A "light bulb" moment during lockdown helped Helen Rogers not only shed 8st but also send her diabetes into remission.
Tipping the scales at 20st 8lb, the 56-year-old realised it was down to her to make a change.
Helen first joined Slimming World in 2018 but says years working from home and easy access to snacks became her dieting downfall.
She said: “I worked from home for 25 years and sometimes I didn’t leave my house for days on end.
“Before joining Slimming World, I wouldn’t think about what I was eating at all. As I was always jumping on calls, I usually just grabbed quick food like toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch (with crisps) and then I’d have a cooked meal for tea.
“If I did ever have salad or chips, I’d have more bread with it too and although I didn’t ever eat fried food or takeaways or sweet foods or chocolate, I enjoyed many savoury snacks like crisps, nuts, crumpets and crackers.”
On signing up for the group Helen lost 2st, but after retiring from her job with BT, a busy social life slowed her progress.
“I was going out socialising and eating at restaurants all the time,” she said. “I used to think that was why I was so slow at losing the next stone.”
Then came the pandemic, and a dire need for a change.
“After a few not very good weeks at the start of lockdown, I had a ‘light bulb’ moment when I realised that it was now down to me,” she recalls. “I could no longer blame my social life.”
Helen says that ever since she has found it easy to plan her meals.
And Helen now weighs 12st 7lb, helped by both Swimming World and the fact she walks up to 14,000 steps a day.
Helen, of Castle Bromwich, West Mids, said: “I never feel hungry. I love the flexibility of the plan and I’m cooking everything fresh from scratch now.
"When I do eat out now I try and plan ahead to see what I can have and I also typically stick to just a main course rather than having a starter too.”
Speaking ahead of World Diabetes Day on Sunday, Helen adds: “Losing 8st has changed my life.
“I had blood tests this month and the results are already back. It looks like my latest diabetes blood results are ‘41’ which means my diabetes is now in remission.
“I’m super chuffed and I feel fantastic. I still take one tablet for my blood pressure and another for my cholesterol but I’m off all my diabetes medication and have dropped from taking nine tablets a day to just two.”
- For more information or to find your nearest group, visit slimmingworld.co.uk
Diet then
Breakfast: Toast with butter
Lunch: Ham, cheese or tuna sandwich (granary bread spread with butter) & crisps
Dinner: Cooked roast dinner with gravy or chicken & frozen chips, sliced bread and butter
Snacks: Anything really – crisps, salted nuts, crackers.
Diet now
Breakfast: Fruit, yoghurt or eggs
Lunch: Pitta or bagel thin with low fat sausages and salad
Dinner: Slimming World sweet chilli chicken with lots of vegetables, spinach and/or salad
Snacks: Corn cakes, low-fat crisps, fish sticks, boiled eggs, ham, fruit or a Babybel light.
