A FORMER coffee shop worker from Worcester who put on six stone after nibbling bits of pastries and cakes has taken up body building after transforming her physique.

Vanessa Strike ballooned to more than 16-stone after she moved away from friends and family and turned to food for comfort. It wasn’t until a family health scare that she realised she needed to make some drastic changes to improve her health.

She began working out at home and then the gym and, after starting to see results, turned to musclefood.com to help improve her diet.

Now she's 11-and-a-half stone and has gone from a dress size 20 to eight.

Vanessa had always followed body builders on social media and realised she could follow in their footsteps. She recently competed in her seventh event, UKBFF (UK Bodybuilding Fitness Federation) where she won her category.

Vanessa said: “I’d always been really fit and healthy right up until my early 20s. I’d danced at the same dance school for over 17 years and had never worried about my weight or what I was eating.

“After getting married, my ex-husband got a job in Worcester and we moved over 200 miles south from Middlesbrough. Looking back, it was a really unhappy time for me. I moved away from my friends and family, from the dance school I loved to a place where I knew no one and food became my comfort.

“I’d eat broken breakfast pastries and cakes throughout the day at work then would come home and cook three course dinners every night. We’d always have a starter followed by a huge pasta meal and favourites like toad in the hole and cottage pie.

“It wasn’t until my really health conscious mum was diagnosed with breast cancer that I looked at my own health and realised just how heavy and unhealthy I’d become.

“I was unhappy with how I looked and felt, I wasn’t enjoying my job and I felt trapped in my marriage.

“So, I decided to address one thing at a time. I started doing workouts at home – I was too embarrassed and ashamed to go to the gym – and saw results pretty quickly.

“I then overhauled my diet and found MuscleFood.com. I love to cook and love food so didn’t want to cut out all the things I enjoyed. Instead I made a few adjustments to make them healthier – swapping regular bread and pasta for the low carb versions I could buy from MuscleFood.

“I began hitting the gym four times a week and as my confidence began to grow I made other changes too.

“My husband and I separated, and I took a new job working for a gym chain. I began to feel like my old self again.”

She continued: “I mentioned to a couple of the PTs at the gym that I’d always wanted to compete at one of the body building shows and they gave me the encouragement I needed to actually do something about it.

“What I eat is really important in getting me competition ready and protein has to be a major part of my diet.

“Items like the MuscleFood protein pizza allow me to have a treat and at the same time I’m eating something high in protein and low fat. I have to keep the calories and carbs I consume down, and food like this allow me to do just that.

“In just two years I’ve now competed in seven events. I’ve won two, came second in another and placed in the top five.

“Last year I took part in Pure Elite against professional bodybuilders and was alongside some of my all-time heroes like Paige Hathaway. It was a massive moment for me and showed me just how far I’d come in such a short space of time.

“I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved. I look and feel so much better, am leading a healthy lifestyle and I’m happy. I’ve got my passion for life back.”