Super slimmer
Angie Wolfe had been overweight her whole life. She tells us how she dropped 3st and started feeling fab…
I’ve always been overweight and the reason is simple. love food. Always have and, I suspect, always will. I go to bed dreaming about food and wake up craving it – and I never understand my two younger sisters who say they regularly forget to eat. From my primary school days, my mum was concerned about my weight. I loved school dinners, and would eat every scrap I could get. By the time I was nine, I was borrowing my mum’s size 12 clothes and coming home for lunch so she could keep an eye on what I was eating.
But I wasn’t bothered by my weight. Yes, I knew I was bigger than the other girls in my class, but it really didn’t upset me. Or at least I thought it didn’t. I made sure that, although I wasn’t confident inside, I put on a show of being outgoing, and had a good group of friends. Being big was just who I was. I made sure I dressed for my curves but, apart from that, I didn’t give it too much thought. By the time I left school, I was 5ft 4in and a size 16, but I was about to get bigger. Because, at 21, I fell pregnant with my daughter, Sophie, now 27 and even after I had her, I never quite lost my baby weight. That didn’t mean I didn’t try. I did. Every diet under the sun. Weight-loss groups, meal replacements, the cabbage-soup diet, the egg diet… I did them all. Some were more successful than others, but they all had one thing in common – whenever I stopped them, I piled all of the weight back on… and more. I was always a ‘Monday dieter’. If I was feeling fat during the week, I’d say, “I’ll start on Monday.” Then I’d eat anything and everything I could get my hands on over the weekend, so I weighed in extra-heavy at the start of the week and would be set for a big weight loss.
But it never quite happened like that because, generally, by the Tuesday, I’d have fallen off the wagon and have already reverted back to my old bad food habits.
It carried on this way for years. I had another daughter, Izzy, in 2000, after which I had postnatal depression. By trying to comfort-eat my way through it, I got all the way up to a size 26 and 17st.
Thankfully, when I came off antidepressants, I started the Rosemary Conley diet and lost weight. By the time I met my now-husband, Richard, in 2007, I’d managed to get back down to a size 16.
I was so happy with Richard, I didn’t focus on my weight for years. But it was sharply brought back to my attention
at a general check-up at my doctor’s in October 2015. A blood test showed my cholesterol was high. ‘ We’ll need to put you on statins to reduce it,’ the doctor said.
But I didn’t want to. I worked in the healthcare industry, and knew it was best to lower these things without tablets if you can. ‘Can I try to lower it myself ?’ I asked.
So when he agreed, I knew I had to give it my all. At home, I joined Rosemary Conley online and cringed when I weighed in at 11st 9lb. I’d lost weight with her before, and figured I could do it again.
Rosemary Conley promotes healthy eating, reducing your fat intake, watching portion sizes and exercising. No fad diet, it was more sustainable than most I’d been on.
So I religiously filled in my online diet sheet of what I’d eaten, kept within my calorie allowance, and cooked fresh meals every night. By Christmas, I’d lost a stone.
But this time, I was determined not to stop there. So I got an activity tracker and became determined to walk 10,000 steps a day. I spent most of my day at a desk so, as soon as I got back to our home in Coalville, Leicestershire, I’d take the dog out until I’d reached my target.
And in January 2016, Rosemary Conley started her 3-2-1 programme. In the first week, you have three ‘ light’ days, where you only eat 800 calories. The remaining four would be eating healthily. The next week, you’d have two ‘ light’ days and five regular ones.
It worked really well for me – 800 calories was enough to fill me up and, on the other days, I just made sure I cooked a healthy meal from one of Rosemary’s cookbooks.
It really worked. By August 2016, I was down to 8st 6lb and a size 8 – the lowest weight I’d been since I was in primary school! I can’t believe how different I feel now – not just about my weight, but about everything.
And there’s no way I’ll slip back into my old habits. Even though I don’t want to lose any more, I use Rosemary’s portion pots to measure out my pasta, rice and cereal, and Richard and I get a new cookbook of hers every month and try out new recipes.
Now, at 48, I allow myself treats every now and then, but that’s the important thing – I keep it to every now and then. Not every day, and certainly not with every meal. It’s a new way of life, and I love it.