‘I was so big my body couldn’t breathe on its own’: Athlete who hit 27st after bereavements loses third of bodyweight

An athlete who quit sport following a series of bereavements and gained weight to the point where she was “choking in (her) sleep” has since lost a third of her bodyweight and feels “unbelievably better”.

Kaitlin Hicks, 29, a teaching assistant who lives with her husband Aiden in North Yorkshire, said she has “always struggled” with her weight and reached her heaviest of 27st 7.5lbs (174.9kg) in 2024.

Kaitlin, who is 5ft 8in tall, gained weight after a series of consecutive bereavements, including her family dogs, her horse and her grandmother Barbara, who she describes as “glamorous, witty and caring”.

Moving out of her family home after this, Kaitlin said she “spiralled” and turned to food for comfort, often eating 12-inch takeaway pizzas, chocolate sharing bars and tubs of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream after meals.

However, it was not until she was placed on an NHS waiting list for sleep apnoea – when breathing stops and starts while sleeping – and heard how her husband feared she might “choke and die” that she knew she needed to take action.

From September 2024, she said she started monitoring her food intake with the nutrition-tracking app MyFitnessPal and temporarily incorporated a prescribed GLP-1 medication – Mounjaro – as part of her wider health plan, before stopping this and continuing her weight loss through diet and training.

While Kaitlin describes herself as a naturally “muscular woman”, she said she is now the “fittest (and) healthiest” she has ever been, weighing 18st (114.3kg), and she has returned to sport.

Speaking about her transformation, she told PA Real Life: “Now I just think, why on Earth didn’t I do any of it sooner?

“I almost feel sad that I lost so many years of my life struggling with being overweight and unhappy but, in the moment, I don’t think there was a single person on this planet who could have changed my mind.

“Now, it’s the small wins – not needing a seatbelt extender on an aeroplane, being able to go up a couple of flights of stairs without being out of breath and being able to walk however far without it hurting.

“Also, every year my husband and I go on a cruise… and I’ve always been too heavy for the water slides, but last year I was light enough to go on them and I was like a five-year-old child again.”

Kaitlin has always been sporty, playing rugby, rounders and netball, riding horses and competing in athletics disciplines such as the shot put.

She said her proudest achievements growing up include competing at English Schools’ Athletic Association competitions and consistently ranking in the UK’s top 10 for her age group in the shot put.

“I was the north east shot put champion, the best in the north east if you like, and I think I held my title indoors and outdoors for about six years in a row,” she said.

However, alongside this, Kaitlin said she struggled with her weight and did not have the best relationship with food.

“All of my life I’ve struggled with my weight,” she continued.

“I can remember the photographs of me when I was eight years old, riding horses, and I was always chunky.

“I’ve always been much bigger than my peers… I’m just not a dainty woman and I never will be.”

Kaitlin continued training and competing until she experienced a series of bereavements in 2021, describing it as the “worst year” of her life.

She said her family dogs died, followed by her horse, and her grandmother Barbara, known affectionately as Barbie, died of cancer, aged 78, in the July.

Kaitlin bought her own house in March 2022 with her husband and, while grieving, she said she “spiralled” and her mental health deteriorated.

She turned to food for comfort and this caused her to gradually gain weight and reach her heaviest of 27st 7.5lbs (174.9kg), wearing a dress size 28.

“Buying my own house at the time, it was much easier to buy the food I wanted,” she said.

“I’d have as many takeaways as I wanted because nobody was watching and I’d eat as much chocolate as I wanted because nobody was watching.

“It meant that I could get away with eating what I wanted and I think that was the downfall.”

Kaitlin said her “biggest weakness” was sweet treats, but she often had 12-inch pizzas or meals with large amounts of carbohydrates, such as two packets of Ben’s rice with cans of tinned tuna.

She continued: “I could eat tubs of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream easily, the big sharing bars of chocolate, and it wasn’t just a couple of nights a week.

“Every single night I was having chocolate or some sort of sweet treat… and it was the portions as well.”

Since Kaitlin was not exercising at the time, she said she was not “burning off” those surplus calories – and it started affecting her sleeping, too.

At her lowest point, in 2023, she said she was placed on an NHS waiting list for sleep apnoea and her husband would lie awake at night, fearing for her life.

“Essentially, I was choking in my sleep,” Kaitlin explained.

“I would stop breathing and then let out this guttural choke and then wake up because I’d just stopped breathing.

“My husband said to me: ‘I lie awake most nights, watching you sleep, because I’m worried that you’re going to choke and die in your sleep’.

“I couldn’t believe I’d got so big my body couldn’t even breathe properly on its own.”

That same year, Kaitlin said her coach asked her if she would consider training for the Highland Games, which feature traditional Highland sports, such as the caber toss, hammer throw and tug o’ war.

At this point, it had been months since she had done any sport, but she knew her lifestyle needed to change.

“Deep down, inside, I probably wasn’t happy with how I looked, but I tried to show others that I was happy and I was just a confident, plus-sized woman,” she said.

After seeing a friend compete internationally, Kaitlin realised she wanted to get back into sport and, from September 2024, she was determined to turn her life around.

She started tracking her food intake, calories and portions with the MyFitnessPal app and she temporarily incorporated Mounjaro injections, before stopping this and maintaining her weight loss through diet and training.

“I really wanted to be an international athlete, and I realised my weight was stopping me from doing that – it affected my agility, fitness and everything,” she said.

“I used MyFitnessPal like a Bible in the beginning. I was religious with what I was putting into that app – every single thing that touched my lips, I’d put it in the app.

“Over the months, I’ve been able to retrain my brain, and I very much see food as fuel now.”

Now, Kaitlin weighs 18st (114.3kg) and wears a dress size 18, and she represents her country in the Highland Games, competing in the caber toss, hammer throw and stone put disciplines.

In 2025, she competed at the IHGF World Amateur Highland Games Championships, finishing seventh in the world, and she has since been invited to compete at the European and World Championships this season.

Her main goal is to reach 16st (101.6kg) and, later on, she might look into surgery to remove any loose skin, but she said she feels “unbelievably better” and hopes to inspire others.

“I’m the fittest, healthiest 18 stone I think I’ve ever been in my life,” she said.

“I feel unbelievably better, I sleep so much better, I’m happier, I’ve got more patience for people and I enjoy my training so much.

“I think I probably just enjoy life a lot more and, being sad in every capacity beforehand, it’s nice to be past that now.”