Here is a full weeks meal plan including snacks, drinks , treats and all your main meals covered.
Many of the recipes are already available on this site, for any that are not, I will add them over the coming days and weeks
❤ Clare with the Hair ❤
Here is a full weeks meal plan including snacks, drinks , treats and all your main meals covered.
Many of the recipes are already available on this site, for any that are not, I will add them over the coming days and weeks
❤ Clare with the Hair ❤
Love coming across these stories, it goes to show, that sticking with it, really will pay off.
Nicola Savory was shamed into losing weight after seeing a picture of herself where she reckoned she was a dead ringer for a bloated blueberry.
The 36-year-old weighted in at 21st 10lbs by scoffing on chocolate bars, sausage rolls and pasties.
Nicola said: “I loved chocolate bars up until I saw a picture of myself and was horrified,” she said.
“I looked like the swollen blueberry girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and that’s when I knew I had to lose weight.”
Nicola was so big that her self esteem and social life began to suffer.
“I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin, I even stopped going to family parties because I didn’t want people to see me,” she said.
“When I missed my Nan’s 80th birthday I felt dreadful, but I was sick of people saying I’d put on weight and that I looked like my mum who was a big woman.
“It was a vicious cycle – the more depressed I was about my weight the more food I ate.”
The mum-of-one from High Wycombe, Bucks, had tried a variety of diets in the past but to no avail so she decided to sign up to Slimming World.
In her first week Nicola lost seven pounds and seven days later had lost a stone.
From then – January 2012 – she continued to battle the bulge and got down to her 11 stone target weight.
After two years Nicola, who used to wear 5XL t-shirts, has dropped eight dress sizes going from a 28 to a 12.
“Now I feel so much happier in myself, I look great and nothing’s holding me back,” she said.
Nicola ditched processed food and now has an extensive selection of foods that she can cook as part of her weight loss range.
“The great thing is I can eat anything I just have to tweak recipes to make it leaner and cook it without fat.
“Before I’d use so much oil when cooking, I’d have sugars in my coffee it’s no wonder I put all the weight on.
“Now I prefer a healthier option and feel so great for it, it tastes delicious and is good for me.”
Her confidence has rocketed and she’s enjoying an active social life again.
“I feel like a completely different woman now my BMI is now 26 which is great and I have so much energy.
“Now I’m not afraid to go to any family parties I’m now showing off my new figure.
“I’ll never hide away from social occasions again, I feel good having my picture taken again now and we can start filling our family albums with pictures.”
Well done to Nicola, this is a super story and one that will help anyone struggling right now.
Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people
❤ Clare with the Hair ❤
Sometimes we struggle on our weight loss journeys, Sometimes the take-out calling is too loud to resist, Sometimes you forget how your felt before you started this journey and this is very common but I always look for other things to motivate me, be it a nice good for me home cooked meal, a dress I am dreaming of fitting into or this, a brilliant Slimming world story. We can achieve so much with will power and determination. I had to share this today and no matter where you are on your journey or weather you are struggling to keep on track, each of us can pull something from this story to help us!
Watching her 26st father Michael slip away after a massive heart attack, heavily pregnant Donna-Marie White felt bereft.
But her devastation was made worse when the doctor said that had he been slimmer, he may have lived.
Four weeks later, she gave birth, and studying her 18st 5lb post-baby body in the mirror, the truth hit the 25-year-old mum of two.
Unless she lost weight she too could be heading for an early grave.
Determined to throw out her size 22 clothes, 5ft 5in Donna-Marie immediately made a vow. She would shape up for her children’s sake.
Four years on and a svelte size 8 Donna-Marie, now 29, is hardly recognisable, having transformed her life by dropping a staggering 8st.
“Losing Dad was one of the worst moments of my life,” says Donna-Marie. “But after he died I realised it was a sink or swim situation.
“I could go on eating myself to death or I could do something about it.
“My children deserve to have their mum around so I signed up to Slimming World and finally lost the weight.”
Prior to achieving this feat Donna-Marie, from Caerphilly, Gwent, had always struggled with her size.
“I was a chubby child and when I was about 12, Dad was terribly burnt in a work accident and in a coma for months so I didn’t care about my weight,” she recalls.
“By the age of 16 I was up to a size 18. I was very shy and self-conscious and while other girls my age were experimenting with the latest fashions, I’d try and hide in baggy clothes.
“I had a bad habit of eating for the sake of it. I’d find myself looking in the fridge when I was bored.
“And rather than having fatty foods such as chips in moderation, I ate them regularly.
“Over the years I continued to put on weight, and although I tried to lose it by going on crash diets and taking slimming tablets, I never really got anywhere.”
At the age of 21, Donna-Marie got pregnant by her long-term partner Mark, now 31, a tyre fitter. Their daughter Casey-May was born in July 2005.
Eating for two took its toll and Donna-Marie struggled to lose the baby weight.
Tipping the scales at 17st she began to suffer pains in her side and back and discovered she had high blood pressure.
“During the pregnancy I’d eat anything I wanted whenever I wanted it.
“I thought I had free rein because I was pregnant. But afterwards I was more overweight than before.”
In 2007, aged 23, Donna-Marie was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, a cystic genetic disorder that enlarges the kidneys and can also seriously damage the liver and pancreas.
“Scans showed my kidneys and liver were full of cysts,” she explains.
“When I researched the disease, it was clear that being overweight was making it much worse, as there was too much pressure on my kidneys. My doctor warned me that being so big was putting my health in jeopardy.”
Although Donna-Marie had the best of intentions, two months after being diagnosed she discovered she was expecting again and all thoughts of dieting went out the window.
She was five months pregnant when she and Mark learned their baby had a rare form of PKD in the womb. The pair were devastated.
It was advised they should terminate the pregnancy but, praying for a miracle, the couple decided to give their baby a chance at life.
Their son Logan was born in September 2008 but his tiny kidneys couldn’t function properly and sadly he died the following day.
Overwhelmed with her grief, losing weight was the last thing on Donna-Marie’s mind.
“Instead I probably ate more. Eating gave me something to do to distract me from the pain I was feeling.”
But just three months after Logan’s death she fell pregnant for a third time.
The baby seemed to be in good health, but Donna-Marie’s world was rocked once more when in September 2009, her 62-year-old father Michael, a former steel worker, became critically ill. He was rushed to hospital when she was eight months pregnant.
“I got a call to say Dad had had a suspected heart attack and was unlikely to survive,” says Donna-Marie.
“When I rushed to the hospital the doctor told us the fact that Dad weighed 26st and had weight-related diabetes meant he was in no condition to fight. All we could do was watch as he slipped away from us.”
Bereft and heartbroken, Donna-Marie gave birth to a son Jack four weeks later.
Cradling her baby for the first time she made a vow – to lose weight properly and to change for good.
“I was a size 22 and weighed 18st 5lb,” she says. “The pains in my side and back were getting worse and I was getting terrible migraines.
“I knew that my condition could mean a kidney transplant but that was too risky while I was so huge.
“I had a mammoth task ahead of me but I thought about my children and how they needed their mother. When Jack was three months old I made a start.
“I felt angry with myself for burying my head in the sand for so long. I knew I had to take responsibility and take better care of myself.”
Donna-Marie found a Slimming World group in Caerphilly run by Kim Stockham and decided to follow its Food Optimising plan.
“It took a lot to walk in the door but everyone at the group was really friendly and Kim was so encouraging,” she says.
“It was amazing to have such a support team behind me and I felt really motivated to do well.”
Donna-Marie immediately began to make healthy choices for her meals, swapping chips and takeaways for more slimline options such as steak with a baked potato.
She also created family meals that stuck to the plan so that Mark and Casey-May also benefited. “Mark had never had a weight problem, but he’d never been a huge fan of vegetables before then.”
The motivated mum soon settled into a steady weight-loss routine, shifting around 2lb a week. By early 2011, she’d lost 4st and was delighted to be able to fit in size 16 jeans.
As her confidence grew, she joined a gym and began to workout two to three times a week.
When Jack was also diagnosed with a form of PKD at six months old the importance of providing a healthy diet for her family was never more apparent.
As the months passed, they kept up the healthy eating and exercise.
She went for long walks with Mark and the kids and discovered a passion for dance workout Zumba. “By the time I’d lost six stone I was really into it,” she says. “I even did a sponsored Zumbathon for three hours straight!”
In October last year she reached her target weight of 10st 5lb and could slip into size 8 jeans.
“I used to struggle to fasten size 22s!” says Donna-Marie. “I’ve changed so much. I used to hate going out but now I’m the first one to go for a walk or go swimming.
“Losing weight has given me such an energy for life. I’d always dreamt about working in childcare but was too shy to do anything about it. Now I’m training to be a foster carer.”
Donna-Marie has also taken an active role at the Caerphilly Slimming World meetings, encouraging aspiring slimmers – including her mum Hazel, 65 – to stay motivated.
Best of all, Donna-Marie’s headaches stopped and tests revealed her blood pressure had returned to normal.
“My doctors says I have given myself the best chance of leading a healthy life,” she says.
“We’re watching to see how Jack’s condition develops but I know a healthy diet is a great start.
“I realise now that I used to make excuses. I thought I was supposed to be fat and didn’t try to change.
“But the only thing holding me back was me.
“I’m very proud of everything I’ve achieved and I know if Dad was around, he’d be proud of me too.”
BREAKFAST: Four pieces of white toast with butter
SNACK: Crisps
LUNCH: A microwave meal lasagne or curry and rice
SNACKS: Chocolate or biscuits
DINNER: Pie and chips, a pasty and chips or a takeaway
SIZE BEFORE: 22
BREAKFAST: Mixed fruit and yoghurt
SNACKS: Scan Bran crispbread and one Laughing Cow Light cheese
LUNCH: Grilled fish with salad and couscous
SNACKS: Slimming World hi-fi cereal bar
DINNER: Chicken wrapped in bacon with all the fat cut off, served with vegetables and potatoes
Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people
❤ Clare with the Hair ❤
ClareWithTheHair.Com 