How my journey began...

This is my story and how I understand what you may be going through

Overweight since age ten, I had tried every weight loss book and method: slimming clubs, low carb, no fat, calories, milkshakes, slimming pills, allergy testing and hypnosis to name a few. Many times I lost a bit of weight but always put it back on, and usually with extra. As the years passed I gained more weight even though I always seemed to be on a diet or thinking about a diet.

This photo is me from 2000. I was about 203lbs (14 st 7lbs or 92kg). I was desperately unhappy at this size and my life revolved around an obsession with how to lose it. I had low confidence and self-esteem and thought I looked "hideous". I feel for that old me as I look at this photograph with compassion.

I had begun to wonder if dieting had not just failed to help me lose weight but had actually made me fatter. My eating was chaotic and I was confused and panicked about what to do.

I took a radical step...

And let go of dieting and chose another different path

The photo of me (dressed in black) is taken two years later before a family Christmas lunch. I was even heavier then at about 217 pounds (I5st 7lbs or 98.5kg). The outfit was expensive and I styled my hair and put on make-up.

Curiously, this photo is highly significant for me. Thinking of the Henry Ford quote, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got", I had recently taken a radical step - I had stopped dieting.

I began to focus instead on different actions. The first step was to practice eating mindfully and intuitively just when hungry. At this Christmas lunch, I ate my first meal with my family in that way. In my journal I wrote about my experience and what I had gleaned from it. I did not know if my new approach would make me slim but I was already feeling better in myself and freer around food. 

It changed my life...

I regained my confidence and self-esteem

In this 2004 photo I have dropped 5st 7lbs (77lbs or 35kg). I think you can see that I am happier and clothes size a UK 12-14. I had become a lot healthier too because I had become very physically active. (I am still active at age 61.)

People were asking me what I had been doing and I started sharing what I had learnt. I was already a nutritional therapist with a busy practice (Ironic I know!) and so I offered help for weight-loss. I called the programme Happyweight. It was the UK's first mindful eating weight management programme. 2022 is its 20th anniversary!

Not every client wants to lose weight. Some want to stabilise, to just eat normally after a life of rigid control, and some want to stop binge eating. Others are worried about the effects of their eating on their health or their children's eating behaviour. We are all unique and with different needs and expectations. 

I am happy to be able to help support and guide each client through a personal process to find a happy place of body, mind and spirit.