When Jo Joyce endured a series of personal tragedies – including the death of her beloved son, Ben – she dealt with her grief by comfort eating.
Her unhealthy lifestyle left her weight spiralling to 19st 8lbs, but switching to a vegan diet meant that she improved her mental health and lost a staggering 9st.
Jo, 47, says, “Going vegan changed my life, and I can’t recommend ditching meat and dairy enough.
“Not only was I doing my bit for the planet, but I felt better and had so much more energy to keep up with my youngest son Harvey, five, which really improved my mindset, too.”
Growing up, full-time mum-of-five Jo, from Cambridgeshire, had always struggled with her weight.
She says, “I was always a big girl and there was often junk food in the house, so I’d snack on crisps, chocolate, fizzy drinks and huge bowls of Coco Pops. By the time I was 10, I weighed 10st and had to wear adult clothes.
“Kids at school would make up cruel rhymes and call me ‘fatty’.”
Check out: Love Island 2020 contestants - where are they now?
Love Island 2020 contestants - where are they now? - slider
1 of 38Leanne Amaning
After failing to find love in the villa (she famously got the 'ick' whilst with Mike Boateng), Leanne's time on the island was cut relatively short in a cruel dumping.
2 of 38Leanne Amaning
Fast forward a year and Leanne has admitted that she was at her 'happiest' before going into the villa. In a Instagram Q&A in 2020, Leanne told fans that appearing on Love Island has taken a toll on her mental health, '[it affected it] more than I thought, more than I could imagine.'
3 of 38Siânnise Fudge
After a few failed romances, Bristol babe Siânnise Fudge found her Aladdin in the villa in the shape of boyfriend Luke Trotman.
4 of 38Siânnise Fudge
A big believer in fairytale endings, Siânnise and Luke have since moved into together, survived a global pandemic, are parents to puppy Nala and even founded their own fashion business @conqrstore.
5 of 38Eve and Jess Gale
A Love Island first, identical twins Eve and Jess caused fireworks when they walked into the villa. Although Eve's journey was cut short, Jess managed to make her way to the final and finished in fourth place with now ex-boyfriend Ched Evans.
6 of 38Eve and Jess Gale
Since the show ended, the pair still do everything together, from travelling the world to posing together in sexy shoots. They're still very much joined at the hip.
7 of 38Shaughna Phillips
Leaving with her head high after the whole Callum/Molly Casa Amor drams, Shaughna is still one of the stand out stars of the winter series in South Africa, and has since gone on to star on Celebs Go Virtual Dating.
8 of 38Shaughna Phillips
Always keeping it real, Shaughna bravely opened up about suffering from an eating disorder and the results of liposuction surgery on her legs.She's full of LOLs of Twitter and is still the Shaughna we all fell in love with. Has she found love yet? Not yet, but only time will tell...
9 of 38Sophie Piper
Will we ever forget Sophie's infectious laugh and infamous put downs in awkward situation? The beauty, who is the sister of pop star and TV presenter Rochelle Humes, became the seventh Islander to be dumped from the villa halfway through the series.
10 of 38Sophie Piper
Since the show, Sophie has racked up 800k Instagram followers. She has continued to work as a model and influencer for the likes of Pretty Little Thing, Boux Avenue and JD Sports.
11 of 38Paige Turley
The winner takes it all! Scottish babe and aspiring singer Paige walked away the winner of Love Island 2020. She well and truly found her prince!
12 of 38Paige Turley
Despite enduring a hard period over lockdown they're still madly in love a year later. Aww! And despite EVERYONE wanting another Love Island wedding, the pair recently admitted that they want to do things in their 'own time'.
13 of 38Mike Boateng
Hunky police officer Mike Boateng left the Love Island villa with a smile as he confessed his love for Priscilla Anyabu, but it took a while for him to find his princess.
14 of 38Love Island 2020 where are they now
The pair instantly made things official when they left the villa. They're still very much together and now live together in London.
15 of 38Connor Durman
Jet-setter Connor went into Love Island to settle down, but after a six-month-long romance with Sophie Piper he is now single again.
16 of 38Connor Durman
However, he's still got a smile on his face (how could he not) as his coffee business is booming - even through lockdown - and his Instagram following is bigger than ever. That's what we like to see!
17 of 38Callum Jones
Scaffolder Callum become a little bit of a Love Island villian when he dramatically dumped Shaughna and chose to return from Casa Amor with Molly Smith.
18 of 38Callum Jones and Molly Smith
However, it looks like his risky move was worth it as the Manchester duo survived the lockdown and have moved in together - he even spoke to exclusively to us about marriage and babies. Adorable. Talk about proving everyone wrong!
19 of 38Nas Majeed
After a few pies and a brief snog with Demi Jones, Nas got his Love Island wish granted when he walked in Casa Amor and met Eva Zapico.
20 of 38Nas Majeed
Even though they left very soon after they returned to the main villa, Nas and Eva are still stronger than ever and are another couple to survive any sort of Love Island curse. They even sassily hit back at split rumours in the funniest way last year.
21 of 38Ollie Williams
Oh Ollie! His time on Love Island was very brief and surrounded in controversy. From those pictures of him hunting to rumours that he was only on the show for exposure as he left after three days after realising he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend Laura.
22 of 38Ollie Williams
Since reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Laura soon after the show, Ollie has enjoyed the quiet life. It's not known if Ollie is still loved up with Laura, they last posted a Insta snap together in September 2020. Hmmmm.
23 of 38Finley Tapp
Oh Finley! As well as bagging true love in the form of girlfriend Paige Turley and WINNING the show, the whole nation fell a little bit in love with this cheeky chap.
24 of 38Finley Tapp
After spending a whole year together, Finn recently revealed to heat that his relationship with Paige went from strength to strength during lockdown because 'he was already used to the intensity of spending every minute with Paige. When you put it like that!
25 of 38Connagh Howard
Connagh, 27, dumped from the Love Island villa. The hunk, 27, bid a sad farewell to South Africa on Friday's show after just a few weeks despite sharing a kiss with Rebecca Gormley days earlier, who chose Luke Trotman over him.
26 of 38Connagh Howard
The model's career as a model and person trainer has rocketed since appearing on the show as he has used the exposure to his advantage. He's also gained a HUGE following on Tik Tok AND found love with girlfriend Beth Dunlavey.
27 of 38Rebecca Gormley
The Geordie babe was a little bit picky in the Love Island villa, but finally found her man, fellow Islander Chris Biggs, after leaving the show.
28 of 38Rebecca
The pair are still loved up and Rebecca has gushed that he's just 'an amazing man'. However, the past year hasn't been completely plain sailing, as she recently underwent surgery after damaging her right arm in a horror fall back in January.
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29 of 38Luke Mabbott
Justin Bieber lookalike Luke managed to reach the final of the show with Demi Jones, and although we all thought they were the real deal, the pair parted ways at the start of lockdownafter living apart for months.
30 of 38Luke Mabbott
Despite being locked down, Luke soon moved on with another Islander, Lucie Donlan, and have been together for just over a year. Luke recently revealed a huge tattoo tribute to his girlfriend after almost a year of dating and the pair have just adopted an adorable rescue dog called Bunny.
31 of 38Luke Trotman
Student Luke walked out of Love Island hand in hand with girlfriend Siânnise and start their fairytale together.
32 of 38Luke Trotman
Since leaving the show, Luke decided to head back to university to finish his Banking, Finance, and Management degree. We love a guy who thinks beyond the PAs and hashtag ads.
33 of 38Demi Jones
Even though she was super unlucky in love in the villa, Demi's infectious personality has made her a stand out star in her own right.
34 of 38Demi Jones
Since the show, she's landed deals with Missguided and is a brand ambassador @tatti_lashes. However, in May 2021, Demi revealed to the world that she has thyroid cancer and announced that she will have to undergo surgery. Ever the optimist though, Demi has been updating fans of her surgery progress, admitting that she's a 'tough cookie'. She sure is!
35 of 38Wallace Wilson
Scottish personal trainer Wallace entered Love Island towards the end, but he still made an impression, although not quite enough to leave with a lady on his arm.
36 of 38Wallace Wilson
Outside the villa, Wallace in focusing on his personal training back home, is he still on the lookout for love? Who knows, he likes to play it coy.
37 of 38Ched Uzor
Beefcake Ched left the villa arm in arm with Jess Gale, and things were going swimmingly until the coronavirus pandemic hit and they wenttheir separate ways in an 'impossible situation'.
38 of 38Ched Uzor
Since the split, Ched and Jess haven't reconciled and it looks like he's currently still single.
After meeting her first partner at school, Jo had her son Craig, now 32, followed by Ben and daughter Chloe, now 26. After she split from her children’s dad, Jo had her fourth child, Casey-Jane, now 17, after an on-off relationship.
She says, “Over the years, and after my pregnancies, I would diet and lose weight, but I could never keep it up and always piled it back on.”
In 2010, Jo weighed 15st and was a size 18. And it was then that her life was turned upside down by the tragic loss of her 17-year-old son Ben, who died by suicide.
She says, “I was so devastated that I had to be sedated for two weeks and I couldn’t leave the house. I had a breakdown and was diagnosed with complex post traumatic stress disorder.”
Jo sought solace in food and drink. She says, “I began drinking two bottles of wine a night just to be able to sleep and my diet was so unhealthy. I’d eat four pieces of toast lathered in butter for breakfast. I’d then have a cheese and onion or egg mayo sandwich with plenty of bread for lunch, and three chippy teas or KFC chicken burgers for dinner.
“I’d also snack on cheese and would easily get through a whole pack of Cheddar cheese biscuits, plus I’d drink up to six full-fat lattes a day.”
In 2015, Jo was diagnosed with diabetes as a result of her weight, and by 2016 she tipped the scales at 19st 8lbs – and was classed as morbidly obese for her 5ft 9 frame.
Desperate to get her drinking under control, she decided to give up booze for a month. During that time, after briefly reuniting with her ex-partner, she discovered she was pregnant with her youngest son, Harvey. She says, “It wasn’t an option to carry on drinking and it meant I lost over 3st.
“Due to complications from diabetes, I had an emergency C-section at 34 weeks. After Harvey was born, I decided I wanted to make another attempt at getting in shape – not just for me, but for him, too.”
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At the beginning of 2018, Jo joined Slimming World. She lost 4st in total during her pregnancy and weighed 15st 6lbs. That’s when she decided to ditch all meat and dairy.
She says, “This time I was determined to lose weight and stick to it. I’d lost a good amount but I still felt self-conscious and would wear baggy tent-sized dresses.
“I felt like I needed a challenge in my life, too, so I decided to go vegan. It was to lose weight at first but then, I learned about how good it is for the planet.
“I made swaps like switching to almond milk and Linda McCartney sausages. I decided to cook healthy meals from scratch – using lots of vegetables – rather than using processed meat alternatives, so my weekly shop wasn’t any more expensive.
“I was happy for the kids to eat meat out of the house or if they cooked it for themselves. But Harvey seemed to enjoy all the food I cooked.”
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Within three months, she’d lost 3st to become 12st 7lbs and a size 12.
She says, “I’d have fruit for breakfast or porridge with unsweetened almond milk. Lunch was veg, and I’d seen on I’m A Celeb! that the stars all seemed to drop weight so I had rice or beans like them. I would make a Slimming World vegetable curry for dinner.
“My new vegan diet gave me so much more energy. I started waking 10,000 steps a day. As my weight continued to drop, my mental health improved.”
Now, Jo weighs 10st 6lbs and is a size 8. She says, “I can now run up the stairs without getting out of breath. Going vegan changed me for the better.”