TikTok star Shannon Mitchell lost 6 stone - NOW she tells her followers how

At that time, after years of yo-yo dieting and attempting to follow plans with all the main slimming brands, Shannon knew how difficult it is.

So the TikToker – who now has almost 50k followers on shannon_mitch – started counting her calories - "and making sure there was a slight deficit every day".

The estate agent, who is very active spreading her message on instagram, began her weight loss journey in the summer of 2021 after reaching her heaviest weight of 15st 3lbs, with the initial goal of getting to 11st.

"In summer 2021 I went to the doctors about a breast reduction,” she said. “At that time I was a size 18.

"They didn't even tell me what weight I was but said I needed to lose "quite a lot of weight to be even put on the waiting list”.

"When I heard that I broke down into tears and said it wasn't realistic as I had tried every diet going.

"I later found out that I had weighed in at 15 stone 3lbs. I was obese.”

After the shock news a distressed Shannon knew she had to make something work for her.

"I started off looking into calories, I didn't really understand what it meant but when I looked into it I worked out how many calories I needed to be consuming a day to lose weight,” she said.

"I had been eating a McDonalds wrap on the way home from work - which I classed as a snack - and when I stopped that it was 600 calories a day less.

“I looked into making healthy satisfying meals that were 600 calories - and there were many.

“I started with a deficit of just 100 calories a day. And then as the scale came down I lowered my calories because I basically couldn't eat as much as I had done.”

Shannon, an estate agent in East Belfast, said she “fully understands the struggle of trying to lose weight”.

"I know now it is a mindset and something needs to click in your head,” she said.

"You need to remind yourself how much it means to you and why you are doing it. It is a mental battle.

"I really advise people to take photographs on your journey so you see how far you have come.

"I still have jeans and tracksuit bottoms from when I was a size 18 to remind me just how far I have come.

"I will probably always have them.”

Now Shannon finds that being organised and having a meal plan helps her stay on track.

"You need to be prepared with your food,” she said.

“You need to know what you are going to eat that day - as soon as you don't know what the plan is then you get hungry and end up with crisps and chocolate.

"So if you stick to routine every day you can afford to have a gorgeous meal at the weekend.

"Also have a motivation behind that which is not always about you - maybe your children or your family.

"Have other motivators around you. Have a goal.”

Shannon, who motivates fellow dieters on TikTok, said she “would love to have met someone like me when I was starting out dieting”.

Now Shannon’s weight sits between a svelte 9st and 9st 7lbs.

She posts healthy eating tips and tricks on TikTok to her followers.

“Now my comfortable weight is 9 stone I think,” said Shannon.

"I lost 5 stone between summer 2021 to summer 2022,” she said.

"Then I lost another stone between summer 22 and the end of the year by just following my plan.

“At the moment I am about 10lbs over that because of a recent holiday in Bali but it is not the end of the world.

"I will just get it off by eating properly with good nutritional food.”