Mum loses 38kg with the help of social media

A Scottish mother has shed 38 kilograms - dropping from a size 18 to an 8 - inspired by the power of social media. 

After a lifelong battle with the bulge, 24-year-old Ashleigh Munn says she used pregnancy as an excuse to eat junk food, eventually reaching 101kg and struggling to walk. She needed crutches to support her struggling hips and pelvis.

In 2014 doctors found a melon-size cyst on Munn's left ovary. She had surgery to remove the ovary and its attached fallopian tube - a "terrifying" experience, she told The Huffington Post. 

"I was not happy with myself. After my operation I thought, 'I'm not doing this any more,'" Munn said.

"I would see mums at playgroups running about, but I was too embarrassed and aware of my size, and I'd get out of breath quickly. 

"I didn't want my little girl Mya, who's 2, to grow up with her mum not running around, and eating rubbish. I wanted to be the best role model." 

Munn started following an Instagram fitness guru, inspired by her healthy cooking videos. She got hooked on "colourful" vegetarian accounts, eventually turning vego herself, and started a healthy exercise regime.

"I became obsessed with commenting on people's amazing meals, asking how they had made them and trying all sorts out, and decided to make Instagram my food diary," she told The Huffington Post.

For four months she posted everything she ate online as a way of avoiding "bad" food and shared progress pictures with her followers. 

"My confidence grew so much I began posting pictures of my figure at different stages of my weight loss.

"People would write really supportive comments."

"Now I've learnt how to cook, I go to the gym, I do yoga, I can run, and I go walking a lot with Mya and [partner] David, and I feel good in myself," she said. 

Munn's partner, David Barclay, 25, has also lost an impressive 19kg in just over a year.

Stuff.co.nz