Obese shop assistant, 22, shamed into losing 10 stone after she sits on garden bench during visit home with new boyfriend - and smashes it to pieces

Obese shop assistant, 22, shamed into losing 10 stone after she sits on garden bench during visit home with new boyfriend - and smashes it to pieces

• Alexandra Collings, from Treharris, South Wales, broke bench in two
• Slimmed from 22 stone and size 22 to 12 stone and size 12
• Lost weight by adopting healthy diet of fresh fruit and joining gym
• Dumped boyfriend after he tried to tempt her with fattening foods
• Has new boyfriend and says: 'Now I smile when we sit on a bench in the sun together'

A woman was shamed into losing ten stone after she broke a garden bench she sat on when she took her new boyfriend home for the first time.

Alexandra Collings, 22, was left sitting in a pile of splintered wood after the bench buckled beneath her.

Alexandra, who weighed 22 stone at the time, had taken her new boyfriend home to meet her mother Brenda, 60, when she perched on the bench - and was mortified to feel it crack beneath her and suddenly give way.

The humiliation was enough to encourage Alexandra to embark upon the healthy eating and exercise regime that helped her lose 10 stone.

Super slimmer: Alexandra Collings, 22, lost ten stone stone after she broke a garden bench she sat on when she took her new boyfriend home for the first time

Speaking about the embarrassing incident that spurred her on to lose weight, she said: 'I felt pretty nervous

he was the first boyfriend I had ever introduced my mum to.

'She was out on the patio so I led him out into the garden, holding his hand. I walked over to the garden bench and kicked off my flip flops and plonked myself down.

'There was a massive crack and then I felt the bench collapse - my backside landed to the ground with a thud, my legs sprawled out on the floor.

New figure: Alexandra had just brought her boyfriend home to meet mother Brenda, 60, for the first time when the bench crash led to the crash diet, she decided to go on a healthy diet and embark on a grueling exercise regime; she is now a svelte size 12

'I could feel my cheeks redden and flush with embarrassment. It was mortifying.

'I had scratches sure, but my pride was what hurt the most.'

Alexandra, from Treharris near Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was overweight as a teenager and her diet consisted of pork pies, chocolates and sweets.

She said: 'Every day I could feel my size 22 jeans groaning to hold in my bulging belly.

'I worked as a shop assistant and I tried to pretend I didn't care to customers.'

To lose the weight, she joined a local slimming group just days after and started a strict of salads and fresh fruit.

Supportive: She now weighs 12 stone and has a supportive new boyfriend Richard Jones, who loves her just the way she is

Alexandra split from her then boyfriend who refused to support her new healthy lifestyle and kept tempting her with chips and fattening foods.

Alexandra managed to lose a staggering 10 stone over the course of 18 months.

She now weighs 12 stone - just right for her 5ft 9in frame - and has a supportive new boyfriend Richard Jones, 31.

Alexandra said: 'I even bagged myself a gorgeous new man.

'He couldn't believe it when I showed him my "big" pictures.

'But Richard accepted me for who I was completely. Every time we sit on a bench in the sun together I have a big smile on my face.'