How Slimpod Helped Me Break Free from Yo-Yo Dieting & Lose 3.5 Stone | Mindset Weight Loss Story

Where were you before you, uh, you joined us? What, what was the thing that made you want to take control of things?

I felt awful about my body. I'd gained a lot of weight, so I was like, you know, I, I was probably in like the 6— I was about 16 stone, but for me that was too much. Like, I— it was probably 4 stone more than I would like to be. Um, also I was getting married last— I was getting married in October, so I'd already started— when it got to March, I'd already been on a bit of a health kick trying to lose weight desperately because I thought, I've got a year till I get married, I'm going to get into a really nice dress. I'd seen a photo of myself in the shop in a wedding dress that I hated, and I said to my, um, doctor, if I— I'm not getting married if I look like this, basically. I was so, so sad. And then I spent 6 months not like just trying and banging my head against a brick wall and then gained a bit more. And it was Christmas, you know, like all of that stuff happened and then saw SlimPod on Facebook. It had come up a couple of times and I thought, I'm just going to give it a go. I've had hypnotherapy in the past as well. I've tried everything in the past, absolutely everything. And the doctors always say that you need to like kind of go on these certain diets and it wouldn't agree with me because I really believe in like eating quite clean eating. So while I'm not like a fast food addict or anything like that, I'm a real emotional eater. And I knew that and I kept saying to them all of that. So yeah, I found SlimPod and what I really liked immediately was I loved the listening to Trevor because that put me to sleep. I'm quite a bad— I used to be quite a bad sleeper, so that was really good. And then Yeah. Then after that, I started to— I liked the reframing of the language, everything. Like the— I don't know, I want to call it a culture. Like this new way of— it's how I feel life should be. I don't think that we should be a number. I don't think we should be— just because it says size 14 on my jeans doesn't mean I'm a size 14. They change in every shop. Like, I just very quickly, I felt like I'd found my tribe a little bit. That was kind of how I felt. So, so it went very quickly from feeling very bad to feeling really excited. That's kind of where I, where I started and then how I got into it.

Lovely. And then you, I mean, your story is a little bit different to so many others, Alex, because you, yes, you've lost weight. Yeah, well, you've lost weight and that's great. How much have you lost?

Um, I mean, I'm not weighing as much, but I think I've lost about 3 and a half stone, and I'm still planning to get healthier. And I imagine that— but I run, so that also makes me quite muscular. Yeah.

So it's, it's not about— for me, when I spoke to you, it wasn't about the necessarily the 3 and a half stone, even though that's great, uh, and you look amazing. Um, It was about how that has actually come about. How— just explain a little bit about how you have dealt with the emotional eating and how that's all changed.

So I think I did all the lessons. I loved the lessons, like doing everything with SlimPod, and that was really good. And I kind of— excuse the pun— I ate it up. I lapped it up. Like, I really was really there for it. I knew all the time. I knew, like, I know what to eat, I know this, but I know it's emotional. And I think it was when I got to Extra, I went into SlimPod Extra without the intention of kind of doing more weight loss, but just really interested to see what other things would be in there. And then in that, you look at things like internal locus of control and all of that stuff. And that started to get me to really sit. I call it like I read it somewhere, ride the uncomfortable wave, which is I'm sitting in my chair. I want to eat that. I don't know why I want to eat that. I don't want to look at why I want to eat that. No, you need to look at why you want to eat that. But having all of those conversations, and I think that combined with having really, really good goals. So I've always like known these things and, and it's all at the— it's at our fingertips, but I combined it with needing to get into a dress for my wedding. And then I, with the help of those lessons and with the webinars— so, um, there were some really good webinars about getting that inner voice and silencing that inner voice and how you did that. And that was just mind-blowing to me. It really, really worked. So when I would feel a little bit stroppy and like a bit like, oh, nothing's working, then I would say, right, I'm gonna have a bath and I'm gonna put my Go on to the library and I'm going to choose myself a new webinar. And sometimes it wouldn't, it wouldn't resonate with me, but sometimes it really would. And so I think that for me worked. And then in turn with that, at the beginning, going back a bit at the beginning of the SlimPod, I think it's about week 3 to 5 or something. You start getting into like movement and that has been the game changer. I think in my head, I think that's where Everything clicked and I started being like, there's a, there's a little hill. It's not that little, but there's like a hill by me. And I started saying, you know, if you can just start by going up, walking up that hill in the morning, it doesn't matter what else is done. You've walked up that hill in the morning and then you can sit on your bum for the rest of the day if you really, really need to. And, um, then I started Couch to 5K and before I knew it, I was running up that hill. And then, so that was last March. And then last, a couple of weeks ago, I ran a half marathon before breakfast. I just set out and did it on my own. I didn't do like a race or anything like that. It's always been about myself because I feel like as soon as I, I don't want to compare myself to other people. I just want to do this for me. Um, and so yeah, that, I think it's all bundled up. And I think it's really easy for people to say, I found this miracle cure, I started running and I lost weight, or I found this miracle A Miracle Cure. I did a webinar with, um, Sandra, and it, it was A Miracle Cure, and it lost it. But what, what I've done is like used it as a library to bring it all, all the bits that resonate with me and put them together to make it work for me. And I think that's— don't get me wrong, I'm still an emotional eater, like, still, there's still lots I want to explore, but it makes me have control over that, and it makes me see it as that in one of the Sessions, we talk about a road that you walk along and like sometimes you veer off that path, but that doesn't mean you then have to like go 80 miles out of your way. It just makes me think in my head, oh, I went off a bit there. Let's come back. Like, and then I'll watch another interesting session with you or so.

Yeah, I don't know if I'm rambling, but yeah, no, I mean, it was the instant gratification as well. You've kind of replaced the, you've replaced instant gratification with something else. Tell us about that.

So for what really hit me with the movement was as I started going out and running, I got like this, oh God, I hated it. And I don't, I don't know many people that love running while it's happening, but I still would say I love it. So I was like, what's that about? I don't get it. What am I talking about? And then I realized that when I would sit down and eat like some, I don't know, like overeat something. I would feel really good in that moment and like shut everything off. But then afterwards I would feel horrible and shame and a lot of guilt. But what I noticed was when I run, it's completely the opposite. So I was getting, I was getting no instant gratification through running. In fact, like I was like, my inner voice is probably like, what are you doing to yourself? Why are you doing this? I'm plodding around and going up these hills. But then afterwards I feel absolutely amazing. And it just struck me that it's swapping instant gratification and late shame to immediate, like, not so much fun to delayed gratification. And that's what it is for the exercise for me. And it's just— or the movement, I wouldn't even call it— I know it's running and I know that's exercise, but really it's just getting out of my head and into my body and getting out there and doing that little something for myself. But switching those two things has meant that I I reach less for the instant gratification of snacks or something that I don't need, you know. So yeah, I think that has been a bit of a game changer for me, and I'd say I follow that 90% of the time.

Amazing. So all this has contributed to, you know, to the, the grand total of, you know, 3 and a half stone, obviously. Um, and what's changed with your food then? How would you say that your food's changed? Because it won't be all about the running, will it?

No, and I think that running has— it's two very separate things. And as I said, I've actually built— my weight does go up when I'm training. So when I was training to do the half marathon, my weight was going up and up because I had to take in more carbohydrates. And I got very savvy when it came to, like, nutrients. And I, as a lot of us do, have lots of friends who are all on their own latest diets, and I've been listening to them. Some people doing injections, some people doing the, you know, the Atkins and all of these things. And it really made me think, you, you can't do those things if you're not nurturing you. I want to be running or going out and I want to be living my best life. I can't be doing that unless I'm nurturing myself with food. So the mindset has changed and I made sure all the time with all of my goals not to make it about a number on the scales. I do weigh, because that's my way of like keeping control. But I have written on— I wrote on my scales in chalk pen, "You are more than a number." So it's all over it. Like, it does it because I was finding it would ruin my day. And I was like, but I felt really good before that. So, so yeah, I made my goal all about— it's not about a number. I want to be healthy. I want my heart to be healthy. I want my— I don't want to— I've got cancer and heart attacks in my family. I've got a pacemaker. Like, I need to be heart healthy. And so it became about that. And then that changed my mindset on food. So I read a lot of books about ultra-processed food and I make all my food at home on the whole. Yeah, it just switched what I'm eating. So I feel better if I'm eating better things and all of my goals. So like my— I have like mood boards and vision boards and everything is like I really love eating anything green for some reason that like really is really good. I love it. So like spinach and my smoothies are always green, but so I make that visual to me and I'm like, this is who I am. So I kind of brought that into my personality of, of who I want to be, not just I want to get into those size, into that smaller wedding dress. I mean, I had this wedding dress that I saw online and I really wanted to get into, but I was like, I'm not buying it unless it's in a smaller size. And then lost so much weight that I couldn't get into the one I bought. And then I did buy that one. So I had two dresses in the end for that. But even that one was a size 12, one was a 14. The ones I was trying in, in the dress shop originally were— the 18 was too small for me. It wouldn't do up. So like, that's— it was a big loss. But instead of it just being about like, I want to be that, it was like, I want people to be like, wow, you like you are really healthy, you've got this, you know, you've got this amazing health, I don't know, morals. So that's what I did. I kind of brought it into my personality.

Amazing, amazing. Uh, honestly, really fabulous. And so, um, so, so has this now, uh, you know, so many diets, etc., um, obviously are temporary and then you go back. You've done that, obviously, that the the, the, um, diet fail, diet fail thing. Um, how do you feel now, uh, you've lost 3 and a half stone? How do you actually feel about your future?

I'm so excited. So the— what I try and do before every— before I hit every goal, because I have new— so it was like hen do, wedding, half marathon. Next is honeymoon, because ours is ages away. But I've always been sure to plan the next steps. I don't ever— because what I don't want to do is be like, yay, I did it, and then just go back. So, and that's made me really excited about the future. And so I'm 42, and I am now really excited about being 50. So it, it made me change from being like, oh, I've just got— oh no, I've only got like, I don't know, what have we got, like I've got 3 months till my honeymoon. Oh no. Instead it's like, Yes, I've got 3 months and then what? And then what? And what I really want to do is be like a real, really fierce at 50. And I feel like I've got a lot of years now that I could keep working on my body and by 50 I could be like, I could be even more happy and excited with it. So I'm very excited about it. I still have— it's really important to say I still have my days where I'm like, oh my God, why am I like, why won't my jeans do up? And all of that stuff. But it, this has made me think about things like hormones and what I can do for my body with supplements like magnesium and things like that. So I still have the battle. I still have to be on top of it and I still have to keep saying to myself, like I looked before today and looked at pictures of myself before and was like, whoa. And it's really easy for us to be like, oh God, I only lost like this much. Or I, I only, I only ran like a half marathon in this time. 'Who says that?' Like, instead of like— and then I'm like, 'No, a year ago you were not doing that.' So yeah, I'm just happy, happy to be like happy and curious about it all, I guess.

Amazing. Voyage of self-discovery.

Yeah, always amazing.

Lovely. Honestly, thank you. It's, it's just, um, it's just been so lovely to talk to you. I've seen so much of your posts, um, on Facebook and, you know, the, the whole running thing and how that's all come about. And, but I just loved this reframing the instant gratification to delayed gratification, and it just all kind of—

yeah, yeah, it's been a game changer for me. The whole program has been a game changer. And I think it's worth saying that, like, the one of the best things about it for me was the positive community. So I do understand that people want to go somewhere and we want a little vent sometimes, but for me, only having that positivity, I know that if I'm having a bit of a— like, I can go in there and I'll be like, right, I'll be lifted again. And it just guarantees that. And so that's helped. It's like a little nest around you, I guess, that keep— that has all the different bits that you need. So it's not a one, one-trick pony, you know. It's like, it's really cool. So I'm very, very grateful. Thank you very much.

Amazing. Amazing. So I'm going to thank you so much. It's, um, it's been so lovely talking to you, um, And, uh, yeah, I, I can't wait to see what, uh, what the future brings.

I know, I'm excited too.