I lost 80 pounds — my secret involves a hula hoop

An English woman has claimed that she’s been able to lose over 80 pounds with the help of weight loss surgery — and hula hooping.

Laura Johnson, who went from nearly 230 pounds to 150 in just one year, credits a big chunk of her loss to a weighted hula hoop, which she uses for 15 minutes every day.

”I was so busy being a mum, and doing shift work,” Johnson, a 42-year-old mom of four, told South West News Service about her weight gain. ”It left me no time to focus on a diet and getting healthy.”

She continued, ”But it got to the point where I didn’t want to leave the house, I felt so big, and I knew that wasn’t me.”

Johnson, a police dispatcher, explained that the weight really became difficult to shed after she gave birth to her fourth child in 2013, a change from her typical postpartum experiences.

”I had my fourth baby at 32 in 2013 and something was different, I couldn’t shift the extra weight no matter what I did,” she said.

She also made the decision to quit smoking in 2011 and claims that it made her sweet tooth become “crazy,” tempted by cookies, cakes and other treats.

In an attempt to lose weight, Johnson claimed that she tried every “faddy diet” on the market, including Weight Watchers, Slimming World, SlimFast shakes, calorie counting and juicing.

She also tried going to exercise classes and even dabbled in water aerobics, but the weight didn’t seem to budge.

However, it wasn’t until a recent girls’ trip that the 42-year-old finally had a wake-up call.

“It was when I was invited on a girl’s weekend with all of my mates, and I didn’t want to go, that I knew my weight was controlling my life,” she told SWNS.

”I’m usually the life and soul of a party and the fact I just wanted to stay at home and hide, I knew something had to drastically change.”

It was after that trip that Johnson began looking into weight-loss surgery, as one of her friends had gotten it and had seen some amazing results.

In March 2022, she went for a gastric sleeve surgery consultation at Doncaster Park Hill private hospital in England, and three months later, she was back to undergo the procedure.

A gastric sleeve is a weight-loss procedure that will remove a large portion of a person’s stomach, leaving a “narrow gastric tube,” according to The Cleveland Clinic. Because of this, patients often report feeling fuller more quickly than usual.

”The gastric sleeve surgery removed 80 percent of my stomach so I do feel full very quickly,” she claimed.

However, it wasn’t always an easy journey.

”The surgery was tough, I was quite sick after it, but it’s been amazing overall,” she said.

Two months after the surgery, Johnson managed to lose 28 pounds but has continued to drop even more weight by exercising.

”I’m active now and love hula hooping,” she told SWNS.

”I got a weighted one online from Amazon and I’m obsessed.”

In addition to her daily hula-hooping, Johnson likes to take long walks and also goes on runs, using an application on her phone, “Couch to 5K,” to help her.

Since the surgery and making big lifestyle changes, the mom-of-four said that she feels “lighter” in her head and more “free.”

She no longer overeats, and doesn’t binge eat — however, it won’t stop her from having a treat every now and then.

”Life is so much more fun now, I try things with the kids that I wouldn’t have before,” Johnson said.

”I’ve got my life back and I’m dancing on tables again like I used to.”