testimonials: Gail

Time To Change
Two years ago I started a journey. I was rapidly approaching 40 (which felt very scary) and was unhappy with the way I looked and how tired and grumpy I felt. After having three children I was now a size 16-18 and feeling miserable. It was time to change.

In November 2003 I started Sarah Oliver's Slimlife plan. Sarah helped me identify that I skipped too many meals, ate too much when I did eat and was not active enough. With the Slimlife diet plan I started to eat regularly, reduced my portion sizes and found that I was eating smaller amounts four times a day which helped me to control my hunger.

Felt Good
I noticed a difference very quickly, mostly water I was told, but all the same it felt good and by Christmas I had gone down from a size 16 to 14. Friends and family were very positive and I received lots of compliments which helped me to carry on. This was good but it was becoming harder to simply reduce the amount of food I was eating and keep losing weight. It was time to tackle the scary issue of exercise.

I had not done any regular exercise since I was at school and was not looking forward to starting now. However feeling more confident about my body I decided to take the plunge, literally in my case, and started going to aqua aerobics at my local pool.

A Revelation
It was a revelation: I enjoyed it, I felt better, it lifted my mood and the weight started to come off at a steady rate. After all those years of seeing myself as someone who didn't "do" exercise as a matter of principle I became something of an exercise bore. Two years on and I have taken up running much to my own and my family's amazement.

By the following summer I had achieved my target size 12 body. It was great but it did take some getting used to. It was almost as though I'd worked so hard to get here that the destination was a bit of an anti-climax. I could not believe how I was feeling: I'd achieved what I'd been longing for and yet I wasn't enjoying it.

With Sarah's help I began to get used to my new shape and the way people now perceived me. Now I think I'm there and I have to say that the journey I have taken over the last two years, although difficult at times, has brought a huge improvement in the quality of my life. Although 40 still seems scary I can face it looking and feeling the best I have in years.

— Gail