How Stephanie Broke the Yo-Yo Diet Cycle & Lost Weight for Good | Slimpod Success Story

So hello everybody, I'm Sandra Roycroft-Davis, the founder of thinkingslimmer.com and creator of the SlimPod Programme, and I have got the lovely Stephanie with me today. And Stephanie is— oh, her story is amazing, and I'm not even going to say anything because she can tell the whole story herself, and it's just so well worth a listen. So over to you, Stephanie, and thank you so much for joining me. I'm really, really happy that you agreed to telling your story and inspiring all of our community and other people as well. So hello!

Hi Sandra, thank you, and my pleasure to share my story. To me it doesn't feel particularly inspiring because it's my story and I've lived it and it's been every step of the way, but if it helps anybody else then that's then that's fantastic and I'm very, very glad to do it. So I started Slimpod back in February. I was a stone and a half heavier than I am now. I had been on several diets over the last 10-15 years and my weight has always kind of fluctuated up and down over the last 10-15 years. Periods of where it's been lower, periods of when it's been higher, but over probably the last 5 to 8 years it's been higher more than it's been lower, and I'm fed up with that yo-yo, and I wanted it to stop. So that was sort of the inspiration and the kind of the motivation to do it. And looking at my Christmas photos, I lost weight last year, not as much as I've done this year, but I did lose weight last summer. And then gradually over the back end of summer, going through winter, it all went back on again. And I look at my photos from Christmas, and I just didn't want to be in that situation anymore. I wanted it gone and gone for good. And, you know, I've— my weight has been more stable having lost the weight this time than it's been in years and years and years. And that is down to Noom. Not Noom, gosh, what am I saying? That's because we were talking about it. Down to SlimPod. So sorry, not Noom. So that was the problem.

Well, actually, just at this point now, you can just explain how, you know, how— because you did Noom, but know before, didn't you?

I did know before, exactly, and we were just talking about it. So yeah, over the past few years, I've done quite a few different ones. So I've done the keto diet, I've done intermittent fasting. Last year I did Noom, and Noom, you know, Noom did attract me to begin with, you know, the language they use about sort of working with your mind, with the psychology behind it, rather than with giving you a meal plan. And I liked the sound of it, so I did that, and I did, you know, I did lose Just over half a stone with Noom, maybe 3/4 of a stone, and I got to a weight which I was happier with. I wasn't where I wanted to be, but I was happier with it. And then I went on holiday and I couldn't, I just never could get back into it again. There's so much you have to do for Noom and the relentless weighing yourself every day, and if you don't weigh yourself, then you feel like you've fallen off the track, that you're not where you need to be, that you're not following the program, having to listen to lessons every single day, and if you're not listening to your lessons, then you feel like you've fallen off track and that you're not doing what you need to do. Recording every single thing that you eat is another one. And I know, particularly with the weighing and the eating, they do gradually kind of wean you off of that, but I never got to that stage because I'd fallen off track with the relentlessness of it very early on. I mean, in the first sort of 3, 4, 5 weeks, oh, I was all over it. You know, I was, I was on it and I was enjoying it. And then gradually the lessons started to become about things that weren't relevant to me. Didn't speak to me, didn't really seem to do anything for me, and that's when you start falling off the track. And then once you're off the track, it's so hard to get back on it, and I never did. In fact, I even, before joining Slimpod, I tried to do Noom again. I even joined again, and I just couldn't. I just couldn't get that motivation and that energy to do Noom again, which is the difference with Slimpod.

Yeah, so explain, because you, because you had that you know, you had that journey and that's fine, and a lot of people do. So explain the difference then in your mindset now and how different it is.

The difference, the big difference for me is, I don't, there's nothing to fall off of. You know, occasionally I don't write my wins, but I don't worry about it. It's not a major issue. I'll just start writing my wins again when I remember to write my wins again. So it might be a day or so that I go where I've forgotten, that's okay. I don't feel like I failed at it. There aren't things that I've got to do and listen to every single day. That's okay. So if I haven't done something, that's all right, because there isn't something I have to be doing. And the major difference for me is when the days when I have days where I don't make the best decisions, unlike before where that then becomes the catalyst to just gradually those old habits, you know, and I've got, I have got a very sweet tooth, so You know, about the bigger bag size of, you know, Cadbury's Buttons or something like that. Seriously, I could devour that in half an hour without blinking. So those things don't creep back in again. So I'll have a day or two of, you know, having things that perhaps I shouldn't. A few weeks ago, I went through a phase of having a packet of crisps at lunchtime, but then I think, I don't want to be doing this, and I stop and I reset myself and I recalibrate and I think, what am I doing? And I get back on it again. So that's the big, for me, the big, big difference that I wouldn't have done before. Once I started down that track of not doing what I know I want to be doing, it's gone, and I've lost the motivation, I've lost the energy. But because of the pods, because you're still listening every single night, I do get the motivation to just get back on track again. And you know, if I have something that perhaps, I mean, like earlier, I grabbed a slice of cake that I made over a week ago, 'cause it was just sat there, and I thought, I just had one quite automatically, and I thought after I'd eaten it, I don't know why I ate it. I didn't really want it. I didn't particularly enjoy it because it was old and needs going in the bin, really. But that doesn't— I don't feel like I've undone all my good because I've had that one thing. It doesn't matter. It's not going to change my weight, that one thing. And that, for me, it's that freedom from feeling that you failed at something, from constantly having to try, constantly making an effort I haven't made an effort. I don't feel like I've made any effort whatsoever, really. It's been the easiest thing I've ever done that's reaped so much result. Amazing.

And you're now at your goal weight. I mean, you posted a wonderful picture in the group of you, of you dancing. Well, you know, a dancer's pose, which was fabulous.

I was having a lovely morning. I don't know what made me, actually. It was last Thursday, and I just suddenly thought, I'm gonna go and see if my evening dresses fit. And they're ones I never ever anticipated I'd wear again. One of them I did squeeze into on holiday last year. And if I showed you, even though I'd lost weight for them, if I showed you a picture of it in me then to now, there is quite a difference. And I had a lovely half hour trying on my dresses that I haven't worn for years and years. And I was having a great old time. So I thought, I'm gonna take a photo. I'm having such a nice time here.

Fantastic. So what is it? What would you say is the major difference then? Because you've done everything, you've done keto, you've done fasting, you've done Noom, as you've mentioned, and you've done the whole lot. And so what would you say is the difference in your eating? And how is it the fact that you are not punishing yourself again? Is it psychological more than—

Oh, very, yeah, it's definitely psychological because I don't I mean, I don't feel I make any effort whatsoever. I don't, you know, days, there are some days and some weeks where we plan meals and some weeks we don't, but it feels like I'm making no effort whatsoever. I don't feel that I'm doing anything drastic and yet the weight has come off. So there are days where, you know, I might, I might have a sandwich for lunch, but nowadays I know that one slice of bread made into a sandwich is enough to fill me up. I don't need 2 slices of bread. In fact, if I try and have 2 slices of bread in a sandwich, I usually feel really quite stuffed by the end of it. So there's— so it's little things like that. And I think for me, kind of the thing that springs to mind is when you see people like Mary Berry, who spends her time on these cooking programs eating cake all the time, you're thinking, how are you the size you are when you seem to just constantly be eating cake? And I'm sure I heard her some years ago say, Charlotte Roycroft-Davis, she eats in moderation. She eats small amounts of something that she likes, not great big masses of something that she likes. And I think that's probably where I am now. I'll have a little bit of something I like, and I don't worry about it. I don't deny myself anything. And so it's that mindset to go, and I don't feel the need to gorge on something. You know, I've had it, I've enjoyed it, happy days, we'll move on. I don't feel the need to just go, I know I need to eat more, I need to eat more, I need to eat more. And it's releasing you from that feeling of just needing to constantly binge on something for whatever, you know, we all have different reasons, don't we, why we binge, for whatever reason that might be. And I don't have that anymore.

So you did binge at one point?

Oh gosh, yes, definitely. Probably how many years ago? 7 years ago or so, I had some really quite sad news and I ended up with depression. And I was off work for a month or two. And yeah, I would sit on the sofa and I, not when husband was around, in the afternoon and yeah, I would eat. So I'd eat a big bag of chocolate. I think, right, what else can I have? I'd go and have a packet of crisps and I think, well, they were nice, I'll have another packet of crisps and let's have a biscuit now. And yeah, I would, I would binge. And every time he came home thinking, right, let's have tea, I'm absolutely stuffed because I haven't stopped picking. My problem has always been picking, right? Just that constant, constant grazing, constant picking. And I don't— I just don't do that anymore. Just don't graze.

Fabulous. So if there was one message that you could give our community of Slimpodders and anybody who is watching this, what would that be? My—

what I would say is Relax. Keep listening. Keep writing your wins, however small. If you can't think of something that you feel you've had a win for, write something that you're thankful for that day, something that's made you happy, something that's pleased you that day. If you can't think of something that you say, "Oh yeah, I noticed, you know, I did have one less biscuit," write something and trust it. Just let it take you on the journey. You don't need to do anything, just go with the flow and let it take you where you need to get to, and it will, it will get you there. That would be my thing.

Thank you so much, just, oh, so inspirational, and, you know, I just sitting here completely and utterly just absorbed in what you were saying, I just, it's just, just lovely. Thank you so much, and I know that, I know that so many people will be inspired by, by your story, and we'll get, hopefully get your ballet dancer pose, and we can give that to the people as well when we're on the blog, because that was just— when I saw that, I just thought, oh my life, this lady is wonderful.

I think the thing that I noticed in that photo of me is the smile on my face, and I think somebody actually commented that the smile said it all, and it does. That's how I felt at that moment in time. I just felt so good.

Yeah, no, the smile spoke volumes. So thank you so much. Very welcome. You know, just really, really thank you.

You're very welcome. It's been lovely chatting to you.

Thank you.