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I’ve been overweight/fat/obese all my life.  My medical records tell me that I was born obese (I was 9lbs 6oz and 26 inches long, people thought I was a 6-month-old baby when I came out of the hospital).  I think I first signed up for a diet scheme when I was about 20 and I have been unsuccessfully dieting ever since.  I did lose two and a half stones once, more of that later, but that has been…

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I’m getting married at the end of November 2019, so as you can imagine I want to make sure that I look good for my wedding, especially in the pictures and even more so for my partner.

Now you can imagine that I am meal planning to the max, if it is not on the menu, then I’m not eating it and I mean everything, I’m food optimising where I can and using my syns to treat myself or use…

DOES it ever seem to you that life is just one long bout of S-T-R-E-S-S ! You get up after a patchy night’s sleep, you rush around getting out of the house, you battle through the traffic, you get nothing but hassle at work, then there’s the shopping, the cooking, the demands of the family…and before you know it, there’s another day gone.

The problem these days is that far too many people reach for food or alcohol (or both!) to help them cope with stress.

For a short time it dulls the pain and makes them feel better, but as we all know anything in excess plays havoc with your waistline.

So I’ve made this special video in which I look at stress and give some practical advice on how to break the patterns of unhelpful behaviour that stress leads to.

The key to leading a calmer, more rewarding and much healthier life is to reduce the stress hormone cortisol in your body.

Our bodies need some cortisol and it’s an important hormone because it actually helps keep us alive. But when we’re stressed we overproduce it and this can mean weight gain.

In the weight loss world, cortisol is now public health enemy number one.

So having the right balance is essential.  Here’s those five things I talked about in the video which you can do to take control.

ONE: Exercise is crucial. Give your brain a buzz from doing something physical.

TWO: Use a meditation or relaxation download – our Chillpod is a great way of dealing with it.

THREE: Laughter is fabulous! It stops stress and lowers cortisol.

FOUR: Eat healthily. The Slimpod will take care of that.

FIVE: Get more sleep!

Let me know what stress is doing to your enjoyment of life by leaving a comment below. And do let me know how you get on with my five stress-busting tips.

The post Five ways to take control of stress appeared first on Slimpod.

THIS may sound like a pretty big claim, but here goes: I’m about to tell you the secret of a happier, healthier life. Not only that, I’m launching a special Spring Challenge to show you how easy it is to make a fabulous change that will deliver enormous benefits that will last forever.

You see, I was reading some research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine the other day which really excited me. It said that a brisk walk even once a week is enough to significantly reduce the chances of early death.

Gentle exercise once a week can cut the risk of heart disease and cancer by nearly 20 per cent, the study said.

Which got me thinking: If a few minutes of gentle exercise can do that, what would 20 minutes of moderate exercise like running do?

And so, with the help of Slimpodder Nickie O’Hara I’m launching my  Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge today. I want you to go from being a couch potato to a 5K runner!

It’s nowhere near as daunting as you might think. Nickie is a community run leader for the Couch to 5K campaign (C25K) which is run by the NHS.

She started doing easy, gentle runs about five years ago – and soon became hooked on them. Now she has progressed to serious distance running.

Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge video explains everything

Here’s a video Nickie and I made in which she tells you all about the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge and how easy it is to take part.

Last year Nickie lost 2st 4lb and ran over 1,000 kilometres (that’s 626 miles). This year her target is to lose another 28lbs and run 1,000K again.

“I’ve been using Slimpods for a few years now and they provide me with focus and a Positive Mental Attitude that helps me focus on my goals,” she says.

“I admit that I had good and bad days – this was important to me because it’s not all a bed of roses out there and you learn from the negatives as well as the positives. I also found my tribe and they came on my journey with me.

“Some came out on training runs with me and pushed me beyond what I thought were my limits, some ran beside me in races to make sure I was giving my absolute best, some applauded me at my slimming club when I lost a few extra pounds, some let me cry on their shoulder when I wasn’t feeling great and it took the full year to achieve everything – literally to the last day!

Nickie will be starting a special thread in Slimpod Club that tells you how you can join the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge. I think you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve in the first four weeks.

We’ll be using the NHS C25k app. You can download this free from your app store (Apple or Google versions available). And here’s where you can find out more about C25K on the NHS website.

Many Slimpodders know the physical and mental benefits that C25K can bring.

Here’s what Helena Doey posted in Slimpod Club recently: “It was amazing as I met a group of people who were in the same place as me (thinking ‘this will never work, but hey I will give it a go’.)

“You soon realise ‘Actually, I might achieve something here.’ Each week there was improvement and your confidence grew with it.

“The team spirit and friendship and achievement that I have gained with this will stay with me forever. Running has become part of my life, I am still slow but I can do it and more importantly I love it.”

So there you have two really inspiring stories from fellow Slimpodders.

Join me on my Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge. Let me know you’re in by leaving a comment below – and if you’re a Slimpod Club member, join Nickie on her thread!

Please use the hashtag #SlimpodC25K – you can use it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

There’ll be two other exercise threads in Slimpod Club from Monday so if the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge doesn’t float your boat why not try them.

The post Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge is off and running today appeared first on Slimpod.

THE lady on the phone was adamant when I asked her what would make her happy. “Getting down to 9st 7lbs,” she insisted. It was an interesting answer. But not as interesting as her answer to my next question.

“So if you’d lost two stones, apart from a different number on the scales what would be the evidence that you were happier?”

There was a pause. A long one. “Hmm,” she said. “I don’t know what happiness will look like. It’s been such a long time since I last weighed nine stone that feeling happy is something I’ve forgotten.”

It was time for my killer question. One that always makes people stop and think.

“Tell me Jill,” I said. “In your mind, why is happiness solely attached to the number on the scales?”

She paused again. Then…

“OMG,” she said with obvious delight. ”I’d never looked at it that way before.”

And that’s the problem so many people have.

They cast their minds back to the days when they were happy and trouble-free and assume that if only they could be as slim as they were then, all that happiness would just come flooding back.

It creates huge and unnecessary stress that simply drags them down.  They spend all their time being obsessed about the number they saw on the scales 25 or 30 years ago.

They think that’s the key to their weight loss happiness.

By directly linking smaller size with greater happiness they overlook the fact that the world has changed for all of us.

When we were younger (OMG, I’m sounding like my mother) there were no mobile phones, no laptops and no social media – so we weren’t constantly comparing ourselves with other people and the way they looked and felt.

Today life is super-busy and ultra-stressful. Linking happiness to the scales means life can become an emotional rollercoaster.

That’s why I’ve posted this special video in The Slimpod Channel on YouTube because it’s so important to stop this obsession with the number on the scales and to be able to think carefully about what happiness really means to us.

Instead of doing something that makes us unhappy every day, we need to flip it round completely.

Knowing your destination is important but you must learn to love the journey.

Enjoy the process. Get your weight loss happiness from small daily and weekly steps that are achievable.

That’s where your  Slimpod will be a great help. Feeling good about yourself is the route to self-fulfilment and self-esteem.

Forget the scales. Just be you – a warm and wonderful person, not a number.

Please leave a comment below to tell me what’s going to give you weight loss happiness. I love reading them all – because they make ME happy.

  The post Is happiness a number? appeared first on Slimpod.

DON’T know about you, but I love February.  The days are getting a bit longer and I do love the brighter mornings and evenings. As I walked the dogs this morning I was thrilled to see that in sheltered spots around the lake the snowdrops and daffodils are poking their heads out.

The birds are busy, noisily calling for mates, and once the blue tits in the garden have finished feasting on the peanuts we put out it won’t be long before their thoughts turn to nest-building.

It all means Spring’s not far away and that fills me with joy.

Which is good, because scientists have discovered that positive happy thoughts have a hugely-beneficial effect on our wellbeing.

Being happy with life has the power to boost our immune system and calm our heart rates, according to research I read in the journal Clinical psychological Science last week.

As you might know, positive psychology is at the core of the Slimpod programme, so it was good to see a study explore the physical side of positive thinking and not just the mental health side.

The snowdrops I saw today

By being kind to ourselves we feel relaxed and safe, and this lowers our heart rate. Because this switches off what’s called our subconscious threat response, we boost our immune system and give ourselves a better chance of healing.

What’s not to like? So let’s all give ourselves a break, stop being self-critical, treat ourselves kind and think happy, positive thoughts about all the wonders that surround us.

Let’s look for things which inspire us and help us feel great, because that’s definitely the way to go!

Over the past week we’ve had a lot of positivity going on in Slimpod Club and I thought I’d share some of it with you to inspire you as we head into a new week.

If you’re part of our Facebook group you’ll know it’s a very positive place to be and you might recognise some of the quotes (but not the faces, which we’ve pixellated):

Joanna posted:

Then Ros posted:

Finally Carol posted:

Reading about these Slimpodders’ happiness is infectious – I know it fills my heart with joy – so this week I’d love you to reflect on all the positive things in your life.

For some of you they may only be small changes, but you know they are building into something bigger, so smile and be happy.

And if you’re a recent starter and your Slimpod is still working away on the inside so you haven’t noticed real differences yet, that’s means you’ve got a lot of happy times to look forward to.

Keep posting your successes in Slimpod Club everyone! And why not post them here too in the Comments?

Spreading happiness is wonderful thing.

The post Smile and be happy about life – it’s so good for your health appeared first on Slimpod.