CATHY FERNIE SAYS: “At my heaviest I was a size 22 and I was a chocoholic. Every waking hour I was obsessed with chocolate. Each time I tried to lose weight chocolate was my downfall and I’d put the pounds back on again. My willpower would only last a short time when I was back to square one again.
“I also suffered from SAD syndrome and used to feel really low in the winter months – this meant I would turn to food and chocolate for comfort. I had no energy and in the evenings I would just slump on the sofa.
“I had lost some weight and was a size 16 when I found the Slimpod. I was so surprised when after only a couple of days of listening to the relaxing voice as I fell asleep at night, I just didn’t want chocolate and soon began to make healthier food choices without even thinking about it. The best thing was I didn’t need any willpower – a revelation!
“I’ve lost over 42 lbs* with a combination of meal programmes and the Slimpod. I’ve gone from size 16 to 10 and feel so much more confident and assertive and I have a very different approach to life.
“I’m now in control of chocolate and when I’m out shopping I don’t even go down the chocolate aisle anymore – I can take it or leave it and mostly I leave it. I feel so much more energetic and in the evenings and love cooking a healthy meal or going to yoga.
“I wake up in the mornings with a feeling of excitement and enthusiasm. My 20 years of winter depression has gone so all in all this is a bit of a miracle!”
Cathy, 48, from Burton-on-Trent, Staffs, is brutally honest about her chocolate addiction.
“My life revolved around how I could get my next fix. I would never buy all my chocolate treats in one go in the supermarket because I was worried about people judging me. I would go to lots of different places to buy it – even buy chocolate buttons so people would think they were for the kids!
“It was like the behaviour of a drug addict. I used to buy chocolate bars in bulk, eat one and hide the others,” she says. “I ate my normal food and then would snack on anything available in the cupboard. Chocolate biscuits, chocolate bars, crisps, anything! Some days I would eat three 500g Galaxy bars in a row!”
Here’s Cathy’s personal video testimonial, shot in a noisy Debenhams store!
“I am certainly making healthier food choices without even thinking about it. I can choose what goes in my mouth now – I can eat better and feel good, whereas before I tended to eat what tasted good but made me feel worse afterwards.
“Before I went on the Slimpod my size 16 jeans were wearing out, so I bought a size 12 pair as an incentive to slim down into. That same day I also bought a size 14 pair just in case – I suppose I was in ‘just accept it as it is’ mode.
“I could just get into the size 14 at a pinch – but today, barely five months later, the size 14s are in the cupboard because they’re too big for me.
“I’ve lost over three stones so far with a combination of meal programmes and the Slimpod and I’ve got a bit to lose still to get me below 10 stone, but I know I will do it. I’m feeling so much more confident and assertive and I definitely have a different approach to life.
“I have more energy and in the evenings after work I no longer slump on the sofa, I’m more likely to be cooking a healthy meal or going to yoga. I wake up in the mornings with a feeling of excitement and enthusiasm – I just want to hit the world each day!”
