Slimming World success

I've done it! 24 weeks after joining Slimming World, I have shed 2 stone, 9½ pounds and not only achieved my target weight but gone a pound beyond it.

When I started, my Body Mass Index was 30.3, which meant that I was clinically obese. Over the years I'd tried calorie counting or simply giving up fatty foods, and my weight had dropped a bit, then risen again as enthusiasm waned, but never went far from the obese threshold of 30. Now it's a very healthy 24.5 and I'm rather proud of the fact that I never gained weight once on my Slimming World journey.

With Christmas celebrations looming large, the timing could not have been better.  Whilst I have no intention of lapsing into my old ways, I will be able to relax a bit, and enjoy a few slices of Christmas Cake, and Cornish clotted cream on my Christmas Pudding.  Hopefully, my weight won't rise more than 3lb above Target Weight, ensuring that I keep my free membership of Slimming World. If I do over-indulge, though, I shall simply pay up and doubtless knock the excess pounds off quite quickly.  After all, I know what to do.

All of which emphasises the importance to me of the 'group therapy' that has become an essential part of my weight loss programme. Yes, I know that it's perfectly possible to lose weight without joining a group of rotund individuals every week, commiserating with those who have gained weight and congratulating those who have lost. But believe me, few things gladden a slimmer's heart more than applause from ones friends after a good week.

Then there are the certificates, marking important stages on the journey and proudly displayed on a notice board in my hobby room. Apart from that final Certificate of Success, this has to be the one for which I'm most proud, not least because it was unexpected...

I'm thrilled that two friends have joined Slimming World after seeing how much good it was doing me, and another is thinking about it. Others who were already members have also contacted me and we've been able to encourage one another.

To them, and to anyone else embarking on this Slimming World journey, I offer just two bits of advice:

1.Attend the group sessions. Slimming World call this 'Image Therapy' and that's exactly what it is. When, week by week, friends applaud your efforts, you really do grow to believe that the image staring back at you in the mirror is growing more and more lovely.

2. Don't stop counting Syns. All food that isn't 'free' has a syn value and most of us are encouraged to aim for 5-15 syns a day. For the first four weeks, consultants ask us to log all our food and record those syns. After the four weeks, don't stop! Slimming World will keep giving you food logs if you want them. I chose to make my own record sheets, on which I recorded my syns, together with the Healthy Extra dairy and fibre foods which are an essential part of the Slimming World plan.

Incidentally, one thing that Slimming World consultants don't recommend is that you weigh yourself too often. That's one bit of advice that I chose to ignore, jumping on the scales at least 5 times a week, though I wouldn't necessarily advise others to do the same.  Recording data was an important part of my old job in the China Clay industry and statistics still fascinate me. Consequently I can tell you that my average weekly weight loss was 1.56lb with a standard deviation of 1.2. How sad is that?