'I weighed 16st but now I'm in the best shape of my life thanks to diet hack'

Alice Cutler, 26, put on weight after she was seriously injured in a car crash which left her immobile for many weeks and claimed the life of her mother Tereasa.

The family had been heading home from a funeral when a BMW being driven by drug-driver ploughed into them head-on near Wimborne, Dorset, in 2015.

Lewis Faulkner, a 25-year-old construction worker, who had taken ecstasy and cannabis, was later jailed for more than four years at Bournemouth Crown Court.

The crash not only left Alice, who was 18 at the time, with a fractured spine but orphaned too – after she lost her father to cancer a few years earlier.

Following the tragedies, she moved in with her auntie and uncle where she began comfort eating and soon piled on the pounds from gorging on junk food and snacks.

At her heaviest she tipped the scales at 16 stone and decided something had to change after people were cruel to her over her size as she started her career in law.

Alice changed her diet, began exercising more and joined Slimming World before losing an impressive five stone over a 12 month period.

She slimmed down to 10st 12lbs and went on to become a successful commercial property solicitor – and now a Miss England semi-finalist.

Alice, of Southampton, said: “Following the death of my mother I began emotional eating and comfort eating and began putting on weight.

“I moved in with my auntie and uncle, and my auntie was a chef who would do all these home-cooked meals, which were lovely but very high in fat.

“I was having lots of pies and stews. I have a sweet tooth too and she would always make these desserts like treacle tart and banoffee pie.

“I was snacking on junk food quite a lot too. Things like chocolates, biscuits, sweets and cakes. I couldn’t get enough of them.

“Because I fractured my spine in the crash, I wasn’t doing much exercise at all so it was culminative effect of not being very active as well.

“I was probably having around 3,000-4,000 calories a day and it got to the point where I knew it had to change.

“I was applying to law firms for training schemes and I’d already been on one where people were quite mean to me for not being in the best of shape.

“I was excluded from a lot of social stuff and I knew I didn’t want that to happen once I got into my new career.

“This was around January 2019. I was working as a receptionist at David Lloyd at the time, which was quite useful as I had people around me who could already advise me what to do.

“I just started to reduce portion sizes, began balances out my meals and introducing more fruit and veg. I also joined Slimming World for a while too.

“Now I’ll have oats for breakfast, or fruit and poached eggs and then snack on fruit and yoghurt. Then I’ll eat tuna pasta or jacket potatoes for lunch.

“My dinners are now usually home cooked curries, chilies or spag-bols – with as much veg as I can sneak into them.

“I got down to around 10 stone, and although I’ve gone back up slightly now to 12 stone, I’ve managed to maintain a weight I’m happy with.

“I now go to the gym twice a week and run three times a week. I’m working towards doing a half marathon for the Miss England competition.

“I’m in a much better place physically and emotionally.

“It’s that time of year where people start thinking about losing weight and I’d just say do it, as you feel so much better for it.”

Alice said she refused to let losing her parents stand in the way of her living her life and made a bucket list of things she wanted to do, including entering Miss England.

And she was left stunned when she was picked by judges as wildcard entry for this year’s semi-final competition, which will be held in April.

She added: “To be honest I’ve had an overwhelming life.

“I was nine when my dad died of cancer, my gran died the year after, and then my mum was killed in a road traffic accident in 2015.

“I’ve had an awful lot of loss in my family. I was living with my mum and brother. When my mum was killed I had to move in with my aunt who was my dad’s sister.

“My life sounds like something you’d hear on a soap drama – but one that you wouldn’t believe.

“Dealing with the loss of a parent, especially a final parent, is hard.

“I think it’s important to do what I can where I can to help. Life is short. I thought ‘I’m alive, I would love to do some good’.

“I had a bucket list of things to do and Miss England was on there. So I applied and now they have fast-tracked me to the semi-final.

“My mum absolutely inspired me to do this. At Miss Hampshire, I was asked who my role model was, I said my mum. She was my absolute hero.

“I haven’t done any modelling or any cat walking. I’m nervous but I’m quite excited.

“I’m going in to have fun and do your best. It should be a fun experience, I’m excited to see.”

To support Alice visit https://www.justgiving.com/team/alicecutler and for more details about Miss England visit: www.missengland.info.