How Slimpod Changed Chris's Life at 70 Years | From Emotional Eating to Freedom

Chris, you're welcome, welcome, welcome. Um, it's just so lovely to have you here talking to me. Um, you're a 70-year-old woman, and, you know, I know that SlimPod has made a difference to so many aspects of your life. Um, but briefly, could you just explain a little bit about how— what life was like, um, pre-going on the Slimpod programme, you know, with all your health and emotional health. Give us a little background.

Well, I've always been an emotional eater, but I don't think we had a name for it, or I didn't have a name for it. And because I've always been sporty, I think, you know, the sport was keeping me going. And When I was 60 and I retired, I joined— I decided to run. Well, it was just an accident really, but anyway, I took a beginner's running course and that started me running. And of course the weight does drop off you when you first start running, because obviously it's a new exercise. So the weight came off me, I think at the same time I was at Slimming World, and I managed to lose weight and it was fantastic. I thought, this is great. And I carried on running over the years. And then, uh, when I was training for another half marathon, I got really painful heels and it was so bad that I had to stop running. And running had been my passion. And also it kept, kept me quite slim and it really panicked me. And, uh, this was 2019. And during that year, while I had these painful heels, which meant sometimes I couldn't even walk down the street, I had a very upsetting episode involving one of my grandchildren, and it absolutely shook me to the core. And I was a complete wreck, crying, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. It was a very stressful period. Everything's fine now and everything calmed down, but at the time it was really, really hard. And that really had quite an impact on my emotional health and my, my well-being. I felt very morose, very sad, very worried about the future because I thought, if I can't run and I can't exercise, I'm going to get bigger and bigger. And I did, I did put on weight during that period. Um, I put on about, I would say, about nearly a stone and a half, right, over 9 months. Yeah, I couldn't run.

But then something changed, didn't it?

Well, I didn't need teaching about healthy eating. I know about healthy eating. I didn't need teaching about exercise. I know about exercise. What I needed was something to stop me eating when I was stressed, bored, tired, you name it, anything. Um, and I knew as a mature woman, I shouldn't be doing all this. I was still eating pick and mix. Sweets from the— a great big bag of pick and mix sweets, and I would eat the whole bag. I'd had— I'd go out and have 2 glasses of wine, and then I'd have 3, and you know, before I knew it, I was straight to the shop. And if it wasn't there, it was a big bag of— a big block of chocolate. And okay, and then I would be going in the kitchen having a Magnum, having this, having that. I didn't even know why I was doing it, and I couldn't stop myself. One day when I was, you know, lying in bed, just put my iPad on. It was a Sunday morning, I'll never forget it. It was 12 weeks ago. I put my— SlimPod came up and I thought, what's that? I'd been on the Noon, I joined that Noon program that only lasted a few weeks. I thought, oh my God, I can't do with all these cartoons jumping up at me and this American language, you know. And I knew I would never go to the swimming club again. Because my habits were too extreme. I would dehydrate myself. I would have all that Scamfram that they use at SIT. I would go mad if I hadn't been to the toilet. I would be weighing my lightest running clothes on the kitchen scales before I went to the class. And if those scales were half a pound different than mine and they put me up, I would be devastated. And we're talking about, you know, this is a sensible, mature woman. I was in my 60s then, and I was still doing this behavior. It, you know, and it— I knew it wasn't right. Anyway, going back to SlimPod, and I read it and I thought, oh, this is what I need. It just really spoke to me that this is something that would address my emotional well-being and my emotional The emotional eating would come when my emotional well-being was sorted out. And I joined straight away that Sunday while I was lying in bed, pressed the button and went for the free 10-day trial. And straight away, once I started on it, well, within, I would say, a few days, I could see a difference. And within a couple of weeks, I was— I'll remember exactly, I was walking with my husband on the seafront and I thought, do you know what, I feel happy. And I feel happy. I haven't felt happy for a really long time. And I thought, I feel really happy. And he's noticed a real difference in me.

Wow, amazing.

I stopped wanting to go out with my husband for a meal because I thought, no, I can't trust myself. I don't want to go out for a meal. I said to him, I can't go because I can't trust myself. I say I'll have one glass of wine and I never ever stop at one glass of wine. And if I've had two, then I'll have three. And it didn't happen every day, but when I did go out, it was like I couldn't. And then that's when I would start on the, you know, like the binge eating of the sweets. And that's another thing that's changed because now I don't want it. Now I can have a go out and have a lovely glass of chilled white wine, and I sip it, and I have a glass of water, and it's just wonderful. Because I knew I didn't want to give up wine. Why would I want— you know, I love going out and having a nice glass of wine with a meal outside in the sun. I didn't want to just have a glass of water. I don't like soft drinks. So To me, you know, having been able to control that, and then there's no link. I'm not, I'm not going off. I have completely severed the link to sweets, completely. And I never thought I would, never.

Incredible. You know, uh, you know, it's just, uh, it's just fascinating because actually you, um, you had this emotional battle with food and that just seems to have gone now.

I wouldn't say it's completely gone. I think it's a work in progress. And what I've done with my habits, I started trying to change them all at once, and then you said on your video, no, don't change them all at once. So one of the habits I changed, which I think has been really successful, is the link between having a cup of coffee or a cup of tea with a biscuit. So I decided I would change that habit because in my head, as soon as I put the kettle on, I was in the biscuit tin. So that's gone now. In fact, threw the biscuits anyway the other week. I went out and put it in the recycling. I thought, oh, that's a win for me. And now I was thinking today, don't even think about having a biscuit. I've just had my cup of tea and, you know, I might occasionally— I mean, I still— I'm not I'm not perfect. I will have a two-finger KitKat if I feel like one, or I might have one finger. And but it doesn't feel like I need to beat myself up about that.

You said you're not perfect, but what is— I don't think that there is such a word as perfect. I think it's normal to, you know, be able to have a, have a couple of KitKat fingers and just say, right, that's it, I don't need any more. That is, that's the actual, that is the key, because the, um, it's about the self-control, isn't it, really?

Yeah, yeah. I haven't actually lost weight with, um, SlimPod as yet, but my body has changed. My, my fat is around my abdomen, which is the abdominal fat, because I said I'm not— you can see my face is very thin, so you can't go off my face because my hips are not, um But definitely, because I've got a pair of jeans that I'm trying on to see, and they are getting stucker, and I have got into a size smaller. So even though the scales don't read— they're about— I usually go up 2 pounds, down 2 pounds. They're about the same. My body's changing because I'm doing the consistent exercise from Lucy Windham-Reed for the Belly Fat Challenge. And that is— and now that has changed my thinking because everybody says you can't spot— you can't exercise and get rid of spot thing, but actually I think you can with her 7-minute Belly Fat Challenge.

That's great, fantastic. So what's the biggest thing, the single biggest thing that you've appreciated you know, over the last 12 weeks?

Oh, most definitely the support. I mean, the whole ethos of SlimPod is completely different than anything else I've known. The Facebook page is nothing but support, nothing but supportive encouragement, understanding. And I think the other thing I like is we're not all in the same boat of having masses of weight to lose. Of course, it's called SlimPod and you want to lose weight, but it's much more than that. It's based on individual, your individual journey, and I think that's made really clear that you are you and you'll be supported within that journey, however long it takes you. So some people might get quick results, some people won't, I had quick results emotionally, and I'm convinced because I've put it in my 90-day challenge now that I will have results from my abdominal tire that I've got around here because it's on there, and I will do it. So I think it's that. Obviously you've got Lynn and Kate and yourself who are supporting, and I think Having the meetings that you can go to every week, if you want to, is that added bonus. There's no, um, who's lost the most weight this week, let's give them all a clap. It's not that kind of support. It's much more individual, and I think it's absolutely brilliant. I've got 3 buddies that I met about 3 weeks ago, and that has been really, really helpful. I think we're all finding that we're supporting each other through our individual journeys.

Fantastic, fantastic. And so lastly, what message do you have for older people who have struggled with their weight, like, you know, like you have, and maybe are giving up believing that it's actually possible to be happy or to lose weight, or to, you know, like you were. What message do you have for them?

The message is, don't let anybody, and most of all yourself, tell you that you can't do it, because you can. And don't look at anybody else's journey. Just because I can run— I've always done, I've always been fit all my life. Some people cannot or don't want to run. So it's not about running, it's about The one word I use is consistency, and I think if you're consistent, you don't— you know, any kind of exercise will do. You have to move, you have to believe that you can do it, and it might take a long time. But if you're older, we're probably retired and might have more time to concentrate on it. You've got to put some effort into it, I think, because otherwise you won't know what you want to get out of it. You know, the pods are great, but you have to write down. I write down, you know, your habit changing and you exercise, because will you forget when you get old? Well, I do anyway. I'll have forgotten how many glasses of water I've got if I haven't ticked it off. I've forgotten which pods. I even have to write down which pods I've listened to. I think, what did I listen to this morning? What did Trevor tell me? So I tick them off and put, you know, SL for slim and, you know, C for chill pods. So I know by the end of the day, because I Sometimes I do them in the morning, sometimes in the evening. So keep a log, I would say, so you don't forget what you've done. And it's great because you can tick it off and you think, I've done that. So whatever age you are, you can definitely make a difference to your own health and your own, or your own weight. And you've got all the help in SlimPod because it's ongoing. Join Extra, I say. I've only just joined. I'm only on this week. I only joined this week, so I haven't got into it yet, but I'm looking forward to, you know, this continuing on this journey.

Great, lovely, fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing that and for inspiring an awful lot of people.