Weight loss: 2 stone ‘It’s lovely to be able to go to my wardrobe and know I fit back into my old clothes’
LYNDA Wycherley from Co Down will emerge from lockdown feeling healthier, happier and two stone lighter. The 64-year-old, who lives with her 11-month-old West Highland Terrier pup Toby in Carryduff, has discovered a new joy in cooking healthy meals and walking for hours every day.
Before the pandemic she was working long hours running her business, The Electrolysis Centre on Belfast’s Bloomfield Avenue.
This led to eating handy ready meals and falling into bed so exhausted and stressed that she struggled to sleep.
Now after 13 weeks of being at home she is sleeping soundly for eight hours a night, cooking delicious meals from scratch and walking for up to two hours every day.
“I stopped work on March 18 and I decided early on that I wanted to spend the time in a positive way,” she says.
“I have been attending the ‘Weightliz’ class in Belfast with Liz Miller and when she announced she was putting her classes online during lockdown I decided if I didn’t join I would be even heavier than I was at the end of it.
“I am a comfort eater and I could never really follow Liz’s programme properly before because I was so busy with my business and working so many late nights.
“I never had the time to eat properly and would have bought meals already prepared and heated them when I got home from work.
“With the online class we have been weighing ourselves at home each week and sending the picture to Liz.
“I was shocked when I stood on the scales the first week and I realised I had two choices: I could take control or let myself get even heavier.”
Lynda has enjoyed the weekly Weightliz online classes where members encourage each other and swap recipes. She started a food diary, noting down her favourite recipes and counting how many calories she was eating.
“I have really enjoyed experimenting with recipes and cooking only things I like,” she says.
“I have started to cook in batches and freeze meals so that I don’t have to cook every day and I hope to continue to do that when I am back at work.”
Exercise is also a new part of Lynda’s daily routine and she now enjoys a long hour-and-ahalf walk with Toby every morning and a second walk in the afternoon.
Thirteen weeks on and she says she feels healthier both physically and mentally and has dropped a dress size after losing two stone in weight.
“I only now need to lose halfa-stone to meet my target and it’s wonderful,” she says.
“From a health point of view I have more energy and I am sleeping much better but it is not just physical, I also feel more confident and happier in myself because I have lost so much weight.
“It is lovely to go to my wardrobe and know that I fit back into my old clothes rather than just wear the few things that fitted me.”
Lynda has no doubt that without lockdown she wouldn’t have had the time or found the energy to make such positive life changes. “Lockdown has been good for me,” she adds. “Being able to join the online class with Liz every week was fantastic and really kept me motivated and it was also great to be able to interact with others.
“I will definitely be hoping to continue to eat healthily and exercise when my business reopens.”
❝ I have more energy, I am sleeping better ... I feel more confident