I always kept active and looked after myself over the years and was never really overweight. A change of job meant I was no longer cycling to work, and I had further to travel, so I took the bus or the car. My exercise had gone out the window! The weight started creeping up and all of a sudden, I was carrying a lot more than I realised. My wife Jennie started chatting to me about joining the local Unislim class with her in January. I wouldn’t commit and I didn’t really know much about it, but she phoned me on her way to her first class saying she was going to join and I thought I might as well go along with her, sure what have I got to lose?
And lose I did, I’m now 5 stone lighter and absolutely delighted with how I feel. The energy I have is just fantastic. The first class was great, and we had the support of each other which was really important to us both. Jean, our Leader in Bray, went through the plan with us and was so supportive. When we got back from our first class, we gathered up all the left-over goodies from Christmas in the presses, divided them up and gave them out to everyone else in work. We wanted to give ourselves the best start possible. In the past my portions were huge. When I’d have a cup of tea, I’d grab a handful of biscuits, I was always picking even though I wasn’t hungry because most of the time it was habit rather than actual hunger. I also started to walk at lunchtime when I was in work, I do about half an hour and then have my lunch.
At home, we tend to batch cook on a Sunday. We’ll cook up a chilli or curry and portion it out ready for the week ahead. Planning really is important as your week will work better for you if you know what you have in the fridge. In the past when I’d come home from work, I’d eat my dinner and feel I’d no energy. I would just lay on the couch for the night. Now we go out in the evening for a walk. We’re a little competitive and make sure we hit our 10,000 steps but some days I average 13k/14k per day.
Now I really enjoy going on nights out, in particular going to gigs or festivals. Thankfully there are healthier choices on offer wherever you go. I don’t drink so that was never a problem, but I changed my pint of rock shandy to a diet coke which makes a difference. If we eat out, we look online and pick what we are going to eat before we go and now, we share a dessert rather than having one each. Small changes like that make the difference. With Unislim nothing is off-limits, it’s just about making healthier choices.
I’m more confident; I sleep a lot better so I’ve more energy during the day. I play indoor football once a week and in the past, I’d want to go into goals at halftime. Now there is no stopping me – the difference is brilliant. What I’d say to anyone is give it a go. I nearly hesitated but I’m so glad I didn’t. Unislim has completely changed my life for the better!
