In desperation, she resorted to drastic action — to pile on weight so HE would dump her.
Her looks were something she could control — so she heaped on five stone... and her plan worked.
And to ensure she NEVER found herself in another bad relationship, she ballooned almost three stone more.
But, eyeing a lonely life, Louise finally felt able to tackle her weight and is now back to 11st and the trim size 12 frame she’d been before.
Louise, 37, recalls: “I was a confident person who was always the first one on the dance floor. But when I got into an unhealthy relationship in my early 20s everything changed.”
While the first two years were happy, things began to change between her and her partner.
She explains: “The relationship was volatile and he was very controlling. I’d become a shadow of my former self and had lost touch with my life.
“I felt unable to make any decisions so putting on weight was the one thing I could control to end the relationship.
“I purposefully let myself go in a bid to make myself unattractive in the hope he would end it. I just didn’t have the courage to end it and I couldn’t see another way out.”
Louise, a PA from Wembley, continued: “My waistline soon began to expand and I even stopped wearing make-up and bought myself lots of manly, unfeminine outfits to make myself look less attractive.
In two years, Louise ballooned by five stone to a size 20 and her partner left her.
But while she was happy to be rid of him, she struggled with being alone.
She says: “I wasn’t aware how much damage the relationship had done to my self-esteem but I was not the confident person I was before.
“I was in an unhealthy routine with food and it was a comfort for me so I kept putting on the weight.
“I think I was also trying to make myself as unattractive and unapproachable as possible so I wouldn’t have to go through a relationship like that again.
“There were lots of Saturday nights I’d stay in because I couldn’t find anything to fit or to look right, then I’d gorge on food to cheer myself up.
“It pained me to look at other girls in their pretty dresses when I was sweating in a tent with an elasticated waist ordered from the internet.
“I hated myself and the person I had become. I didn’t even remember the 20-year-old me.”
By her early 30s, Louise’s weight had soared to 18st 12lb.
When she reached 35 and was still single, size-22 Louise knew she had to shed the pounds to find love.
She says: “I knew my past relationship was to blame and the thought of never being able to find a happy relationship again was horrible.
“I was approaching 40 and wasn’t the person I wanted to be and wanted to change.”
So, in the summer of 2012, she signed up to the Cambridge Weight Plan — and is now delighted to have her figure and personality restored.
She says: “I’m back to the same size I used to be and the old me has come back with it. I just feel fantastic.”
And at last she is on the road to finding love.
She says: “I love going shopping for feminine clothes and wearing make-up as I feel like my old self again.
“My friends and family have commented on my transformation and feel like I’m back.
“I feel like a new person and can start all over again.”
