Mum lost two stone after taking up hobby following her divorce

A mum lost two stone and says she feels "amazing" and "strong" after taking up taekwondo following her divorce. Sarah Albassri, 30, gained weight because of stress and after having her daughter, who is now two years old, she found it hard to lose the extra weight.

Sarah, who used to weigh 13st 3lbs, loved taekwondo since she learned it when she left war-torn Syria. After her marriage ended, she began training in taekwondo two to three times a week and also started running, pushing her toddler in the stroller, Bristol Live reports.

She saw great results and now weighs 10st 10lbs, feeling "happy" with her body. Sarah, who is studying for a PHD in biomedical engineering in Irvine, California, shared: "I'm accepting myself at every stage of this process. I feel healthier and happier."

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"I feel amazing to have that mum strength. I feel like I'm glowing up."

Sarah started martial arts in 2013 because she got mean comments and felt scared. She said: "I felt scared. I wanted to be strong. It took out all my stress and anxiety. I felt amazing. I fell in love with it right away."

In 2020, Sarah became a taekwondo instructor. She married her ex-husband in 2019 and kept doing taekwondo while she was pregnant. But when her marriage was in trouble, she had a hard time with her weight and felt sad, which made her stop training in taekwondo for a while.

She shared: "I felt so isolated. Physically my posture changed. I lost my self-confidence. I started gaining weight during the pandemic too. Then after that I struggled with the baby weight."

Sarah tried lots of things like diets and weight loss pills to lose weight but they didn't help. In March 2023, she decided to