lead to diabetes, heart attack, and some cancers, according to a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study of 105 people.
Avoid fizzy drinks
Losing belly “fat” may just be a case of preventing bloating, which can be onset by fizzy soft drinks. Instead, keep hydrated with water.
Reduce alcohol
Alcohol does no favours at all for our health or figures. It is ’empty calories’, meaning it contributes to your calorie intake without giving any nutritional benefit.
Hangovers can also lead you to eat more fatty foods, while putting you off exercising.
Sleep more
Various studies have shown that if you’re not sleeping well, it can cause weight gain.
People are more likely to crave junk food when they are sleep deprived because, not only are they in need of an energy boost, but their appetite hormones are all over the place.
Reduce stress
Stress causes an imbalance of hormones, particularly cortisol. This hormone has been linked with obesity and excess belly fat.
Find ways to reduce your stress to avoid the so-called ‘stress belly’.
The 36-year-old revealed that her being unable to cook took a toll not just on her mental and physical health, but also her business, and her earnings – and it all went “downhill from there”.
She confessed to feeling “useless”, which led her to start “eating (her) feelings”, resorting to comfort foods like crisps that she could munch on with one hand.
As her wardrobe no longer fit properly, Latoyah then began avoiding social outings – but despite this, she remained “in denial for a long time”.
She added: “I was trying on my clothes and they weren’t fitting any more and I just thought, ‘How have these all shrunk so badly?'”
However, a key moment came in December 2023 when she tried on a specific garment.
“There was one particular top that I put on and it used to be a baggy top – it was a shirt that had buttons on it,” she recalled.
“I put it on and the buttons were just absolutely bursting at the seams. I looked at my face and I had so much fat around my neck, and I just thought, ‘Look, this isn’t right any more. I’ve got to do something about this’.”
It was this moment she decided to step on the scales and confront the reality of her situation, with Latoyah revealing that she weighed around 20 stone (127kg) and was a size 26 dress.
However, on New Year’s Eve, she made a resolution and penned a letter to herself, stating: “Latoyah, it’s NYE, and this is a year you would rather forget.
“2024 will be the year that you will feel better. Better mentally, better physically, and you will feel like you did your best to get there. No more feeling sorry for yourself. No more excuses.”
From January 2024, Latoyah began making serious lifestyle changes – not only did she started cooking again, but also quit drinking alcohol and decided to take up swimming several times a week.
Seeing as Latoyah didn’t want to deprive herself of food she enjoyed so much, she cooked low-calorie but still “tasty” recipes, such as chicken tacos, chicken shawarma and Mexican beef rice.
The “queen of the fakeaway” was also whipping up some of her famous recipes, including healthier variations of a McDonald’s Big Mac, Nando’s mac and cheese and chicken chow mein.
“It was all about having it in moderation and sticking to my calories,” she explained.
With a brand new lifestyle in place, Latoyah said the pounds started “dropping off” rapidly and, although she hit a plateau at one point, Latoyah knew she needed to focus on “a gradual and steady loss”.
She added: “It’s more about living that healthy lifestyle rather than the actual numbers on the scales.”
To keep tabs on her shrinking figure, Latoyah used a tape measure and by the end of 2024, she had shed a whopping 5st 9lbs (36kg) and is now rocking a size 16.
It’s been a major confidence boost, with Latoyah sharing that she no longer “dreads” social events and is buzzing that she now has “so many more options of what (she) can wear”.
As Latoyah hasn’t reach her weight goal just yet, she’s determined to keep up the momentum – and this year, fans will see her dishing out budget-friendly, healthy recipes.
“I really want to help other people that may have been in the same situation as me because I just would hate to think of other people feeling as low as I did.”
