Weight Loss Without Dieting: Rachel’s 4-Stone Transformation

Hello, Rachel. I'm just so excited to have you here because we've seen your journey unfold in our private group in SlimPod Club, and I was so thrilled when you agreed to come and talk to me because so many people just want to know how You have lost 4 stone in 6 months, and you know, it is, it's such a big deal. And, and so thank you so much for joining me on here.

Oh, my pleasure.

So, you know, you have done exceptionally well, and a lot of people I know are thinking, oh my God, how has she done this? But have you ever lost a similar amount before and put it all back on again?

Not this much. I've lost maybe, I think, 3 stone the most before, but that was like doing the cereal diet or, um, doing juices, right? And I was denying myself the foods that I enjoyed, and I didn't really tackle the issues that made me eat that way, you know. So, um, yeah, so the minute I started eating normally and stressful times happened and I started emotionally eating again. It all piled on with loads more as well.

Yes. Yeah. And so you were really a yo-yo dieter with emotional eating involved and all sorts of things, um, before you, um, before you found Slimpod, weren't you?

Yes, absolutely.

Yeah. Astonishing. And when you started, uh, the Slimpod program, were you skeptical? I mean, that's normally, you know, 99.9% 99.9% of people who start the program, they are skeptical. And, you know, you seem to— the reason I'm asking this is because you just seem to launch yourself into this kind of new lifestyle, a new way of doing things. And we'll get on to exactly what that was in a moment, but you just seem to kind of throw everything at it. And a lot of people don't do that. So I was just wondering what was behind that.

Well, the decision that made me go with SlimPods was I decided I needed to do something. You know, this was enough. Every movement I was making was an effort, right? And I was coming up to my 50th birthday, and I didn't want to be like this. I was borderline, um, get myself diagnosed with some condition that was stopping me being able to move. You know, I was that convinced there was something wrong with me. And then I got made unemployed, and I had time to kind of think about things. And because I was unemployed, didn't have much money, so I was looking at like Slimming World and lots of different things, and they are all really expensive and they're not sustainable. You know, if you start Slimming World and you look at, you know, the meals that you've got to do with Slimming World and then the price of the club and everything else, it was like, I can't do that, I can't afford that to begin with, but it's not sustainable anyway. And then your advert popped up and I thought, well, yeah, whatever the price is, it's, it's, it's the, you know, it's a worthwhile investment. And it seemed to make sense to me, you know, just everything that said, you know, that SlimPods said it was just made complete sense as to, you know, what you wanted people to do. So I listened to Trevor once and that was it.

Amazing, amazing.

The next day I woke up and I was repulsed by crisps and that was it. I was sold after that. I was 100% in.

Yeah, because you, you said that one of the things that you'd already identified as your kind of problem foods or the things that you were addicted to, one of them was crisps and the other one was bread and potatoes, was it? Yeah, yeah. And what— and there was something else as well that I've forgotten.

Sweets. I can't remember what the other one was. Maybe pasta as well. We used to have a lot of pasta, right? And they're all things that I could just eat, like, unlimited, not stop eating. Absolutely. I know they were problem foods, but also the way they made me feel afterwards as well. And that's what I noticed, particularly with potatoes. Um, I would feel so sluggish after a meal, and I'm like, why is that? And that's what I kind of narrowed it down to, just these foods. And crisps, I could just demolish a 6-pack a day, no bother at all, you know.

Charlotte Roycroft-Davis.

Yeah.

And then, and I suppose, but if you were an emotional eater, then you'd probably— they were probably your drug of choice, weren't they, those foods?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.

So what happened? How, how did it kind of— yeah, you said that crisps kind of, you know, that they repulsed you overnight. But what about everything else? Was it difficult or was it Oh, I said I listened to Trevor once.

I woke up the next day and my husband picked up a bag of crisps and I went, ugh, literally. And he was like, what? I was like, yeah, that's disgusting, you're gonna eat a bag of crisps. But I don't know, something, it was just completely immediate with me. And I'd already made the decision to give up these foods, and SlimPods, just, I don't know, I've not wanted them. I've had literally 2 bags of crisps since the 1st of September. I've had potatoes on Christmas Day and didn't enjoy them that much. I've had the odd chips, you know, so I've not denied myself completely. I do have bread maybe once a month, but I don't crave them the way I used to. So that's definitely where Slimpod has helped with the cravings. And yeah, absolutely.

And so you just, you just don't want them anymore?

No, no, because if I do, though, I just—

Yeah, that, that's the holy grail. That's what, that's what this sets out to do really, is to, is so that you don't want those things anymore. So that sounds like it's, you know, perfect. You also said that, that SlimPod has made it easy and you've put in some determination and planning. Explain a little bit about the determination, the planning and the determination, I guess. The determination that wasn't there before. What's made it different this time?

I don't know what it was. It's just, I suppose, seeing results very quickly and just the change in me personally very quickly. And it just completely switched a light on in my head to make me a more positive person. And, you know, at the time I was unemployed, so I was getting out, I was exercising, I was walking the dog mainly to begin with. And in turn, of course, exercise makes you more positive anyway. Yeah. And then I got a job and I was like, what am I going to do? I need to plan in the exercise, you know. So I just sat down and said, right, I'm going to get up 6 o'clock every morning, I'm going to exercise before work, I'm going to walk at lunchtime. And I will still get my exercise done. And what am I going to eat? I'm working above a bakery in an office full of guys, you know. What am I going to eat? Well, I'm going to plan what I'm going to eat every week, and I'm going to take it in, and that's fine. So it's, it's that kind of planning and meal planning as well. I sit down with my husband now at the end of every week before we go shopping, and we plan for healthy, nutritious meals and one treat meal that we, that we enjoy eating, you know. Yeah, we enjoy all the food, but it's one, you know, if we've been craving bread throughout the week, it's like, right, I'll have a bit of bread, or if you fancy steak, we'll have that. But it's, it's just planning it all. It is, it is about taking control. You say that so often in all your videos and everything, and that's what I've done. I've gained control. Absolutely.

Yeah. So explain a little bit about your routine, because When I looked, I mean, I'm an exercise fanatic. I do love, I do love my exercise because it makes me feel so good and, you know, and I just love it. But you, honestly, you put me to shame and it's just incredible. I'm not, I was actually exhausted just looking at it and I'm thinking, mind you, I am recovering from COVID but I was, I was looking at that and thinking, oh my goodness, but clearly you are loving every minute of it.

It's my new drug, exercise. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And so I get up every morning.

Explain your daily routine.

Yeah, so my alarm goes off at quarter to 6, I get out of bed by quarter past 6, I'm rowing 5Ks on my rower, which I've now bought. And if the weather's nice, I've started walking to work, which is a 2.5-mile walk, which takes me about 45 minutes. Some days I'll run that. If it's not so nice, then I've got a rebounder, I've got a stepper, I've got exercise videos. I will exercise for an hour before I go to work. At lunchtime, I start work at 8, at lunchtime I power walk for a mile, and now I've started walking home from work as well. So I'm averaging about 18,000 steps a day. And I've also got a bike. I've not been on a bike since I was about 13, and oh my God, I felt like I was 13 again. I managed 40Ks on the bike this weekend, and I'm just like, you know, I just can't believe I'm doing it. It's just brilliant. It's the best feeling ever. So nothing can replace that. Nothing can replace that.

No, exactly. And really, the whole idea of behind SlimPod is that, um, you replace your food kind of addiction for exercise and the feel-good stuff that comes from moving your body, which— because they were designed to move. So yeah, so, you know, everything is just literally falling into place in your head by the sound of it.

Yes, absolutely.

Just explain a little bit about your food, Rachel. Because you've kind of naturally fallen into intermittent fasting, haven't you? And you don't eat the stuff that you decided you wouldn't eat, but you're not missing it. So how does all that work for the people who would like to know a little bit more about the food side?

Yeah, I kind of naturally fell into intermittent fasting because when I first started out, I was getting up and I thought, I'll just walk the dog first. And then our dog walks were getting longer. Then it was midday and I was like, I haven't missed not eating first thing. And then I learned about intermittent fasting. I heard about the 5:2, but not the 16:8. And I thought, well, that actually makes sense to me. That's something that is completely sustainable. And if I build it into a daily habit, then it's completely natural, as opposed to the 5:2, which is only— you do it 2 days a week. So you try to remember which day you're on, whatever.

Exactly.

Yeah, so now it is so easy for me not to eat after 8 o'clock at night. I just don't. It's just like ingrained in me now. And my husband eats the same way now, and that's how we eat. Days off, all the time, every day apart from Christmas Day, we do intermittent fasting. So, um, I get—

I'm sorry to interrupt you, it's a really funny thing because I I just feel that that is actually normal, you know, it's kind of normal eating because I don't eat after I've had my dinner. I might have a Satsuma or something, but that's it. And yet it's got a label now, which is fascinating, you know, it is— I don't eat breakfast and I don't eat after 8 o'clock, so I suppose I'm on a 16:8 or whatever they are. And it's just funny, isn't it, how these things have got labeled, yet that is what I would call normal and being a normal eater.

Yep. Yeah, absolutely. But it kind of gives me a guidance as well. Yeah. You know, at night it's like I'll look at the clock and it's like, no, it's after it, you don't need it. And I don't need it, you know, it's— yeah, absolutely.

So yeah, it's like a little boundary that's been put in by the sound of it. Yeah, amazing. And you before, I mean, have you ever tried to cut out those foods that you, that you've mentioned that, you know, that you kind of reduced or naturally now don't want? Have you tried to deal with those before and not actually been able to?

Yeah, absolutely. Before, when I've lost weight, it's been cutting them out, but it's been denied. It's been different. It's been denying myself, and I've still been craving them and just desperate for that minute I can have a bag of crisps. And then once I've had one, that's it, floodgates are opened. So yeah, at the moment, yeah, it's, it's, it's so strange how it's completely changed, you know, how I eat, how I move, everything, how I think. And it's fantastic. I'm free of crisps. I'm free of snacking. It's brilliant.

Yeah, it's fabulous. And, uh, and it's just so lovely to see you so happy and, uh, and, you know, and so different. I mean, God, you're like two different people compared to before. And you've done 4 stone and you've got— you're saying you've got another 4 stone to lose, but you don't seem to have 4 stone left on you.

No, I do.

All right, well, I did well.

I hide it well.

You're looking amazing. And, you know, you just You do look fabulous. The whole idea behind SlimPod is that it bashes through your limiting beliefs and really goes down right to the core of yourself and your identity so that you are literally thinking slimmer and loving life. That is the name of the company. And when you're feeling it, you know, as part of your identity it is— that is the game changer, isn't it?

That's absolutely— yep, absolutely. It's life-changing. And yeah, you get out what you put in. So you put in 100%, you get even more than that back. Absolutely.

So you believe wholeheartedly that this is sustainable now?

Oh yeah, absolutely. There's no way my life is going to be any different to what it is now. Touch wood. You know, yeah, as normal life goes, yet this is me, this is who I am. And it's funny that people I've recently met, they only know me as this person, and they don't know me as the person that I've met before the job I've just started. They only know me as this dedicated, you know, driven person. And I was like, you should have seen me, you know, 6 months ago, I was a completely different person. And they just laugh. Yeah.

Amazing, amazing. That's, yeah, that's fabulous, really fabulous. So if there was a couple of tips that you would give to people on a SlimPod programme who are watching this, what would those tips be?

Trust the process, absolutely, and give it 100%, absolutely. And you trust the process and it will look after you. And yeah, absolutely. And also being structured and setting up your daily routines, as you speak a lot about that. And absolutely, that's what's carried me through. If there's some mornings I'm lying in bed thinking, I don't want to exercise, I get up and within 10 minutes I'm feeling fantastic. So if you— that's ingrained in you, that's your routine now, you know, that's no question. Now I get out of bed that time and I do it. And I always feel amazing after doing it. So putting that structure in place and just trusting the process. Absolutely.

Great. That's lovely.

Yeah.

I mean, I, with the exercise, I, that's what I do, you know, every morning I'm, I'm doing Team Body Project at, you know, 7-ish. And it was a really funny feeling because I haven't been able to do it while I was ill. And then getting back to it, I've had to do tiny bits. You know, I've had to do like a 15-minute. Only probably 2 weeks of being ill, but I had to do 15-minute, and then I did a 30-minute one. And today I was so excited because I did a 45-minute one. I just thought, oh my goodness, my body has just, you know, has really rewarded me. I just really feel that I'll probably be exhausted tonight and go to sleep early, but I just felt felt so brilliant afterwards. So it just has that effect, doesn't it?

Absolutely, yeah.

Especially when you push the boundaries a bit.

Anyway, look, that's it.

It's been fabulous. Uh, I, I've just so enjoyed talking to you. And, um, and I see you, you know, I see you all the time in the group and your bike rides and all the different— and you just, you're so inspirational and you're so, um You know, you're kind of— just the positivity oozing from you, it's everything that—

everything that I feel that SlimPod's completely changed me into a more positive person anyway. You know, it's not just about the food or the exercise, it's a whole lifestyle change, which is just amazing. Yeah, yeah, I'm more pleasant to be around.

That's great, uh, because, you know, absolutely, that's the that's all part and parcel of it.

Yes.

So thank you so much, and I know everybody's going to enjoy, you know, the motivation and the inspiration when they watch it. So thanks so much for doing this.

That's okay, thank you.