How I learned a healthy body is just PRICELESS
THREE INSPIRING WW SUCCESS STORIES...
Julie Redmond, a 45-yearold computer programmer at a printing firm, lost 4st 71b, dropping from 14st 7st to 10st. Julie, who is married to Jimmy, lives near edinburgh.
JULIE SAYS: We were on holiday in Turkey in June 2016 when one of our friends took a group photo in front of a stunning view of the bay — I was absolutely horrified at how big I was.
I thought: ‘If that’s what I look like in nice clothes with my make-up on, what on earth do I look like on the beach in my cozzie?’ I was a size 18-20 and I’m only 5ft 4in tall.
The minute we got home I signed up with Weight Watchers, as WW was then called.
I’d lost weight in the past but after reaching my goal weight stopped going to be weighed.
At first I didn’t notice a few pounds creeping back and then I stopped seeing what I really looked like in the mirror. But after that awful photo, I knew I couldn’t hide any longer. I lost six pounds in the first week and started going to the gym — and never looked back.
This time I took it seriously. My main problem was portion control — if I made pasta I would have an enormous mound.
And I loved snacking . . . chocolates, biscuits, sweets, you name it.
So I carefully planned my weekly meals, making a batch of food on a Sunday night and taking lunch into work — a salad in summer or vegetable soup in winter.
I never missed WW Workshops and bought only the food that I needed for that week’s recipes, so there were no snacks around to tempt me.
Losing weight encouraged me to take up exercise. I started running and was soon up to five miles a time, four days a week.
I didn’t always want to go out but I found that if I’d had a hard day at work it cleared my head. It felt good to be outside in the fresh air. Within a year I was down to 10st — and a size 8!
This was the slimmest and the fittest I had ever been and I felt so good. My body was changing shape, too — thanks to all the running.
It was wonderful when the sales came — there are so many lovely bargains in size 8 that I’d never even noticed before when I was rummaging around looking for clothes in size 18-20.
I even wore a bikini for the first time ever on holiday in Spain with Jimmy in October 2017.
But then, in May 2018, my life changed.
Jimmy and I had been to Blackpool for the weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary but when we got home I started to feel ill. At first I was tired, then I developed a sore throat. The next day I was shivery with cold hands and feet.
By Wednesday I couldn’t get out of bed and phoned the NHS helpline: the concerned operator sent an ambulance. In hospital I was diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia — a potentially fatal complication of meningitis. I ended up losing the tips of two toes on my left foot and I spent 16 days in hospital. I was off work for six months. I’m still coming to terms with how close I came to dying.
But I believe that being so aware of health and fitness — thanks to WW — made me realise when something serious was wrong, and helped save my life.
Now I’m back to weekly WW Workshops and running again — but I’m taking it gently.
My weight crept back up to 11st and I’m losing it again, more slowly this time. But my attitude has changed. For me, WW is a health plan for life.
I am massively proud of the weight loss that I’ve achieved — but it’s also given me a healthy body and that is literally priceless.