70-Year-Old Mary Beats Chronic Fatigue & Loses Weight Naturally | Inspiring Slimpod Success Story

Hi, well, hello everybody. I've got Mary here today who has, has the most amazing story, and it's amazing because Mary is, is a mature, more mature lady, shall we say, and she's also had a debilitating illness. And so I just wanted to bring Mary on video because I want to prove to people that age is not something that actually stops you losing weight. And ME, which is what Mary has had, is also something that, that can be overcome. And Mary is a shining example of of what can be done. So I'm not going to speak anymore. I'm going to hand you over to Mary because she's going to tell you all about really her background, and she's a wonderful, sprightly 70-year-old, and she's lost weight, and even with ME. So over to you, Mary. Thank you so much and welcome. Okay, thank you.

Hello, it's very nice to be here. I have to admit it's the first time I've done anything like this, so hopefully it'll be okay. Basically, my story is that I've actually had ME 4 times in my life, probably only properly diagnosed the last time, but the last time was the worst attack because unfortunately it lasted for 9 years, brought on by stress, mostly through, through a job that was turned out to be a job from hell, and it kind of wiped me out for those 9 years. During those 9 years, I tried various different things, as you do. I did lots of research, tried different supplements, different approaches, and everything would help a little bit, but then I would plateau and I would be stuck, and I would have to try something else again. And it went on like that for all that period of time. What eventually fixed me was discovering that I knew that I have a few allergies, and so my mother very kindly, for a birthday present, bought me a blood test to find out if I was having intolerances and other things, and I discovered quite a lot. So gradually over the next year, we managed to eliminate all those intolerances, and I turned the whole thing around and basically have never looked back. The one other downside was that because of the ME, I was nothing like as active as I had been in the past, and comfort eating was quite, quite nice. And my husband, we worked together in a band with him as one of the musicians, and I was a dance caller teaching Scottish ceilidh dancing, but I had withdrawn from this because it was just all too tiring, couldn't cope. And so all of that just added to the fact that the weight went on. For me, it wasn't excessive, but it's also something that happens in my mother's family. They all put weight on in middle age, and I take after that side of the family. Right. I'd also had a total hysterectomy when I was 36 and had 22 years on HRT. Wow. Which for some people would have been delightful because it gave me boobs. I didn't want them because I'd never had them before and I really didn't want to have them at all. So I went from being a pretty much standard 12 into a 14, into the lower half stayed a 14, the upper half stayed 16, and I just hated it. I lost— I didn't have the energy. I still tried to go dancing but I was doing what I call sort of old lady shuffle instead of actually dancing. I didn't seem to lift my feet off the floor and I just it just wasn't the satisfying and enjoying enjoyment thing that I'd always had. And I realized that I had gone up from approximately 10 stone, just under 10 stone, to about 11, 2 or 3, which may not sound a lot, but for me it was horrendous.

Yeah.

So over the next year to 2 years, I tried all sorts of different things, and I did manage to bring my weight back down. And my aim was to get down to 10 stone and feel fit and healthy again. And I got there, and then it started to creep back up again. And at that point, I couldn't blame the ME, but I got a weakness for cakes and puddings and all those lovely things.

You and half the population, Mary.

Yeah, I know, but I'm famous for, "There's got to be a dessert if Mary's coming," as that sort of thing. So I just was casting around, and to be honest, I'm not sure how I came across Slimpod, probably somewhere on the internet. And I was very impressed with the whole idea, and I had actually used hypnosis in the past because during the ME struggle, people kept buying me different supplements to try, which was very kind of them, but I had a block and I couldn't swallow pills. Right. Most of them you had to swallow whole, and it was impossible. And I thought, people have spent money on me, and how can I, how can I deal with this? So I tried hypnosis through a very friendly local GP, who I only had 2 sessions with him, and after the first one, I swallowed my first ever pill.

Right.

And I thought, well, this obviously works. If you want it to work, it will work. So I figured that the Slimpo system would probably work on the same way and perhaps help me to get back into controlling just those urges for the cakes and the puddings and just generally.

Sure, sure. I mean, yeah, the Slimpod works in a different way to hypno because that's— it is— we nudge you towards seeing food differently, which is where the whole— there's a, there's very various elements which, you know, that work in the same way, but we've got a kind of a secret sauce that goes with it, as you probably feel it worked.

No, it definitely worked. It helped me. I took the trial program, and during that time I could feel that I was realizing when I didn't need to eat anymore, when I could get to the end of something. Probably, I think I was intentionally cutting my portion size, so I was probably still cleaning the plate, but I didn't feel bad if I didn't, and I amazed people that on several occasions I said no, because Mary never says no to dessert. But I've found a way through that. I didn't really try and— I didn't deny myself anything. If there was something I really wanted, I had it.

Yeah, sure, absolutely. And when did you actually— when did you start, Mary? What was the date? Was it January 2019?

February, I think. February. I can't remember the exact date, but it was February. Yeah.

Okay. And now we're in March, or just about March 2020.

Yeah. So really, in the 12-week program, I probably did all of my achieving, my serious achieving, during that time. And probably by the end of 12 weeks, I was more or less back where I wanted to be, round about 10, just over 10 stone.

Amazing.

Feeling very much better, much more in control, and I stayed on the programme after that, just, just to make sure, I suppose, belt and braces, just to make sure it was still working.

Absolutely.

And I have to admit that I was very lax in doing stuff, and I didn't really do much with work, and I did still stand on the scales, but I did like the measuring bit because I discovered particularly that I I was shrinking through measuring all the bits of me, and also the fact that I could now get into clothes that were a 14 in the top half and not a 16.

Fantastic.

It was a great improvement.

So during that—

I was very happy with that.

Yeah, during that first 12 weeks, how would you say your mindset changed? What would you say the differences were in your mindset? What were you doing during the day that, you know, that was different? How, when you said you were much more in control, What are examples of that?

I think basically just more in control at meal times. I don't tend to snack really, but if somebody invites me out for coffee or whatever, I want something to go with my coffee or my tea, and I found it was much easier to say no, I would just have the drink, I didn't need to have the other stuff.

Right.

My husband doesn't have a sweet tooth, anyway, so it was easier to say, well, no, I don't actually need to have a dessert, I don't need to have pudding after this. And just generally, there was an awareness of what I was doing and what I was trying to achieve, and a satisfaction that I could actually see it was working, and I was actually able to say, no, you don't need that, go away and do something else, and if you come back and you still want it, we'll have it. And that actually worked.

Fantastic. And you could hear your full signal quite loud? I mean, how was the plate thing? Because so many of us have grown up with this, you know, there are children starving in Africa and we got to finish our plates. And how did that work? Was it just that you felt really full? Give, you know, give some examples of what happened there.

I just tried to be more aware of it, and as I was eating, I tried to eat more slowly, and I tried to take smaller portions, smaller bites, so things would last longer. I interspersed it with glasses of bits of drinks of water as I went along, and just tried, just trying to feel it, just trying to be aware of, like, do you really need any more of this? And yeah, not trying to be controlling from my body, not my eyes.

Great, so basically you were engaging with it, you know, from a mental point of view, you were engaging with it as well.

Yeah, yeah, I figured that was what was necessary to, to get back on top of it all.

Yeah, perfect.

And to see it work.

And now, a year later, tell us where you're at.

Well, a year later, I have stayed on the programme from— inasmuch as not, not using the SlimPod tracks regularly, the way I did in the beginning, just occasionally, until I realized about a month ago that I hadn't actually listened to it for quite a wee while. Okay. And I got through most of the winter, including Christmas, which isn't a big deal in this house, but people eat, people make meals, and there's lots of goodies around. And I'd got through all of that, and I maintained my target, which, as I said, was right about the 10 stone mark. And I allow myself 2 or 3 pounds either way, and then I just really think, right, get a grip, you don't want this to go any higher. And so a year on, I'm more or less at the size I want to be, I've got pretty much the fitness levels, I go dancing probably 4 or 5 times a week, and I walk the dog, and I do all the other stuff that one does, and generally feel better for it, and just feel really pleased that I got here. Which is why I wrote to thank you, because your system is what got me here. Thank you. And I'm not sure that I would have got here without it. Thank you. Because it just showed up at the right time.

Great. Yeah, I mean, you know, thank you. I mean, we'd have never— you weren't part of our SlimPod community, the group, so I would never have known you existed if you hadn't emailed me. So thank you so much for doing that. And how is the ME now? Is that— did You know, how's that?

Well, basically I don't even think about it.

Right.

I've realized, having realized that the conditions that I had with it earlier were that, and I've done quite a lot of research into it, and I realized for myself that when you're younger and you get ME— I was in my teens the first time— when you're younger, you bounce back quicker. My stepdaughter also had it in her teens and she bounced back much more quickly. My husband had it in his 50s probably, and he took a couple years over it. But I think in my case it was because here I was yet again in that situation, and it probably just— the body had just had enough of everything. Now having it, well, it's the best part of— it must be coming up on 10 years really since it was, it was in full flow. I don't— on a day-to-day basis, I don't even think about it. It doesn't occur to me that it's there, but I do believe that it's an underlying thing that probably always is, right? Because it always seems to have been there.

Yeah.

And so there are warning signs. People with ME have such varying symptoms, they're different for just about everybody you talk to. And in my case, in addition to this total exhaustion I had an awful lot of pain. I had left-sided pain. I had left-sided headaches, left-sided body pain, left-sided leg and such like. The right side of me was nearly always fine, which was—

Wow, amazing.

Odd. It was very strange. But I know that if I really do overdo things, I start to get pain in my legs, right? And it's my left leg. I now have arthritis as well, which doesn't really help, but I can tell the difference in the pain. So if it starts to happen again, I just say, right, cool it, slow down, don't do anything for a while, calm down, relax. And so far so good. So far it's working. It's not—

Fantastic. Fantastic. Now, I've spoken to lots of people with, you know, with illnesses like this and fibromyalgia. And gosh, I said that.

You did. It just rolled off the tongue.

Oh my life, that's amazing, because normally I really struggle with that word. Emmy, Charlotte, you too. And I talk to a lot of people like that, and, you know, the sugar that they start consuming because of comfort eating seems to make it worse. Did you find that? Because sugar, sugary snacks, etc., can be so, you know, they just do affect the body in terrible ways. And so did you notice that because you weren't eating so much of that, that that had an impact, or was that just purely on the weight? I mean, did it have an effect on your mental health too?

I'm not sure really. I've never really thought about it that way. I think there is an element of a sugar rush, that you feel better because you've had that thing.

Yeah.

But I'm not hugely aware of it. It's just that when I did and do eat these things, there's the sensation, there's the taste, and the "Ooh, that is really good stuff," you know. And it seems to be a mixture of my eyes see it and think, "Oh, that would be really good," and that was the thing I found I needed to pay attention to.

Right.

But if it was out of sight or I hadn't thought about it and I was busy doing things, it was okay. But it's, as you say, it's the evening when you sit down in front of the TV, that kind of thing. But I still do that. I have 4 pieces, 4 small pieces of dark chocolate with the evening news. Right. But that's enough. I don't need any more.

Well, that's fabulous. And, you know, because I really believe in the 80/20, you know, rule as such, whereby— I don't suppose it's a rule, I hate the word rule, I'm really, really, really against rules— and but yeah, if you're eating 80% of the time healthily and you have your treats for 20% of the time, then you know, that's what living's all about. It's just, you know, It's just when it goes to the opposite side, when, you know, when you're eating unhealthily or eating snacks maybe 60, 70, 80% of the time and only having 20% of the time.

That's not good.

Exactly. And that's what happens with habits. They just creep up without you even knowing. And that sounds like, you know, a little bit about what happened with you.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Yeah. So fantastic. I'm going to end that there because I just, you know, I wanted to speak to you because, you know, you wrote me such a lovely email, and you're just— I really, really believe that if you can, you can. I know that there are people with illnesses and they're on medication that can stop, you know, or can mean that you go into fat storage mode rather than weight loss mode. And it just— you were just a shining example of if you can, you can, you know, if you believe you can, you can.

Well, it certainly has worked, and I really— I've told— I don't know if they followed it up, but I have told several people about Slimpod because I think it's a system that really works. And it's worth putting in the effort and giving it a shot if that's what you want to do.

Thank you so much, Mary, really, really appreciate your letter and the time that you've taken here on video, so thank you so much.

It's been fun, it's been nice to actually talk with you as opposed to just seeing you on the video, it's been very nice.

Thanks so much.

Okay, thank you.