Breaking Sugar Addiction & Losing Weight in Menopause: Julia’s Slimpod Transformation

So I've got Julia, uh, with me today, and Julia hasn't had the average kind of quick fix journey or, um, rapid weight loss very quickly, uh, and, or it's, it's actually been very slow. But, uh, she posted in the group recently and I just wanted to share the— some— a little tiny piece of the post, but also I invited Julia on to tell her story because it's, it's incredibly, um, realistic. Uh, it is very leveling, but it's just, uh, it's just incredibly educational, um, because of what you've been through with health issues and yet you still were patient and, uh, you lost weight. So I, I just think it— your story, Julia, will just help everybody that, um, that is watching this that's actually struggling a little bit with their, their weight loss. And so just to start with what you say, please— the post was, um, fabulous. And, um, and it just— the final paragraph was, I wanted to share this because eating habits, especially those tied to emotions, hormones, hormones and long-term health conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, and surgical menopause built up over many years, and sometimes it takes time to gently reverse them. Please don't be disheartened if your journey feels slow. It's still happening. Small steps forward are real progress. So there you are, Julia, I've set the scene.

Thank you.

And, uh, and I just wanted you now to explain a little bit about the background and then, you know, the whole insulin resistance stuff and, uh, and how you've kind of got to where you are now, because you've lost well over a stone now.

Yeah, that's right, stone and 5 pounds to date. So I've hit where I want to be, so that's amazing.

Fantastic. So, um, yeah, do tell, uh, tell us how that journey kind of unfolded.

Okay, so my, um, journey with Limpad started in 2023 at the end, um, in December, and I was struggling with menopause predominantly. Um, as she said, I've come from a place of long-term chronic illness, um, which was a bit difficult. So I've lived with endometriosis since I was a teenager. I got diagnosed late in my 20s, and like so many women who— I'm sure there's many within the SlimPod who will also relate to this— there's 1 in 10 women in the UK have endometriosis, and it takes a very long time to be diagnosed, and many of us don't even get diagnosed. And yeah, that was very difficult. So for a long time, my life was quite sedentary because of pain and all the things we know. And then a few years after that, also discovered I had PCOS, which is polycystic ovary syndrome, which is a bit of a misleading name for a condition because obviously the name is focused on the ovaries, but actually it's a disease of the pituitary gland. And the pituitary gland is very responsible for a lot of our hormones, including insulin. You find a lot of PCOS Patients tend to be insulin resistant like myself. I was very lucky. I was diagnosed with it and I still see an endocrinologist that keeps me on the straight and narrow now. But the biggest revelation here was my insulin is broken. And you discussed this on the 12-Week Pod Program and it was like, oh my goodness, this is brilliant because I actually thought I was the only person in the world with this. Clearly, this is a thing. It's a thing. Like, you know, like Sandra knows this and she's well educated in it, but sadly lots of people aren't. And the bearing it has on your weight and sugar addiction is chronic, or it certainly was in my case. So I have always been a sugar monster. Sugar is my downfall, it is my Achilles heel. I would love it beyond anything else. It was there when I was sad, it was there when I was happy. It was there in the in-between days. But for me, sugar, as we've all learned in recent years because we all have become more educated about the problems of refined sugar, um, is the more sugar you eat, particularly with insulin resistance, the more you want. And the damage it is causing is horrendous. So my symptoms started to manifest in urinary tract infections, um, and general fatigue, huge crashes wherein I would literally shake, excuse me, by 3 o'clock in the afternoon, desperate for my next fix. And I eventually found out what it was and I ended up going on metformin to help control that, which I'm now, thanks to SlimPod, actually reducing. So my amount of metformin I'm taking is halved. So that's amazing. But I will be really honest, I was very lost by the time I came to SlimPod because I, through all of that journey, it resulted in surgical menopause for me, total hysterectomy. I was 38 years old when I had that, and that was quite a lot to deal with emotionally. And I just found that my comfort eating for sugar then got worse. Because I was trying to find out who I now was. I'm balancing no estrogen, no progesterone, no testosterone. And when you have a hysterectomy, they say to you, right, you are going to— you do understand that you are going to go straight into the menopause. And like, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, this is that. But you actually don't really have any bearing of how great that is and what it's going to do to your body. And if you are lucky enough not to have surgical menopause, surgical menopause-induced, it's still really hard because perimenopause, all the oestrogen's going down, down, down. That has a big effect as well on your eating behaviour, your eating patterns. You feel more sluggish, you don't want to exercise. So I woke up one day and bam, here we are, we're in it. And it took them probably a year to balance my hormones successfully. So during that time, I was eating all the wrong stuff. I was tired. I didn't want to exercise. I've always been actually quite slim, but I put on a stone and a half within a year just because I was craving all the wrong stuff and I didn't want to move. And then I found SlimPod actually on a Facebook thing popped up and I was like, oh, this is interesting. It's been NHS backed. This is like, this is clearly very different from all the usual stuff that you, we've seen. Um, and I thought, I'm going to give this a go, I'm going to give this a go. It was, you know, really reasonably priced, and I just thought, this is perfect, this is perfect, I can do this. So I started listening to the pods, and probably like a lot of ladies, I was thinking, ah, this is going to be a quick, quick fix, like, like by osmosis, this is all going to go through my head, and in 12 weeks' time, I'm going to be back to like just under 10 stone. Yeah, brilliant, fabulous. So that was me. And I did all the pods, listened to them all religiously, headband on at night, listening as well. And initially, I'm honestly going to say to you, I got to the end of it and things were just beginning to click, but just beginning to click. My subconscious has been like a naughty child. And that's how I can now relate to this, because my naughty child was like, well, that's lovely that you've just listened to that, but hang on, we've got a great relationship, sugar. You, me, fun times. Like, we're great. Um, so I'd have this devil that I was like, no, no, no, no. So I couldn't silence this devil. But things started to change very gradually. So I'd eat the sugary treat and then be like, didn't actually get the buzz off that like I normally did. So that was my first indication that there was something happening. But the scales were not really reflecting a lot. I lost probably 3 or 4 pounds. And yeah, there was a part of me that was like, oh, but then I was like, come on, Julia, you've got to really think about this. Like, your body's been through so much in the last 2, 3 years, you've got a web of eating habits that have followed you from childhood. You know, I was the sort of girl that would wake up and go downstairs in the '80s and have like a glass of lemonade and 3 custard creams for breakfast. So, you know, it's a long love affair. It's going to take a long time, like a toxic boyfriend, to get rid of that. That's how I see it, you know. So I ended up, um, I kept listening and kept listening and And gradually, after about 6 months, I'd say, I really noticed a difference. Like, I was like, "Oh no, I don't really want the carbs as much." Like, "I don't want the cake." Just small things. I'm not saying I wouldn't have the cake, but I certainly wouldn't get the buzz from it, and I wouldn't require sugar every day like I used to. But then the devil came back again 6 months later and said, "All right then, well, Okay, I accept the fact I'm gonna have to let the sugar go, but why do you need to move? Why do you want to— why do you want to exercise? Like, you don't need to do that. Like, you know, you're happy sedentary, your muscles don't hurt as much. And this was this weird psychological thing that was going on in my head. Um, and I didn't want to move because I think I'd also got myself in a position where I was scared to exercise because since menopause my joints have hurt more. But also I couldn't exercise much when my endo was bad, so I got myself into this loop of No, I'm not exercising. And then I started to listen to the FitPod of an evening, you know, about moving. And I specifically changed my tactic. And this is where, for me, the big weight loss started to happen. So we're 6 months in, but it's been slow, slow, steady progress. But as soon as I started to listen every single night with that pod first about the exercise and moving, Within 3 weeks, something went ding, and I was like, I'm going to start walking. I'm going to start with half an hour a day. I'm going to put my trainers on. I'm just going to walk around my village, flat path. And I was really proud of myself. I got a massive endorphin rush the first day I did it. And I was equally a bit terrified at how exhausted I was. And I'm quite a fit person because I do a lot of gardening. But I was like, oh my goodness, like what? I've just done a half an hour walk. This is ridiculous. But over a month, I built it up to an hour, and I now never, ever, ever miss my day's walk. It's, it's my sanctuary. The headphones are on, I listen to audiobooks, and very quickly, within that hour, I was walking further and further, tacking on loops to keep up the hour. I was like, okay, well, we've done that, we're now gonna have to walk further. And I literally, um, started— the pounds just started to come down. But the real key thing was, is what it also did to my sugar addiction. It literally, after a month with the exercise, went down to 10%. I just did not need the sugary fix. My appetite finally was lower, and it was like the whole jigsaw, this slow jigsaw that I've been putting together, came together and And that is basically it.

Yeah, honestly, um, the— as you were saying about the jigsaw coming together and that, that final bit with the, uh, with the exercise and the sugar, so things were just changing in your body.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, massively, massively. And it was really interesting, it was the carb side for me because I literally now naturally a Mediterranean-style diet, which is what I should eat because of my insulin anyway. But I naturally found myself going towards, like, the whole grains, going towards the salads, the fruits, where before I'd be like, mm, cheese, crackers, pickles, whatever, then followed by a very processed cake or something. So now That's just not my life, which is brilliant. But I do still enjoy a treat. And I remember on one of the, the pods I listened to of yours, and, you know, and there was all the chat about moderation and, you know, treats you should still really enjoy. And I thought, I'm never going to be that person. Like, how could I be that person? Like, I live for sugar and cakes. And you're completely right, because now I do feel that. And I'm going out on Sunday for a birthday celebration and We will have a lovely roast meal and I will have a pudding and I will thoroughly enjoy it. And then that'll be that. And then Monday I'll be back to my normal self and I don't obsess about the sugar anymore. That's the thing, you know, it's like that noise is no longer there ever. And if I want it, I'm like, right, let's just have it because then I can silence you again. And it's like a couple of sweets. Versus the whole pack. So that's been amazing. So thank you for that.

No, no, you're, you're so welcome. You know, the whole food noise thing, I mean, that's now become a thing because before it was a food obsession and people didn't really talk about it. But now I think it's the weight loss medications and the fact that, you know, that's all centered around silencing the food noise. But we've been doing it for 15 years. Yeah. Long before the jabs even happened.

Yeah, correct.

And so, um, tell me a little bit about that particular bit with your, you know, your battle with sugar, probably the, the, um, the, the little devil on the shoulder.

Yeah, the devil, the devil. And you know what, I think as well you have to be realistic about food noise and your relationship with food because, you know, it's a bit like— I relate sugar addiction to being an alcoholic. You have a very toxic relationship with it. You love it and you hate it at the same time. That was me with my sugar noise that was constantly there. And I mean constantly. I would wake up in the morning and I'd be instantly like, 'Just want a Mars bar.' And then I'd have lunch and then I'd crash at my desk and I'd be like, 'I want a biscuit.' I was constantly not thinking about food, thinking about my next fix. And that noise was so loud. It was horrendous. And I think when you've got a sugar addiction or insulin challenges, you have to be aware of relapse. And that's something that actually SlimPod taught me. It's okay to fall off the wagon. We all fall off the wagon because we're human, and if we spent our life dieting, it would be incredibly miserable. But I was incredibly hard on myself when the noise became loud and I did slip. Um, but what the pods have done for me is because I constantly listen to them every night, I go to sleep with them on, I wake up with my headband still on in the morning knowing that all of that has sunk in, and it's been brilliant. Um, it quietens the noise down, and actually I think the biggest thing I've had from this is learning to be kind to myself and patient because we are in a world of weight loss medication where it's quick, it's instant, it's gratification. Apparently the noise go. I've got friends on it, but my, my personal thing with this is when you stop taking the medication, what's going to happen, I'd imagine, is the noise just going to come blaring back at you. It does. For me, the wisdom part is I've learned to manage that side of it and also know when I'm slipping and just actually take my foot off the gas and say, this is okay, this is okay, you're on holiday. Let's not stress about this. It's 2 weeks, 2 weeks' time, you can be back on it. So the devil can have his moments, but he's muted. He's no longer shouting. He's no longer shouting. I've got him on semi-mute, which is great. It is.

It's just fabulous. And thank you so much, honestly, for coming and telling your story, because it's one of the biggest problems that we see is is kind of the whole patience thing and letting your body do its thing. And so just to wrap up really, on the patience front, how— we've had lots of people who have kind of, you know, it's taken a while for them to lose weight. How did that actually kind of reveal itself, that you, that you felt, right, you know, I've just got to trust my body.

Yeah, exactly. So obviously, you know, you do talk about that quite a lot, and it will subconsciously start to happen. And I was like, well, it doesn't seem to be happening, you know, why is it not happening to me in 12 weeks, or why is it not happening to me even in 20 weeks? I think the key thing I'd say to any person on this journey is let's actually take a look at this from, you know, not a fantasy point, not a quick win, because we all know that it's not for the quick wins. That's why we're all here. But it's taken me, you, whoever else, years of eating habits to build up, quite often from childhood. And so we've taken what, I don't know, in my case, 35 years of bad eating, it's not going to just stop overnight. It's like, so hang on, why, why am I doing this to myself? Like, it doesn't matter if it takes me 18 months, which, let's be honest, door-to-door it has been 15 months. But 15 months is a drop in the ocean from a lifetime of bad eating, purgatory, beating myself up. So all I'd say to everybody is, like I said in that post, be kind, because Little wins are exactly that, they are wins, and you are heading in the right direction. Slip, it doesn't matter, but keep going and you will get the results. And if it takes you 2 years, doesn't matter, you've done it. That's what I'd say.

Thank you, Julia, so much. It's, uh, it's just been wonderful talking to you.

Well, thank you, and thank you for giving me the tools to be able to actually be free of my sugar demons. So thank you.

You're, you're more than welcome. That's what I'm here for.

Thank you.