STAYING PUT!

Slimming stars bin plans to quit town after they shed over 4st between them

A COUPLE due to move back to their home city for retirement have thrown their plans out of the window after finding a community of friends at a weight loss group.

Trish Hopkinson thought the idea of ‘paying someone to weigh you’ was a ‘load of garbage’ before being guilt-tripped into joining Slimming World to support her husband.

Now 60-year-old Trish has gone from the organisation’s ‘worst critic to its biggest advocate’.

She and husband Mike Hopkinson, also aged 60, have been convinced to stay in Alsager because of the friends they made at the group.

Trish, who works in HR, said: “Mike wanted to join. I was very anti-joining. I didn’t see the point of it. Mike was telling my mum about it and she put me on a guilt trip saying I should be supporting him. We agreed to go.

“When I got there I said ‘I want to be up front, I won’t be here next week, I’ve just come for Mike’. I’ve gone from its worst critic to its biggest advocate and I’ll tell anybody who wants to listen to it. The camaraderie of the group is amazing. I don’t feel like I’m on a diet.”

The couple had put their house on the market with the idea to move back to their home city of Manchester.

Trish said: “We were going to go back to where we came from. The one thing that’s convinced us to stay is the Slimming World group and the friends that we’ve made.”

Trish and Mike, who works as a builder, both put on weight during lockdown.

She added: “We had always been quite slim. But it was that combination of lockdown, doing less, sitting home and drinking too much and getting a bit older – your metabolism slows down.”

The pair, from Oakhanger, have since lost more than four stone between them since joining in March last year. Trish said: “Our friends and family comment on how much better we look.

“I love the fact I can get my wedding dress on again. We’ve been married for 23 years!

“I said to the group I’ll be happy if I get to the size I was when I got married. With the health benefits, we both feel more active, we’re more inclined to do stuff.

“I don’t think I‘ve ever eaten so much food while losing weight. It’s brilliant. It’s not a diet where you deprive yourself. We still have our treats. We’ve just come back from a cruise and to have the ability to wear lovely clothes, it is amazing how different you feel, and being in a swimming costume, it’s the first time I felt comfortable in a long time.”