Why I made a pact I could NEVER BREAK

Faced with losing her beloved dad, Lindsay Yates, 51, promised to change for good

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I'd known for a long time that I needed to lose weight. Like my dad, David, I'd always been big, both of us enjoying a fry-up or lasagne with plenty of chips. It was why I signed up to The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan in autumn 2017 - at 43, it was finally time to focus on my health. Yet while I lost more than a stone in three months, it wasn't until Christmas that a bombshell gave me the real motivation, and I made an unbreakable, lifesaving pact to tackle my weight problem for good.

Growing up, Dad and I were close. I was an only child, and we'd spend time together listening to Queen on his record player, or watching the Wigan Warriors at rugby league matches. Dad was a family man, devoted to me and my mum, Vivienne. So when he started struggling to swallow and went for tests that December, I went with him and Mum for the results.

I tried to ignore the Christmas tree flickering its lights as I held Dad's hand, listening to the consultant say they'd found a tumour in his stomach. Mum, then 66, and Dad, 68, started to cry at the words 'stage 3 oesophageal cancer', but I just felt numb. Even though I was married to Andrew and had twin boys, Nathan and Matthew, then 12, I was still a daddy's girl at heart, and couldn't face the thought of losing him.

Back home that night I finally broke down to Andrew, then 43, lamenting the fact that Dad didn't smoke or drink. It seemed desperately unfair.