I always knew I was big, so big that the time I thought it would take to reduce my weight made it feel impossible. I went to see the doctor in August 2022 over an infected insect bite and as they had not seen me since 2019 they said they would check my blood pressure and weight. I thought I would be 21 to 21 ½ stone and was in fact 23 ½ stone, which made me realise that it could soon be 25 stone if nothing changed.
A family friend had lost 7 ½ stone last year on LighterLife and I decided to ask her a few more questions. After talking with her (someone it had worked for and her telling me I won’t be hungry) I thought if she can do it, so can I. I had tried to eat less a few times but with such a big volume of weight to drop, the road ahead always felt impossible.
Starting TotalFast
I started the TotalFast plan during a week off work. I kept myself busy and with the distraction of keeping busy I did not feel overly hungry. I knew I was eating less but I followed the advice of drinking plenty of water. Within a few days I started to see the scales going down. The CBT Mindfulness also interested me. My Mentor, Natalie Freeman, has been brilliant. Blokes don’t normally do the whole talking thing, but it has been helpful, and I have attended almost every weekly session.
Keeping Focused
What kept me focused was the results, seeing and feeling the weight drop off helped keep the motivation strong, the simple idea of sticking to the plan 100% with no deviation was what worked for me. My blood pressure was also on the high side, and I had been suffering with swollen feet. My blood pressure is now normal, and my swollen feet have disappeared. I have even gone down a shoe size!
CBT Support
The weekly CBT Mindfulness sessions have been a good support. Some of the questions I could see where the path was going, as I studied human behaver for a while and even knowing the path the question poised it, still made me think and reflect which is the whole idea. Natalie, my Mentor, even gave me some great ideas on how to avoid and manage a few potential pressure points I had in the diary; a wedding and Christmas. From being in the group, I have learnt how to notice any triggers that could affect my “need” for food, the whole eating smaller portions, being aware of what is good Vs not good and that it’s ok to say no or not clear the whole plate.
Living my lighter life
I was always confident but in denial of the potential problems my weight could cause. Now that I’ve lost the weight, I can do so much more. I am more active, I now walk places where before I would avoid having to, I can walk upstairs and not be breathless at the top, even one flight of them had me breathless now it’s no issue.
The strangest thing is driving, my seat was always all the way back leaving no space for anyone to sit behind me, now it’s a long way forward with ample space behind. This is because my bum and belly have reduced, and I have to have the seat forwards to reach the pedals. I can only describe it as driving with a pillow down my back. I am due to go on a driving experience day soon, this is something I would have loved to have done before but it had a maximum weight of 18 stone which for most of my life was below my weight, not now and it’s booked for later in June.
My new wardrobe
I am on my 3rd refit of clothes now! Clothing I bought part way through also no longer fits. I was a 52” waist, bigger than that around the belly and bum. I can now fit in a 36” t-shirt, shirts all now fit as I always found them too short after going around my belly. I now wear my tops tucked into my trousers and when wearing a belt, it can now be seen by me and others where before my belly rolled over the top.
Nigel’s top tips
I would recommend LighterLife. My top tips are stick to the plan 100%, it’s easy to then stay in control. We all know if you have just one XYZ that it will lead to another, so the simple option is just don’t do it. I stuck to the TotalFast plan, and it worked. There is another plus as well, I saved money, when I added up what was my food bill before including trips to the coffee shop, takeaways etc. I was spending less on the plan, I still socialised but did so without breaking the plan, after all why ruin all the good work.
