It’s so good to be alive after shedding nine stone
From suffering with serious health problems including type 2 diabetes to running around with his dog and grandchildren, super-slimmer John Kemp believes Slimming World helped save his life. SHARON GREEN finds out more
“IWOULDN’T even be here if it wasn’t for Slimming World.”
It’s a bold statement but one Leicester super slimmer John Kemp firmly believes. Just a couple of years ago, the 63-year-old grandad was weighing in at more than 20st and taking 11 tablets a day for various serious illnesses including type 2 diabetes, angina and hardening of the arteries.
“I was just shutting down. I couldn’t do my job properly. When we went to the seaside, I couldn’t walk my dog on the beach, I’d get out of breath - I’d just sit in the car.”
But life couldn’t be more different for slimline John who shed a whopping nine stone in less than a year. He’s also been able to cut down drastically on his medication, taking nothing now for diabetes, and it’s all thanks to the day he went by chance to his local Slimming World group in New Parks, run by consultant Kerrie Allen.
Having been overweight since his 30s, John hadn’t particularly planned on doing anything about his weight, but had agreed to support his daughter Elizabeth and go along to the group because “I didn’t like to say no!”
He immediately felt at home in the friendly group and found it easy to follow Kerrie’s advice on Food Optimising - where members are given a list of Syn-Free food that can be eaten in unlimited amounts. This meant John has never gone hungry and has simply swapped bad food for healthier, but always tasty, options.
John is now brimming with a newfound energy, taking his little dog Molly on long walks and will be playing on the beach with his grandchildren next month - a far cry from the days when John, a lorry driver who works night shifts, would snack on Cornish pasties and sandwiches in the cab of his truck, scoff full English fryups at greasy spoon cafes, and accompany every meal with five rounds of white bread, thickly spread with butter.
“I’d eat anything cooked in the most unhealthy way - anything done in a deep fat fryer,” John explains. “Being on nights I’d get bored and snack on pasties and sandwiches. I just sat there and piled it on.”
Kerrie remembers the day back in