I wouldn’t even walk out of the house because I was just so embarrassed of who I’d become.”

It’s hard to imagine this admission coming from the vivacious 29-year-old with the bright smile, bombshell waves and 50s’ style sitting opposite Irish Country Living today. Yet, just two years ago and weighing 22 stone, Nicola Carolan was so crippled by low self-esteem that she was not really “living”.

“I was basically existing,” she qualifies. “What I did in college, I never pursued what I could have done with it. I never drove when I should have. My weight held me back so much. I broke toilet seats. I couldn’t fit into chairs. If I was walking through here and it was crowded, I’d have to get people to move. And that really gets in on top of you.”

But the birth of her son proved a catalyst for Nicola to change her life, a journey she has shared through her healthy eating blog, The Naked Blondie, which she hopes will inspire anybody struggling with their weight; and, more importantly, self-belief.

“I was a heart attack waiting to happen. I had to do it for myself. And I had to do it for my son,” says Nicola.

“I just want people to see they can do anything they want to do if they believe in themselves.”

Nicola always struggled with her weight. Over the years, she tried different diets for a “quick fix”, but whether it was college nights out or working in a sedentary office job, it always crept back on.

However, while she maintained a confident exterior, when her weight climbed to 22 stone after baby Scott arrived in September 2013, so too did her anxiety.

“I was so wound up. Everything was getting to me,” she recalls.“I had a brand new buggy and I wouldn’t even walk out the door. My mam used to ring me every day and she’d be like: ‘Nicola, you need to get out of the house.’”

With a BMI of nearly 60 and barely fitting into size 26, what should have been the happiest time of her life became the darkest. And food became a false friend.

“I’d get up and I’d eat digestive biscuits with Nutella for my breakfast,” lists Nicola.

“Lunch would be a big roll filled with mayonnaise. In the afternoon, I probably would have had a scone with jam and cream – two maybe – and whatever chocolate I was picking on.

“I’d always cook a fairly good dinner like shepherd’s pie or spaghetti bolognese, but then I’d sit down and I could have two bags of sweets and a bar of chocolate. Ridiculous.”

Scrolling through Facebook one evening, however, she saw a picture of a friend in Australia. They had both joined their local Slimming World club at the same time, though Nicola dropped out and re-joined several times before she eventually stopped going to classes.

“And here she was, six stone lighter, and climbing Sydney Bridge,” recalls Nicola, who was struggling to climb the stairs to put Scott to bed.

“And I said: ‘You know what? You need to get yourself into that class.’”

So on 13 January 2014, Nicola walked the half a mile to the local GAA club to sign up again. “And I’ve never looked back,” she smiles.

But what was different this time was that Nicola had realised that the power to change lay with her alone.

“99% of the weight-loss journey is acceptance,” she says.

“It’s hard to explain, but if someone told you that you couldn’t fail, what would you do? It’s literally: ‘I know I can’t fail, because I’ve accepted that this is for the rest of my life.’”

While it started with small steps – in her first week, Nicola lost one and a half pounds – one of her first “pinch me” moments came in April when shopping for an outfit for a party.

“I was able to go into New Look,” she says. “I was still buying in the plus-size section, but I was able to go in and buy a size 20 top, where at Christmas I was barely fitting into a 26.”

Nicola always had a passion for cooking, and had considered training to be a chef, but felt her weight held her back. Through overhauling her diet, however, she began developing her own healthy recipes and set up a blog, The Naked Blondie.

Little did she realise that her fake-aways – healthy versions of takeaway meals – and sweet treats would soon attract 200,000 hits a month, not to mention spawning thousands of followers on social media, with even Jamie Oliver popping by to write “Well done babe”.

“I nearly died,” laughs Nicola.

But while Nicola has seen how people are “crying out for help” with weight-loss, her message is ultimately that the only person who can change your life is you.

“Nobody in this world can do anything for you unless you change your thoughts and you change your world,” says Nicola.

“Because people will always try to look for an excuse. ‘I’ve this on, I’ve that on.’ There’s always an excuse there. But it’s you at the end of the day that’s making the excuse.”

And encouraging people to fulfil their own potential is the motivation behind “Dream It & Do It” – a series of inspirational talks run by Nicola with Fiona Dillon, Ireland’s self-sufficiency guru. With early events in Leinster selling out, the plan is to go nationwide. Nicola also recently launched her own range of burgers with Dublin-based butcher, Slim Valley Fresh Foods, using extra-lean, high-quality Irish beef, so they are suitable for all diet plans, and she has more projects in the pipeline. But she is still on her own weight-loss journey, weighing just over 13 stone, and believes that is why people connect with her.

“I’m not a model,” she jokes. “I’m an Irish mammy who lives in the country and that’s why people relate to me. I’m real.”

And that’s the naked truth...

Visit www.thenakedblondie.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram @thenakedblondie. CL

>> Recipe

The Naked Blondie’s fudgy

chocolate brownies

Makes 12 large brownies/cakes

Curb those sweet cravings without breaking the calorie bank.

5 medium eggs

4 tbsp of cocoa powder

35g sweetener/honey/agave syrup

1 wheat biscuit (eg Weetabix)

1 tsp baking powder

120g fat-free Greek style yogurt or natural yogurt (any flavour).

25g self-raising or gluten-free flour

1 level tbsp of chocolate hazelnut spread

1 measured tsp of salted caramel flavouring

1 Line and grease a swiss roll tin or lasagne dish with low-cal cooking spray. Preheat your oven to 200°C (195°C for a fan oven). For the pumpkin cakes, I used a silicone mould.

2. In a bowl, finely crumble in the wheat biscuit and add four whole eggs and one egg yolk, leaving the last egg white aside for later. Add the cocoa powder, sweetener, baking powder, yoghurt, flour and chocolate hazelnut spread and mix well with a hand mixer. Then add the salted caramel flavouring.

3 In a separate bowl, whisk the last egg white to form stiff peaks and fold gently into the chocolate batter.

4 Place the mix into the lined tray or mould and bake at 195°C for 30 to 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

5. When cooled, place in an airtight container and leave in the fridge to set.

Nicola’s Top tips FOR WEIGHT LOSS

1 Self-belief is the most important aspect. Face your fears head on. You are braver than you believe.

2 Keep a food journal to keep track of your daily intake and to reflect back on when having an off-week.

3 Plan. I invested €6 in my meal planner with an attached shopping list. I sit down at the beginning of my week, plan out my meals and do my shopping list from there.

4 There are two kitchen appliances I could not live without: my chest freezer, which allows me to batch cook, as well as my Tefal Actifry healthy fryer.

5 Preparation is key. For example, when I buy a block of cheese, I grate it and store it in individual portions that correspond to my daily dairy allowance.

6 When you reach a new goal, reward yourself with a non-food treat, like a magazine.

7 If you are inclined to snack while cooking dinner, have a cup of homemade soup in the fridge to pop in the microwave to keep hunger at bay.

8 To avoid complacency, change your food each week and use your meal planner to swap things around.

9 We may be on a weight-loss journey, but we still have to live our life too. These are times we have worked so hard for and you want to relish the new you. Have foods ready to bring for the car journey and make the healthier choice when eating out, such as dressing on the side, meat from the grill, extra veg or salad if there are no healthy carb options etc.

10 Enjoy your journey. After all, we have worked so hard to accept that this is for the rest of our lives. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle. Believe you can and you will.