Claire Taylor

I'm 52 years young and loving life! It's an on-going journey but, after successfully overcoming addictions, personal loss, obsessive behaviour and weight issues, I feel totally free.

I'm a divorcee with two children, aged 25 and 21 years. I married young but suffered years of unhappiness partly due to problems with my weight, leading to confidence issues. Money was no object so I over-ate and over-spent to feel better, known by friends and family as the life and soul of the party.

Worries over health issues in my 40s inspired me to exercise and change my diet, leading to weight loss requiring cosmetic surgery to remove the loose skin I had after losing over 15 stone. I had renewed confidence and a better lifestyle making many tough decisions, including divorcing my husband.

This period included bankruptcy, plus my mother’s suicide. Needing money desperately, I became the manager at No.1 Bootcamp, working to encourage people to change their lives through healthy eating and exercise.

Sadly, the manager, and a good friend, died of cancer so I decided to create my own wellness business, Carbon Bootcamp, in January 2017.

In July 2017, with the help of the amazing Chris Hill (beatmyaddictions.com), I started working on my addictions, including smoking, caffeine and taking sleeping tablets. My successes inspired me to hold addiction weekends at Carbon Bootcamp.

This evolved when I rekindled a 17-year friendship with Andrea Whiteside, who unbeknown to me had suffered addictions and a divorce too. The combined strength of our experiences led us to create our luxurious wellness home, Carbon Retreat.