I realised I needed to improve my health to be able to continue to work 10-hour shifts in a day nursery, and then after looking at my 60th birthday cruise photos, I made the decision to do so, but it took a further 6 months with a lot of failed attempts at weight loss to return to LighterLife. I wanted to look good for my daughter’s wedding and my cholesterol was increasing. I’d tried apps for calorie counting and hypnotherapy, restricting carbs and different diets over the years – sometimes I lost weight, sometimes I gained weight, but now I was almost back to my highest weight, 14 st 8lbs.
Why did I choose LighterLife?
I know it works and works quickly if you follow the plan – I’d seen friends lose vast amounts of weight on it. The first time I did LighterLife, back in the early 2000s, I lost 6st and managed to maintain that weight loss for around three years. This time I found LighterLife had changed and improved. I committed to being on a subscription, and with great the mentorship from Hazel Harrod and fantastic group support keeping me accountable, I finally began to lose the weight.
Mentoring and Mindfulness
My Mentor, Hazel, offered me some amazing support and perception. Her regular WhatsApp messages, group Zoom mentorship, and the weekly online CBT Mindfulness sessions all helped me focus on my reasons for wanting to lose weight, my “why”. Health and fitness, being able to move freely all came with weight loss.
Thanks to the CBT, I’ve developed an understanding of my habits and why I used to binge, but I know I still have a long way to go to overcome my default button and teach my brain to stop sabotaging what I really want/need. The hardest part of having lost my weight is to change my eating habits. CBT and Hazel have given me the knowledge to understand, now I need to retrain my brain but with the maintenance group and using my food packs from time to time I know that will come.
It was sometimes difficult to be online at the end of a 10-hour shift at the nursery, but everyone was incredibly supportive, so I prioritised the sessions. There were always some insights into how others were doing on the programme, and how I could do better, especially when I started the Management plan.
Sending my weight into my Mentor, even on weeks when I didn’t lose anything because I hadn’t stuck to the plan, kept me on track and made me want to do better the following week. Everyone and everything kept me going.
Then, after my daughter’s wedding in July, I lost my why/reason for doing the programme. My health was better, my blood pressure was down, my activity and flexibility were both better, and I was struggling to continue with the programme, even though I was still losing weight, albeit more slowly.
So, Hazel asked me to tell my story and now I’m remotivated to lose my last 4lbs and hit my first target weight. After that, I want to lose another 7lbs to give myself a buffer zone when I start the full Management maintenance programme.
Following the plan
During my first week on TotalFast I wasn’t hungry, and I felt amazing – full of energy and glowing. Work colleagues supported me, which meant I had to stick with the plan. I loved all the Porridge Food packs (especially made up into oatcakes), the Chocolate Mug Cake, and the Chocolate Raisin Bar. Then I discovered the Blueberry Pancakes, which I make up as a cake/pudding in the microwave. The Thai noodle pot made a great change and with the soups for colder days there was great choice, even though it was easier for me stick with my favourites.
What’s changed for me now that I’ve lost my weight?
My health and fitness have benefitted so much. I can run, exercise, and balance, and I’m not breathless now. I can bend and sit on the floor with my class of 2–3-year-olds and jump up and down with them. I feel healthier and fitter, and I want to go to dance classes too. I continued using weights throughout my journey and never lost any strength.
My immune system has improved, my blood pressure is great, and I’m hoping my cholesterol is better (I have yet to get that re-tested). I can give myself a pedicure and can wear high heels as my plantar fasciitis has gone away – I don’t ache like I used to.
I’ve always been a constant clothes shopper – I’d buy clothes, then gain weight and hate them, hoarding the smaller sized clothes and hoping to wear them again one day. At the start of this weight loss journey, I was wearing size 22 coats but I still had a size 8 coat, bought around 10 years ago when I could put it on, which I’d never worn. My clothes ranged in all sizes from a few size 10 to lots in size 22/24.
Now, I’m a comfortable size 12, and wearing a size 10 parka that I’d bought new, never worn, and kept for this day.
I’ve now given away several bags of size 16 plus clothes because I’m not keeping them “in case”. I will stay on Management and continue to learn and be accountable – going back onto Foodpacks if I gain a few pounds.
I love clothes and love trying them on – I go for comfort but enjoy dressing up – and I’m even happy in my work uniform now.
What have I learned?
To continue to be weight conscious, to enjoy the process, and to carry on with the Management groups. We all have off days, but I need to have days where I can make up for that, and to find other fun ways to celebrate life events instead of being purely food-focussed.
What I’d say to anyone thinking about starting LighterLife.
Make it work for you and, if something is not working, adapt it. I honestly could not live off liquids, I’ve never drunk milky-type drinks. So, as suggested by my first Mentor many years ago, I made everything into muffins with less water and the microwave – and it works for me.
