A 15-stone singleton got the last laugh on a bloke who rejected her on her birthday for being ‘bigger than he would go for’ by losing five stone – only for him to try to come crawling back.

Lori Ball claims the pounds easily piled on over two years as she ‘lived to eat’ – loving to gorge on calorie-dense takeaways and even snacking on packets of crackers and spreadable cheese.

Lori, who had been single for four years, was thrilled when she bagged herself a date and planned to meet up with the guy for a second time on her birthday six days later.

However the 24-year-old’s date cancelled their next meet-up just hours before they were due to see each other for a meal – claiming he’d had second thoughts due to her weight.

Weighing 15st 12lb and wearing size 16 clothes, Lori was devastated and immediately decided to lose weight by getting more active and eating a calorie-deficit diet – losing five stone in just six months.

She then found new love and met her current boyfriend Sam Roberts in August 2018 – just two months after dropping down to her svelte goal weight of 10st 8lb and fitting in size 10 clothes.

Finally Lori had the last laugh when she heard back from the date who’d rejected her – he contacted her months later to ask if she was still single but she ignored his message – and notes that the bloke in question still watches all her Instagram stories.

Lori, from St Asaph in Denbighshire, Wales, said: “I’d been unhappy. I’d put it on over the space of two years. I’d been unhappy for a long time and tried to lose it but just couldn’t stick to anything because I love food. My mum eats to survive, whereas I live to eat. I love going out to eat.”

When it came to going on her second date with the bloke that rejected her, he sent a message which read: “I’m really sorry to do this, but I don’t want to see you again because you are bigger than what I would go for”.

Lori explained: “It cut me deep. It really cut me deep. I don’t hold it against him because he was honest. I thank him for it now because that was when I decided to make a change. And I did. That gave me a real kick-start to be honest. I’m grateful to him now.

“He messaged me a couple of months later saying something along the lines of, ‘Hi, how are you doing, you look really well. Are you still single?’ I never replied to him. I didn’t bother. He still follows me on Instagram and watches my stories.

“I’ve been in a relationship for nearly two years. I met my partner in August 2018. I didn’t want to try again until I was ready and I didn’t go back on online dating or anything.

“I just happened to meet him at the Royal Welsh Show. It just went from there. I’d already lost my weight by them. He’s not very sympathetic, my boyfriend. He’s a cutthroat farmer boyfriend but he does know about what happened to make me lose weight.”

Lori claims she approached her weight loss as a ‘lifestyle transformation’ rather than a diet and refused to swap out her favourite foods such as Creme Eggs – instead making room for them in a strict calorie limit.

After joining a Slimming World group with a pal for inspiration in January 2018, she started recreating her favourite takeaway meals at home with healthy twists to reduce their calorie content.

She was also spurred on to work out up to six days a week and hired a personal trainer to teach her workouts that would help her tone her body.

After changing jobs, Lori was thrilled when she saw her daily footsteps shoot up from 3,000 to more than 15,000 every day, and the weight dropped off by June 2018.

She had previously avoided photographs as much as possible, but was thrilled when people noticed her transformation and complimented her on her weight loss.

Now the gym buff has been maintaining her weight ever since by eating 1,900 calories on training days, and 400 calories less on rest days.

Lori, who works as an insulation consultant, said: “It’s nice when people start noticing. It helped with my confidence massively and spurred me to keep going.

“It felt like it got to the point before where every time I was talking to someone or if I had seen someone I hadn’t seen in a while, all they were thinking was ‘how much weight has she put on’ or ‘how big is she’.

“That type of thing was going through my head all the time. People do a lot of crash diets and stuff. I didn’t do it. I was never hungry.

“I was never deprived of anything. I didn’t cut out the things I wanted which I think is a big mistake that people make. I don’t see it as a diet, I see it as I totally changed my lifestyle.

“I think people focus too much on ‘I can’t have bread, I can’t have pasta, I can’t have chocolate’. But yes you can. You can account for it in your daily expenditure.”