I was just a five stone weakling ..but look at me now!

Published on Saturday 6 June 2009 11:34

AS SHE stood on the podium, her muscular frame glistening in the spotlights, a ten-year fight against a potentially killer bug was finally sealed.

Jo Brown, who had only entered the Miss Scotland bodybuilding event for "an experience", was voted the most toned woman in the contest.

It signifies a dramatic turnaround from when a dodgy bit of mince from a Greenock hotel almost killed her a decade ago.

She was rushed to hospital with E. coli, put in isolation and by her own admission, "thought I was a goner".

Her weight dropped to less than five stone, and once released from hospital she battled to get her bulk up, but nothing worked.

However, a heavy programme of weightlifting, which intensified in January, has led to her virtually doubling her weight in muscle, and taking the crown in one of the National Amateur Bodybuilding Association's most envied titles.

"I remember spitting out the beef at the time, and before I knew I was screaming with stomach pains and vomiting," said the 37-year-old Livingston mother-of-three.

"In hospital I actually called in the nurse and asked if I was going to die that night, I'd pretty much accepted my time was up."

But she hung in and emerged from isolation to embark on a struggle with weight that has lasted nearly ten years.

"I'd tried everything to put weight on, but I just couldn't do it," said the Morrisons supermarket worker. "I was tired all the time and had trouble walking – my immune system was completely shattered.

"Then I saw an old friend who'd been bodybuilding and I couldn't believe the difference in her, so I started."

She built it up to such an extent that she was on a six-month diet of only turkey, broccoli, fish and protein supplements leading up to the competition last month.

But it paid off as she walked away with the Miss Toned Scotland 2009 accolade.

"Preparation was a nightmare," she added. "I had to abandon my social life and turn things down left, right and centre. It got to the stage that if I went out to meet friends, I'd carry broccoli and turkey in my handbag and ask restaurants to heat it up for me. When I was at work I was surrounded by food the whole time that I just couldn't touch."

With the support of her husband and three children at the event she saw off stiff competition from experienced participants.

"I only wanted to go to the event to experience it, to see what it was like, and then maybe work towards some other targets, so I was shocked when I won," she added.

"After it I went out for a Chinese and a few drinks and it felt great.

"That's me for the year now, I need to aim towards a tougher category now, which could take me two years to build up to."