281: It's Never Too Late

Introduction

0:00welcome to slimming world podcast hope you're well hope you had a great easter um we are back with another public podcast and this year we've had so many brilliant guests and they just keep coming

0:33Anna don't they do you know what I was just thinking this year has been ram packed and with so many different guests it's so interesting I cannot wait for this one one of the things that me and Anna really love to do is explore how different people take the flexibility of food optimizing to understand just how adaptable this plan can be for people in all kinds of lifestyles

Diamond Member Introduction

0:59ages genders parts of the world even and today we are delighted that we have slimming world's current diamond member uh diamond member of the year technically 2025 but you still hold the title and don't you how are you I'm very well indeed thanks to slimming world yes and a happy and healthy life ah well the tiara looks great on you shall we say so um diamond member of the year I

1:34mean uh we always have to I guess recap the lingo Anna don't we for anyone who isn't part of the slimming world community they might be thinking what on earth is a diamond member are you able to recap this Anna so yeah our wonderful target members once they've hit their desired chosen target weight um they haven't once they hit their first year they become diamond status and yeah it just means that they've stayed within their kind of weight loss bubble you get a bubble of six pounds and they stayed within that um for the first year they get diamond target and then year on year on after that

2:10they're uh multiple diamonds aren't they they are like a tennis bracelet or necklace some of them with so many diamonds so yeah it's a celebration of every year that they've stayed at that target weight wow that's the gold right there is it or diamond should I say um I'm going to start with the

Success Story

2:28first sentence of your success story that I read online Anne and here's what you said you said if you told me back in 2010 that I'd be this fit happy and confident in my 80s I'd have laughed but here I am living proof that it's never too late to change your life boom can you expand yes uh it was one of the best things I have done was on April the 27th uh 2010 when I walked in

3:04feeling very nervous and afraid into Slimming World but it was just wonderful the consultant the group everything and then the courage to get on the scales and discovered I was nearly 17 stone but I was promised and assured that Slimming World would work and it did because I got to target in the following year of June and I it just worked it was just wonderful the weight came off I was told I

3:37would lose weight I was assured I was promised if I followed it you know I would and I wasn't hungry it just worked it was just amazing and success breeds success and I lost weight every single week bar Christmas when I put on half a pound but there's no judgment you know if you find you you slip by that you your group support your consultant and you get right back on it and and it's not a diet

4:08I mean it's proper food you're you're never hungry it's just wonderful oh I mean and you say it's it changed your life or how give us an idea of how well for example I used to love swimming but I had to give it up because I just couldn't bear myself see myself in a swimming costume or others to see me and the weight came off and I remember in January 2011 we booked a holiday property bond place in

4:43Wales with a swimming pool and we'd booked this apartment 77 steps up a spiral staircase and that was the only way to access this wonderful apartment and sort of walking up with a suitcase walking down before breakfast to use a swimming pool I mean it just opened up opened up reopened you know this wonderful healthy happy life and your character your confidence changes you're no longer sort of hiding or

5:20avoiding the camera or even sort of speaking in public you don't want to put yourself forward it and but once I lost started to lose the weight you're just gaining confidence or you regain the

Confidence Changes

5:35confidence and and you're you're healthy and happy tell me and how has your health been impacted I am in 2010 I had suffered two chest infections one you know between January and March my husband's brother was a doctor and I did say to him you know my chest infection and he said to me and you know you're carrying around the sack of potatoes you know there's so much weight if you lost

6:11some weight you're you would not suffer and he was right he was very kind and it worked I haven't had a chest infection since yes it made a huge difference in my the way I look the way I dress yes yeah you the way I am yeah you talked about avoiding mirrors I mean I I absolutely avoided mirrors well and in fact Anna you only said a few weeks ago didn't you that now you're at a target weight

6:43and a diamond member we should add yeah Anna's diamond yeah but you said that you don't mind looking at yourself in the mirror now now it's something that I almost like prioritize I do to celebrate and and I you know I've got a little eight-year-old little girl and I want to show her that your body's brilliant and strong and actually we've got five six full-length mirrors in my house now like I yeah that's a nightmare washing and cleaning though I know yeah I know and they're everywhere but whereas I used to just have them from the chin upwards because you did you know I

7:17used to think like when I'd catch a reflection of myself you know in a shop window I used to wince at that and now I actually take a second and think hello like it makes you feel proud doesn't it of what you've done so turning sideways you know in photographs yeah or hiding behind somebody you know it's quite it's quite different yes and I you know I do I if well originally when I did lose all this weight people noticed and they would ask me and you know what have you done and I said I have

7:52joined slimming world uh you know it's just wonderful it's proper food cooked well you're an avid gardener aren't you well we yes yes well we've got a lot well we've got quite a bit of we've got a field we've got a walled garden yes um but it's been more of it has been put down to grass okay but I can imagine tending to that you need to be quite fit and healthy to be physically yes yes yes and we I did get a hot tub I go in every night

8:2411 o'clock even on Christmas day yes um and and it's rigorous exercise yes you know I do or if you know if not I just lie back and let the bubbles and just look at the stars yeah oh my goodness I feel like yeah but um can I be cheeky and ask do you uh wear a swimming costume or do you not bother I wear a woolly hat is that all yes if it's in your own garden why not

8:57but I always tell my husband you know I tell Anthony I said set Alexa for 20 minutes but you know so he'll come out and sort of close it up you know just just for safety we've got visions of you in your woolly hat needing some assistance well I mean honestly we've got a zest for life that's for sure to say I'm busy I mean we're both we've got a lovely old church well we're both involved with that

9:31but I look after the village hall we it's opened every day for books and bric-a-brac and I'm the unpaid cleaner um and we've made I think since COVID 24 000 pounds just through donations for books jigsaws and bric-a-brac um but that involves you know quite a bit of work and there's a snooker room that I sort of go and hoover and it will is part of the community our village is a lovely village in

10:02Wednesdaydale I mean it's uh yeah it's very very attractive yeah do you feel now since you lost the weight you live a much more a bigger life because I found when I was overweight my world was much more an open life and you don't mind talking to people in I mean in in Yorkshire everyone knows everyone you speak but I'm not I'm not afraid to be open and none of us are perfect

10:32none of us live stress-free lives and you know you you need to smile at people and if they're looking down you just just spend time with people and when in retirement you have got the time and being involved with the village hall and the church you know you want one is involved yeah

Advice for Younger Listeners

10:51yeah so the other thing I'm also thinking Anne is that you know that statement where um you talked about if you if you spoke to your 20 year old self I mean I imagine that there will be people in their 20s listening to this podcast episode what would you say to people who maybe aren't yet retired and they are younger um and they are trying to to lose the weight what now knowing that you've kind of cracked this and kept the weight off for a number of years what would you suggest either to

11:23yourself or to to people of that age group well I would say come with me I belong to a club come come come come with me just just taste and see the welcome you get the understanding there's no judgment no one's looks in horror you know there are people in great need who need to lose weight but you you're so accepted you're so welcomed and you you you talk to the next door person you know

11:57you engage in the in the in the lineup and uh no I would say come with me why give it a go try just try yeah or I would put you know you're saying to a young I would say encourage them or not what you must not do but what you can eat that you're not hungry and just try and emphasize the the healthy the healthy options and and you know I know it works um brief it works I mean and that's the thing

12:33isn't it because it feels like the world seems so noisy these days doesn't it we try this do that quick fixes we can't open the newspapers without seeing some kind of promise to do and a shortcut and I suppose it can be hard for people to find that organization they trust but I guess really slimming world's been doing this for like over 55 years kind of know what they're talking about yeah and also how slimming world has adapted I mean when I joined there was green there was um

13:06you know there were three toys I just extra easy but now I think it is much easier much easier yes simple not simpler but it's I think yeah streamlined it's been that's it that's it and you know slimming world's a wonderful organization I've now been well entertained by them three times you know Birmingham but twice at uh to our headquarters and I am coming again in April April the 24th I've

13:38been invited to something or other yeah nice do you love the restaurant as much as Claire and I do but yes yeah wonderful but you know everyone is so lovely and we were given a tour this time of the offices you know and and I I met a photographer and he'd worked there for 26 years somebody else 30 I mean the proof of the pudding isn't in the eating I mean it's just all those involved in slimming world are just just lovely but you tapped into something before and I think it's

14:12that that group and what you get in group and that sense of community and that support did that really help you in your journey oh yes and you you in our group in Labour you do tend to sit in the same place you're either north south east and west you know and the consultant knows because she goes through the names and oh you know where's Gemma she she always sits there and you know so you get to know the people and and with the the diamond member you are voted for by your fellows and so I I felt I was

14:52as their representative because a lot of target people uh sensibly do go back each week they're there there was a feeling that I was voted for by I was representing them yes yeah they must be extremely proud of you well they were very nice until they uh bought magazines and they wanted me to sign so um what is it that keeps you coming back and because you know some people would say well you've

15:26cracked it haven't you what why is it that you need to keep going because in my past I have had a weight problem I was slim when I got married um but I in my adolescent I was overweight uh when I was at teacher's training college the it was a very um well it was an Anglican uh teacher training college and there was a sister in the surgery and she actually arranged with the canteen this you know college

15:59canteen that I had a low high protein lots of vegetables and limited uh carbohydrates and I did lose then two stone which I kept off um but in my life I have put weight on after the my first son instead of losing weight I put it on and then later on about 20 years later I think it was so I know and then I put myself on you know for one of our son's weddings and I didn't want to be in the photographs

16:32so I put myself I was just careful but slimming world is the one that has worked because it's not just the food um but it's the group support the consultants the encouragement it's the aftercare and it it's just like a club it's like a you know my Wednesday club yes no and we we do have a lovely

17:02group at labor yes yes now you've talked about your lovely husband Anthony has he how's he dealt with the food optimizing train and the way you cook all the way you cook together he has been wonderful but because slimming world is good food and he doesn't like a lot of starchy stuff like that uh so encouraging I followed recipes but now you know you know so well how to do it but um alcohol

17:32you know uh in 2010 you know I decided uh we would always have a gin and tonic but he would get one of his one of his one of the nice glasses slice of lime ice and he would fill it with um low calorie tonic and then he'd put a finger in his gin and wipe it around the top of my glass and um I got the smell a sniff of gin yes yes and you know it was lovely and

18:08he would he would never I mean I think I wouldn't have wine I might at the weekend have a glass of wine but I was before I went to slimming world I you know in retirement I would have cider at lunchtime just you know oh she's a class here is our Anne you know I I really I really took it seriously not in a dull way but I was I committed I made that commitment to join slimming world

18:40and with christine spencer's help and the group support you know it just worked that's romance isn't it him dipping his finger and putting it back yeah yeah yeah I'm going down to my husband to tell him that now but Anthony right from the start because he plays golf and Aldi's very near so after he's had his round of golf he'll go to Aldi he won't for a treat he wouldn't buy me chocolates but it would be

19:10say if there was wonderful fruit you know flying out you know he would come back with fruit and then um you know or flowers he's all you know always and then uh I've taken on naught percent gin you know yeah and um he'll go get a bottle of tanqueries naught percent as a you know because it's more expensive than the supermarket in labor and the co-op in labor how nice is that he really but you know when we were tired in 2004 we had to register up here

19:48with a doctor and he said you know mrs david you mind getting on the scales he said hmm you are a bit heavy you know well it took another doctor in 2010 to tell me you know lose weight in a very nice way but Anthony stopped saying anything because I would cry yeah he wouldn't say anything horrible you know but do you do you think you really should have a cider or do you think you'd have that you

20:23know that's a lot of cheese you'd you know what I mean just just gently but he was so and so encouraging and then so proud you know each week I'd come back and say you know how do you get on today well it'd be two pounds off you know and then um even now I let him know and I I'm in target but you know one does put weight one one's weight does go up so you know I'd say oh it's um bang on target but I said that means it's two pounds more and he'd write back immediately a

20:58nice message you know that's all right you're okay you know wonderful yeah no he he really yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah support system don't we yeah it does make a big difference doesn't it I mean it sounds like you had to in order to get where you are today you had to make some different choices

Lifestyle Changes and Support

21:22you had to make some changes and sometimes I guess I know when I started out the process of losing weight many many years ago I almost wasn't willing to really see that I wasn't really to I didn't really think about this in terms of a lifestyle and like the long term I wanted quick and I wired it off and I just wanted to be done and then go back to however life was before but it sounds like you had to make these changes so you're talking there about for you putting alcohol to the side was one of those

21:53changes but I'm curious you know because the plan is so adaptable and flexible what do you use your swips for for instance I suppose yes I've given up we have afternoon tea you know earl grey tea and I like well we've got a naga so you've always got something hot and I love baking and we do afternoon tea with a church so you know scones and all that I had to no longer have anything with my

22:29earl grey tea Anthony is tall and he he he was he used to be a runner long distance runner so he's live and he and he does a lot of physical work and walking seven miles on the golf course you know um he he does like a slice of fruit cake or a scone or anything like that um so I have I can do it for him or I tell him you know I've told him I think yesterday the Christmas cake is in the fridge in the

23:04utility room if you would like if you would like a slice do go and get I do I know me yeah and if I cut a slice I'll just even off or perhaps take a bit you know slight angle it so you know I've got a bit of marzipan strategic cutting Anne love this so I do I do know me and I do take measures yes I do yeah

23:37and I do buy well Anthony does I um the Tesco's 30% cheddar cheese it's much sharper than Aldi Aldi's not so good on that yeah I like that she's a connoisseur of a low-fat cheese you know the good yes yes yes yes but you have to find your things don't you this is what it's about it's about finding those ways to still live your gorgeous life but just with a few tweaks and I love making soup I love making soup and so he'll buy if you know they're doing um uh 11 pence vegetables you know a whole

24:13lovely cabbage or a swede or anything Anthony will buy lots of vegetables you know because he knows I love cooking and you know soup yeah I got you double of that and if the 0% gin is you know bargain price I'll get two bottles and and it goes under the sideboard yes no he does you really have how many years have you been married we're coming up to 58 years yes

24:45wow yes it's a long time yes when I think I mean I'm 18 months older than Anthony I think he was 23 toy boy yeah and I was coming up to 25 yeah and just think Anthony you know what a promise we made each other then you know oh what a promise it's been and what an exceptional life it's been by the sounds of it yes because we taught it in the same well not a school it was independent school but in

25:16the same grounds yeah yeah and he was one of the five bachelors over at the boys school yeah yeah wow and how fast forward and now he's buying you 0% gin and 11p cabbages I mean what more could do you want what a boring life do you know what I really get a sense is like just how joyful your life is and I think sometimes when people talk about weight loss they forget about joy don't they

25:48they forget about the happiness and the connection and I always think as well like you hear people say that phrase I'll be happy when you know that they kind of like postpone their celebration or their happiness but actually it just feels like you you really kind of celebrated that along the way of your journey and and that and that's just is the way of your life now yeah yeah yeah oh I love it do you know what and you know what I love I run five different groups of my own and I love when members

26:23who are may have a little more wisdom maybe slightly older share those pearls of wisdom with my gorgeous younger members as well it's such a lovely connection that's forged that I don't think happens very often in society anymore that the generations don't mix so much it's such a lovely way to learn I see in my groups a lot of my older members have taught the young ones how to cook or where to do this and things and I learn off my members so much I mean have you found that in your groups that you're able to sort of share yes yes and and we're friends across the age group

26:59but also you know different uh from different walks of life and but also we can share and support emotionally and I think weight and emotions and they do go together and we rejoice with each other when when when they they reach a stone you know or their first um weight loss when they come back and they're just amazed they've lost six pounds and you know we just we just share with each other and

27:33support and we never crow or there's no condemnation there's no arrogance you know we just jet with I think you're you're almost genuine because quite honestly you know weight being overweight is a huge emotion and you when you go you are acknowledged you're admitting that you have a problem and you want to change your life yeah I mean you mentioned that when Anthony would would talk about weight that that

28:07made you cry what was it that was was the emotion there for you that would that would make you feel that way because I was embarrassed I was ashamed of myself um feelings that I couldn't put into words didn't want to put into words but when Anthony's brother said to me and he was so gentle because he said you know and I love you but you know I just want to help you and I can this is what you need to do for

28:41your health's sake and you know I could take it from him and it just gave me the courage and there was a leaflet put through my door I've put many a thousand through many a thousand door in the last yeah yeah that was you know yeah that was it I always think when I deliver my leaflets because it was a leaflet that really helped me as well like this leaflet through this door could be the first step that changes someone's life and it's just it's for a lot of people it's that first

29:15oh wow this is what I need to do did you feel a little bit like that when it dropped on the doormat yeah yeah no I made but I do remember January um you know December the 31st I do remember this room because we used to give a New Year's Eve party I thought I'm going to change I want to change my life this year so you know and it it all dovetailed you know I yeah look at you now how many years at

29:4512 have you been now well 2011 so it's 15 years nearly yes gosh so I'm trying to do the maths 82 minus 15 I can't like it so you're in your 60s when you joined Slimming World right yeah wow incredible good for you well you're defying all people you know who might be like do you know what it's too late for me or you can't change a leopard spirit exactly it's not about age is it

30:20it's about your mindset yes yes wasn't Margaret wonderful the way she discovered this did it you know before a remarkable woman before her time I often think yes yes incredible lady yeah well and we'll um we'll um we'll let you go uh rescue Anthony from I don't know eating cake in the utilities probably prepping your hot tub by now isn't he pouring your gin yes yes he's eating the hot tub with

30:51a piece of cake that's what I want to know that is that's the dream right there isn't it Anne with the hat on oh of course thank you okay well bye take care it's been a pleasure yeah well next week we're doing a members only episode and uh we're continuing this theme really I guess of self-love aren't we it's called show yourself some love uh we're tapping into a brilliant magazine article that's come out not very long ago actually want to get into this as a bit of a theme

31:21um and then we're back uh talking about food I mean of course we will talk about food in the next couple of weeks as well so come and have a little bit of fun with us we'll be on instagram at slimmingworldpodcast you can always email us slimmingworldpodcast at gmail.com but until then bye Anne take care goodbye goodbye bye and see you guys soon bye bye you