A young mum has lost almost 12 stone after vowing to start a healthy life for the sake of her son.

Jennifer Carroll from Dublin has gained fame online for her remarkable weight loss transformation, sharing inspirational posts on her Instagram account, @jens_journey_ie with over 77,000 followers.

Jennifer's weight began to spiral when she moved to London to study where she struggled with personal issues, she told RSVP Live .

The mother-of-one gained 25kg as a result - but has since vowed to make a change.

She said: "I was at a very very low place in my life and was really struggling with everything.

When her son was two, Jennifer decided enough was enough and took the first steps towards her new life, all to be the best mother she could be.

"Carter was a typical two-year-old boy. There was no way I'd have been able to keep up with him the way I'm going.

"I didn't want my weight to hold him back, or hold me back from doing stuff with him. If I kept going the way I was going there was no way I'd be here with him in 20 years."

Diet and Exercise

Jennifer has since vowed to make a change for her son


After a friend recommended slimming world to her, the mum followed its plan and lost an incredible amount of weight.

Jen also explained how the meal plan was really easy to follow mainly because of their food allowances (syns). She did not need to cut out sweets and treats completely, instead opting to eat them in moderation.

She did all this on her own from home because the was to self-conscious of her weight to join a group.

"I didn't want to go to a group because I was so embarrassed at the time, I bought my own food diary and religiously planned my meals for six weeks. For the first 3-6 months I used all of my syns. I lost ten stone in a year!"

The Slimming World plan worked well for her for a year until she decided she still wasn't eating as healthy as she could have been. She was still snacking on goodies between meals and syning them.

So she decided to join a gym and paid for personal training sessions who changed her mindset to calorie counting.

"He said I just had to educate myself on food. At the end of the day calories are calories no matter what diet you are following".

She lost almost 12 stones

The inspirational woman spoke about how she found it difficult to both take her trainers advice, and follow the slimming world. While her gym work concentrated on protein intake, Slimming World focused on foods that pass through your body quickly.

When she decided she couldn't juggle both, Jen left her group and focused on her calories on the "My Fitness Pal" app.

"He always remided me that this form of weight loss would be a longer process, so in ten months I think I only lost two stone. So it was definitely a lot slower, but my body-fat was dropping a lot, and my muscle mass was increasing. So he encouraged me to focus on that rather than my weight on the scales. I was happier to do it in a healthier way."

The business banker now attends the gym 5 mornings a week at 6am before four-year-old Carter wakes up.

She now looks back on the times.


Jennifer was left with excess skin from her dramatic weight loss

While dieting, Jen knew that excess skin was going to be a problem, and that surgery to remove it was always going to be on the cards for her. The thoughts of posting such a personal pictures of herself on her Instagram was very daunting. Up until this, Jen had only shared meal ideas, and had very few pictures of herself on her page.

She also refrained from putting her actual weight up for everyone to see. However she also felt like it was necessary for people to see her journey and what can be achieved even in Ireland when the surgery is not commonly heard of.

However when the young mum did share it, she got an amazing response from her followers.

"I had people messaging me saying that they lost weight maybe ten years ago and didn't know surgery was available in Ireland because it's not really talked about. The response was amazing which made it all worth while for me.

"I wanted to show everyone that there are struggles even after you lose weight. I was really struggling because my new body was very abnormal looking. It was almost harder to look at myself. My stomach was deformed looking.

"It was a little bit scary. Being a parent, any kind of surgery like that is dreaded. I never had surgery before that either, but at the same time I was living with the excess skin for about a year. It was quite painful to have, especially when working out. It was seven pounds of excess skin."

"Recovery was 6 weeks, but in total it could be up to three months. I had drains in me for 4 weeks which was tough because I couldn't leave the house. I thought I was going to be in agony, but recovery wasn't too bad. Having a four-year-old was a bit difficult but my Mam and Dad really helped with that."

What's next

Jennifer plans to continue her new fitness and eating regime


Jennifer is continuing her calorie counting during her recovery. After the new year she plans on having surgery three more times, one to remove the excess skin from her legs, another to remove it from her arms, and a third to reconstruct her breasts.

"Each of these surgery's cost just under 10 grand. The price is the only thing I'd actually struggle with, I know what I'm doing with the calorie counting."

They are definitely my aims at the moment. I definitely will have more goals after I get this done. I really want to focus on my fitness and see how far I can push myself with that.

"My confidence has definitely soared when I think of how far I've come."