Thanks to a Slimpod, Barbara's off diabetes medication now!
HAVE you ever seen a happier looking lady than Barbara Greenwood, one of our Slimpod Stars of 2012, who has gone from a size 28 to a size 16 in 15 months - and has discovered a new world of fashion, colour and style. "Being size 16 is brilliant, a new lease of life," she says. "I'm pretty much in full control of what I eat now."
Barbara has lost more than six stone - an amazing 87 pounds - with her Slimpod and her nurse has recorded her BMI dropping from 46 to 32. For the first time in 15 years, Barbara has been taken off her type 2 diabetes medication. "Thank goodness I found out about Slimpods," says Barbara, "because 35 years of dieting never made me lose weight. Now I have a new lease of life.
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Slimpods are unique voice recordings you listen to for
10 minutes a
day to help you eat less and feel full quicker. They’ve been developed
by our Harley Street experts and use modern approaches to the science of
unconscious persuasion to put you back in control of food.
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Slimpods have been tested and endorsed by an NHS consultant who found their effects were "profound and life-changing." Because it's
like having your own personal mind coach, weight loss becomes simple
and effortless and there’s no dieting and no calorie counting.
For almost 40 years, since she was a child of eight, Barbara has had massive problems with her weight. She would binge and diet, binge and diet, and decades of dieting achieved nothing because any weight she lost went straight back on again.
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Barbara’s heaviest weight was 22 stone (308 pounds), a size 30, and life was
becoming intolerable because she struggled to cut her toenails or put her shoes and socks on. With her husband’s help she made a New Year
resolution to make one last attempt at changing her eating habits and by
mid-February 2012 she had lost over a stone.
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But the urge to eat more was overwhelming and Barbara started to wonder if gastric surgery was the only answer. “Then one day I was Googling weight loss and I came across Slimpods mentioned on a weight loss support forum,” says Barbara, 48, from Mansfield, Notts.
“Something just clicked, and I decided to give it a go, so I bought a Slimpod Plus package including Drop Two Jeans Sizes or More and the Chocoholic Cure. That day I weighed 20st 2lbs (282 pounds). Fifteen months later I’ve lost almost six and a half stone (87 pounds) and I’m a size 16."
See Barbara's review of what her Slimpod has achieved
Barbara says: “The effects of the Slimpod were dramatic - right away, I could hear the voice saying ‘one bite at a time’ whenever I ate something and ‘listen to the signal from your body that you've had enough to eat.’
“Within a few days I was leaving food on my plate, declining biscuits with no struggle at all, and soon had to give myself smaller portions. The Chocoholic Cure was amazing!! My capacity for chocolate used to be practically unlimited, but now I can go for days or weeks and not even think about it.
“Now I’m 13 stone 7lbs (189 pounds), so that's almost six and a half stone lost since I started listening to my Slimpods and eight stone (112 pounds) altogether. I no longer binge eat, seldom eat enough that I feel stuffed, and I find that I can enjoy small amounts of treats, which are treats, and not a staple food which I eat lots of every day. The weight loss has slowed down, but is still ongoing.
“I am reasonably confident that I will achieve a healthy weight in due course - and 100% confident that this weight is gone for good. I'm also loving my exercise - I'm a regular at the gym, which has become my stress-buster.
“After decades of clothes-shopping being a necessary evil when I would be grateful to find one or two things that would fit me, it has become a delight.
“I'm currently a size 16, and know the location of every charity shop within a 20 mile radius (as I'm going through sizes so quickly, it would be silly to buy new things all the time). Oh, and my husband has lost over three and a half stone, and now has a healthy BMI. When I look at photos of how I used to be I am so grateful I’m not there any more. I’ve spent most of my adult life that size and I never felt that was who I really was. Being size 16 is brilliant, a new lease of life.
“As a teenager I had to wear size 20 at the age of 17 because ‘that is what fat women wear.’ Places like Top Shop only went up to size 14 so I couldn’t shop for fashionable teenage clothes and was restricted to shops like Evans Outsize Store for 20 years. Suddenly with my new size I’m overwhelmed by colours and styles, not yet knowing who I am because I’ve not been able to develop a personal style before.
"Until now I just bought whatever clothes would hide the bulges. Today I have choice for the first time and exploring what works for me is both scary and wonderful at the same time." Barbara loved this red and black dress which Debenhams' personal shopper expert Alain chose for her at a Thinking Slimmer Oxford Street photoshoot.
Alain gives the finishing touches to Barbara's new look for
our photoshoot at Debenhams store in Oxford Street
“I’m pretty much in full control of what I eat now," says Barbara. "I still have treats occasionally but I can say No to biscuits if I want to, or just restrict myself to one. My compulsion to keep eating sweet things until I’m full has gone now. Before I used to eat and eat until I was uncomfortably full, then I’d wait 30 minutes and then eat again.
“Now I hear the message from the Slimpods that I’ve had enough. The Chocoholic Cure talks of me having the confidence I gain from saying No to chocolate and that’s so true. I’m a person who eats what I want to eat now and I’m delighted to have broken the eating habits which have dogged me since childhood.
“What’s good is that I’m not on a diet pursuing a particular weight. My aim is to be a size, not a weight, and I’m only eating what my body tells me it needs. This is a much more natural way of losing weight and less stressful than a diet. I actually realised many years ago that diets don’t work and I’ve tried many alternative ways to lose weight, including counselling, but they only achieved temporary success.
“Today I am confident that my new shape and new confidence in myself is here to stay. The Slimpods have certainly had a positive effect on my health: I've recently been taken off my diabetes medication, my blood pressure has dropped to normal and my long-term blood sugars (HbA1C) have gone from a reading of 56 a year ago to 38 today, which my GP says is excellent control.”
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Barbara fell in love with this
gorgeous dress from the Debenhams range
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