Frumpy and wedged in!
and sour was tempting, the thought of losing weight was actually quite exciting and I wasn’t going to fall off the bandwagon just yet.
Losing just over a pound in my first week, it wasn’t a massive loss, but it was a start.
As days turned into weeks, I started making better food choices and instead of skipping breakfast I’d have a fruit bowl with Greek-style, fat-free yoghurt.
Which in turn helped me to shed the pounds – losing half a stone in three weeks.
‘I’m going to send you that photo now,’ David insisted, knowing that I wasn’t at the point where I would crack if I saw it for the first time.
And staring at the photo, I filled the chair.
‘You look like you’re the one in a care home, Lisa,’ my friend said – and she was right.
If that wasn’t a motivation, I don’t know what was.
With each sticker that got to go in my Slimming World book, dropping under each stone bracket, it made everything real for me.
And by this point, I’d been able to move a lot better, too – I could walk for five minutes without feeling like I was going to collapse. ‘Would you like to come for a walk, Lisa?’ one of the Slimming World members asked.
‘OK,’ I agreed, immediately regretting my decision.
There was no way I would be able to walk a mile or more. ‘You’ll have to come and pick me up if I can’t manage,’ I told Steven. Only, going on a steady walk beside the local canal, it was glorious – something that I’d never really been able to do before.
And getting home, Max started eating better alongside me, too. Using Slimming World recipes, he would make a lovely chilli packed with veg.
Which meant that I had to keep readjusting my target as I kept losing weight – I was walking it off. Buying a pair of jeans, for the first time in forever, by 2020, I’d managed to lose half of my body weight – reaching a dress size 10. Totting in at a slinky
9st 8lb, I couldn’t believe it. ‘You look10 years younger – you look like a different person,’ friends and family would say. And that’s when I knew there was something I had to do... Sitting in Mum’s armchair, it wasn’t a struggle to get in and out anymore – I had plenty of room either side of me. I didn’t look like a care home resident, stuck in my chair – I had a new lease of life instead. Something I still have now. Becoming a diamond
I just kept losing weight
member at Slimming World, it’s incredible to think that I have lost 10st in total – I’m a new woman!
Even Max managed to lose 2st alongside me at first.
And walking is one of my favourite hobbies – who would have thought it?
So much so, in August 2023, a group of us completed a 16-mile walk for my friend’s charity, Equipped4learning.
We managed to raise £500 in total.
And I know we have big plans for what we can do next.
I wouldn’t have been able to do that before – and now it’s something that I really do enjoy.
With Max’s chilli still one of my favourite meals, I do allow myself to have a Chinese every now and then – Thursday is our treat night.
God almighty – how on earth did that fit me? I thought, holding up one of my old favourite pink tops.
Only, now, I’m able to wear outfits that make me happy.
After six years of hard work, moving my body and eating right, I really can say that I’m half the woman that I used to be.
After taking that first step, I really can walk the walk.