NUTRITION TESTIMONIALS
GAYNOR
"I was no different to those families I watch on TV. Programs about obesity. That was my lightbulb moment."
"My name is Gaynor. I’m 54 years of age. I have been working with Leanne for the past 14 months addressing my weight issue.
When I started, I was 21 stone. I could barely breathe going up the stairs and hardly walked anywhere. My diet was absolute shite.
I had tried Slimming World ,Weight Watchers, and just about every fad diet, there is in the world. I saw the advertisement which read 'This is not a diet'. This caught my attention, because up until then everything that stopped me eating what I wanted was a diet.
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After three months, I had lost nothing. Not down to Leanne. She was doing over and above what anyone else would do. I was lying to her and myself. I wasn’t tracking everything. "Who was I kidding?"
Last year, she posted something on the Internet, which literally reduced me to tears. I literally cried my heart out. It read something along the lines of “If you’re trying to lose weight but feeding your kids crap, you’re basically creating the next customers."
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I love my husband and my kids and my heart hurt. This statement had really done damage to me. My kids were unfortunately fat and so was my husband. He is an adult so can take the blame for his weight but for my children who are often mistaken for my grandchildren, well, they are my responsibility. I had indeed been well on the way to creating more customers in the future for dieting groups and medical emergencies for the NHS.
This picture was taken while we were at a balloon festival with my daughter and her little friend. It makes me sick. I was no different to those families I watch on TV. Programs about obesity. That was my lightbulb moment. Looking at the state of my family. all my doing. I did the shopping; I did the cooking or should I say most of the time ordering out.
Things had to change, and it was bloody well hard. I had created two kids who craved a diet of McDonald’s and chicken nuggets along with an unhealthy dose of fizzy pop. I am ashamed to say that fruit and vegetables were never on the menu because we just simply didn’t like them.
Fast forward to today after months of screaming kids (who got to the point of almost starving themselves) but I stuck to my guns.
I only work part time, so I used my remaining time to make healthy meals. My chicken nuggets were now home-made. Any chips we ate were home-made. Takeaways stopped and I spent hours learning to cook with Leanne, following recipes she gave me. I trusted her and her “not a diet programme” because it really isn’t a diet.
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I don’t go without anything; Leanne has helped find replacements for everything we used to eat that was unhealthy. I make my own fakeaways and the kids have their sweet treats, but now in moderation. I have had to learn how to hide vegetables in food and make them fun to eat. We have lost a combined weight of 13 1/2 stone between our family of four.
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I didn’t want my kids being the fat kids anymore. I love them dearly, but ultimately, I was ashamed of all of us and how we looked. Whose responsibility was it to change all that? Mine!
What have I learnt? I have learnt that you’re not cheating anyone but yourself. You can’t half follow anything expecting to lose weight. My kids were turning into mini versions of me.
Yes, it was hard having my kids screaming at me but then it took me a little while to realise who the adult was. I put my foot down, gave them good food, but at the end of the day I had to be that adult. We still have a long way to go but I’m bloody determined. Nothing will stop me now. I’ve gone from having daily calls with Leanne to once a fortnight.
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Everything I had done to my kids, mistaking it for kindness was nothing but child cruelty. I was making them ill. My weekends have changed, we get out walking as a family. My daughter swims a lot and now plays netball. My son is still glued pretty much to his PlayStation, but I’ve started turning it off for an hour every evening and reward him with it when we get back from a walk.
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This has made me very emotional writing this. If I had to describe myself back then last year, it was just nothing other than me, being a lazy fat bitch with no go. My house was messy, I was a mess and so were my kids. Not anymore. When we do have the next family photo caught on camera, I will send it to Leanne. We don’t like cameras in our house or mirrors, but I’m glad someone caught this one on camera."
KYLE
"My name is Kyle. I’m a street cleansing operative. Bin man to the general population. Unfortunately, I’m not the one in the team that does the walking. I’ve been sitting behind the wheel for the last 12 years piling on the pounds.
I’ve lost two of my mates over the last five years to heart attacks, and it was the shakeup I needed to sort myself out.
I had been going to the gym for a few months. Nothing was happening. My wife told me about her nutrition plan and started giving me some (what I thought) was garbage lecture about me needing to walk more and not lift weights. Also, I needed to address my habits because I was living on Greggs stopping by the newsagents, getting chocolate and crisps with cans of pop and basically anything from the freezer when I got home with more than your average share of takeaways.
I set up a call online with Leanne, and she explained about food groups, tracking what you eat, and indeed she did tell me to stop lifting weights for the time being and get myself moving. Being a hefty lumper of a man, I took it on board and it made sense, but didn’t follow it straight away and fell off the wagon after two days. The weight carried on piling on, but now I was also carrying the weight of guilt. Looking at my kids, wondering what the future would look like with a fat father basically who couldn’t run after them on the football field.
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I came back to Leanne and started to take things seriously. I started tracking everything I put in my mouth, absolutely everything. I didn’t realise how much I had been eating and I didn’t know what was in my food. I was probably eating enough food and crap to feed four people in a day, especially with the booze on top.​
I swapped around with one of my teammates so that I could do some of the walking and lifting to help me get in some steps. I was absolutely knackered after just two hours into my shift initially. Leanne had explained how me walking at my size was also a way of weight bearing in itself.​
My wife helped with the food prep and I stopped going to the shops and takeaways. I still have my nice things every day, but now I’m eating properly and it’s taken me a long time to get where I am. I’m doing well above my 10,000 steps, which I recommended every day now eight months in, I am able to walk for most of my shift.
I have lost 5 1/2 stone and feel like a new man and now I’m ready to actually start going to the gym where I can build my muscle and strength. I was a real sceptic at first, but that’s just because I was lazy. Eating properly has given me so much energy and a new zest for life. I still love my food, but now I’m in enjoying it even more. I still love a pint or two. However, I will choose a lighter beer instead of 10 pints of cider and have my limit. This pleases my wife too which is a win-win. Happy wife, happy life.​
What have I learnt? You are what you eat literally. Going the gym lifting weights is not going to get rid of all your fat. I needed to move my fat arse. More importantly, if you want something bad enough, you have to put the work in and make it happen. You’re not going to lose all your excess weight sitting on your arse."