Valerie 71, from Newcastle County Down tells us about her journey with We Slim Together as an online member.
“Just before Christmas 2016 I was at a concert in Belfast and bumped into an old friend, who was looking amazing, she had lost two stone through We Slim Together.
I had been absolutely fed up with my weight, – and I was a ‘ generous’ size 22! Over the years I have lost weight with various programmes and although I have never got back to the size 28 that I once was, I have a constant battle with weight. My friend told me that you could do We Slim Together online, so in January 2017 I grasped the nettle and joined on line.
There wasn’t a group near to me , and anyway I am involved in many activities that would make it hard to get to a group each week, or rather it would be a good excuse not to go. I was having quite a bit of pain in my feet and my knees were protesting at carrying the weight. At my age , 71, health becomes more important as you realise that with age comes many aches and pains. So 4 months later I am 2 stone 4lbs lighter! I no longer fall asleep every time I sit down, in fact I don’t sit down so often as I have so much more energy. The pain in my feet has almost gone and I just feel so much healthier. I am also realising that I haven’t so many headaches as I think that I was probably dehydrated before and the 3 litres or thereabouts a day makes sure I am definitely not dehydrated. I have found the recipes really helpful, and as I am vegetarian , although I eat fish , I have adapted many of them by changing chicken to Quorn pieces or chickpeas. I am now a size eighteen and going down. Ideally I want to get to a comfortable size sixteen which probably means another stone and a half off. So I will keep going, but I know from experience that the real challenge is keeping it off! I have struggled to find a ‘before ‘ photo as I was very good at dodging the camera , so my before is on Mother’s Day over a year ago- before I peaked. So I am in for the long haul and hopefully this time I will get down and stay there this time .”
