My Personal Slimming World Success Story
I was a career driven, hardworking, professional – that secretly yearned for a family! I had been trying to get pregnant for 8 years and thought my world was ending when I was told that I had endometriosis and would need fertility treatment.
Following treatment, in 2008, my dreams finally came true and I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy. I couldn’t have been happier; until 4 months later when I was handed a photograph of myself at a party and didn’t recognise the person looking back at me!?
What I had convinced myself was baby weight – was far from the 8lb baby I had given birth to! I forced myself onto the scales and to my horror weighed 17 ½ stone! `How on earth had that happened!?!` I told myself that the scales must have been faulty!? In my mind I was still the size 10 that I had been 15 years earlier! I kept my discovery secret and hoped that no one would actually notice – after all, no one had mentioned anything so far?! I also promised myself that I would never get on the scales again!
I began to cut the labels out of the back of my clothes and underwear, wore more make-up to try and disguise the 5 chins that had gradually appeared from nowhere, and hid my unhappiness with a large smile and loud, bubbly, eccentric personality ….. Oh…..yeah…..and another jam doughnut, packet of crisps, bar of chocolate – all washed down by the local chip shop.
When I approached my doctor about my weight issues, I was left feeling so selfish?! He looked at me with total revulsion and told me that all I should be worrying and concentrating on was my new baby boy? Whilst he was partly right, it wasn’t the answer I was looking for; it had taken me a lot of courage to walk through the doctor’s surgery doors and I was left feeling completely deflated. I started thinking maybe the doctor was right? Maybe I was being selfish for thinking about myself – I had just given birth to the baby that I’d always wanted and dreamed of, I should have just felt grateful for all that I had; shouldn’t I?!
One day, a work colleague joined slimming world – she was already gorgeous, I didn’t really understand why she was going – I knew nothing about slimming world and I envisaged in my mind `Little Britain’s` fat fighters club and a terrifying Marjorie Dawes as the group consultant!?
Week after week I watched my friend become more and more confident, slim, healthy, glowing and beautiful. She invited me to join her, but I said `I didn’t have the time and I didn’t think it would work for me as I didn’t really need to diet, I actually ate quite well – it’s just my bones were big and my long hair weighed extremely heavy` – major DENIAL! I was actually eating a McDonald’s at the time and had a family sized bag of onion rings on the side waiting for me – instead of dessert obviously (as a dessert would have been greedy?) – I was so uneducated about food and healthy eating; I look back and smile with shame. The real truth was I was too frightened to go to slimming world with her. I was worried that I would fail, people would laugh at me, everyone would realise I was overweight (as if they hadn’t already)?!
My friend didn’t frown upon me, but kindly and politely gave me one of her slimming world member packs and told me to have a read and see what I thought. I started to follow the books and plan (but kept this secret life hidden). The word diet was just too intimidating and shameful in my mind at that time. What I didn’t know then was that Slimming world isn’t a diet! It’s a healthy eating plan and lifestyle choice.
When my fiancé asked me to set a date for the wedding, I suddenly realised that maybe it didn’t matter what size I was – he must still love me anyway?! By this stage I had already lost 5 stone (just by following the Slimming World plan at home) – although I didn’t know this at the time as I still refused to go anywhere near a set of scales and avoided mirrors as much as possible! My weight had been gradually coming away whilst following the plan in secret!
I finally felt that I now had the confidence to admit that I needed additional help and support and decided it was time to actually go to a group meeting. I also decided it was time to take the next step and come clean to my family and friends, so I told them I was going to join slimming world to get ready for the wedding. No one batted an eyelid, except to say good-on-you – it was a huge relief! Accepting in my mind that I needed assistance was my first big step to a whole new healthy lifestyle.
In January 2010 I joined my first slimming world group. It was the most nerve wrecking experience to first walk through that door – `Was everyone staring at me? Was I going to have to confess to all the awful things I did in secret with food?!`I couldn’t have been more wrong!
I was welcomed with smiles from every angle, I was met by the consultant at the door, who took me aside, made me a cup of tea and talked me through all the wonderful things that were going to happen on the journey ahead. I also noticed that the words I feared so much “diet” and “fat” were never actually talked about once; instead the key words were “healthy eating” and “feeling full”.
I discovered the world of `extra easy` (orange days) – this hadn’t been a plan that I’d heard of before, I had simply been following red and green days from a book previously. The `Extra easy` plan was so simple! I could eat anything! No weighing, no cooking separate meals for my family, I was finally being educated on food and discovered that I could eat so much more than I’d ever imagined!
The other group members soon became my friends, allies and people that I could truly be myself with. We shared in our food and weight loss journeys, shared laughs, stories and helped each other through the good and hard times – together we dreamed of chocolate and how to make a chunk last a lifetime.
Within 4 months I reached 9stone 9lbs (only 2lb off my target weight!) but my weight stuck and refused to budge further no matter how hard I tried? After fainting twice whilst out shopping, my doctor sent me to the hospital for tests to be carried out – we were beginning to fear that I had a
serious illness; I hadn’t! I was actually pregnant!!!?
It had never occurred to anyone that I could be pregnant; it was completely overlooked by me and the health professionals?! I certainly didn’t look pregnant and I had never been able to conceive naturally before?! The doctors believed it could have been down to my diet that had brought about the natural conception. I was living a healthy lifestyle, eating a balanced, healthy diet, had tons of energy and was happier, more relaxed, content and fulfilled within myself than I’d ever been – In fact I was probably the healthiest and fittest I had been for 10 years!
As the pregnancy developed I saw the scales very gradually increasing and the day the scales first went over the 10 stone mark I felt as if I was going to crumble! The tears welled up and I couldn’t speak to the group, I was so upset. No one could understand what was wrong with me; all I heard was “It’s normal to gain weight when you’re pregnant?! You’re only 10 stone, that isn’t big?!”
It was at this point that I confessed to the group that the last time I had been pregnant, I had been at my lowest ebb from the fertility treatment and I had reached over 18 stone and was a size 22, but in reality I was probably larger than that as I had stopped weighing myself after I was 6 months pregnant! I knew that without the group I would end up back there again and the thought terrified me! Even writing that down now makes me well up, as it reminds me of just how unhappy and low I had felt when I was overweight. I never wanted to be an invisible person that was laughed or sniggered at – or simply ignored, ever again!
To find myself finally admitting the truth about my weight and the struggles I had gone through for the first time was such a relief. No one recoiled in horror or disgust (as I had always imagined they would), they actually congratulated me on having managed to get as far as I had on my weight loss journey?! I had never looked at it like that before, and suddenly I changed from feeling a failure, to feeling like someone with immense strength, control and will power.
The reassurance and support from the group made me realise that I would never allow myself to go back to that dark place in my life again, and I vowed that no matter how busy my life may get, I must always keep time for my Slimming World group meetings.
I got married in the July of 2010 whilst I was 19wks pregnant – and until I actually announced it at the wedding, no one could even tell I was pregnant! It was all thanks to discovering Slimming World!
The hotel venue even asked if we would be the hotels promotional wedding couple, which led to us being interviewed, photographed and filmed?! Our wedding, photographs and interviews now feature in their wedding brochures, and we are the stars of their wedding promotional DVD for thousands of couples to see …not so sure they would have asked me 2 years earlier though?!
Within 6 weeks of my 2nd son being born I was back in group, greeted with hugs, smiles and laughter – it was like going back to meet up with old family. Some of the group were unrecognisable with their huge weight losses and new found confidence. It didn’t take me long to get back into shape after my second pregnancy (once back on the slimming plan) and it never felt like hard work either; although self determination and will power definitely played a strong part!
We are now in 2012 and I am proud to be a Slimming World target member! I treasure my pin badge and hold it with pride.
It is now my turn to start paying it back and helping other new members find their way and discover a whole new healthy, slim life for themselves. Slimming World works! That is why I am so passionate about it, and want to shout about it to the whole world. It transforms lives by helping people form new routines and make very simple changes within their existing lives.
People often ask me to sum up with what is the key to successful Slimming and maintaining target? My answer is always the same: Slimming World, Commitment, Planning, Organisation and Keeping a Food Diary of everything I eat! This ensures I stay focused, on track, in control and always motivated; and that is why I fully promote The Food Record Diary – It certainly worked for me!
Slimming world has completely transformed my life and I will always be eternally grateful!
By Hayley Maxwell-Keys
