Local slimming experts scoop prestigious awards
Two slimming experts have been recognized at a glittering awards ceremony in Birmingham for their efforts in helping the people of Fareham, Stubbington and Lee on Solent to lose weight.
Between them Liz Philo and Christine Micallef received 3 highly coveted awards for their dedication and inspiration in supporting members of their Slimming World groups. They received their awards from founder Margaret Miles-Bramwell who started the company 55 years ago.
“We both love our roles and actually get so much from helping members and watching them transform” says Liz. “There is a new study showed that 53% of adults say that just one setback can derail them from their weight loss goal. It suggests that learning to cope with setbacks could be the key to lasting weight loss success. This is exactly what we do in our groups every week!”
Christine adds “Almost one in five (19%) said a setback made them give up altogether. What we do is to help to enable members to cope with setbacks”
These statistics are from a survey of 2,003 adults revealed of those who had experienced a setback whilst trying to lose weight, 38% say the top reason was feeling hungry and 29% say it was a stressful life event such as a bereavement, job loss or family illness. For others, it was missing out on their favourite foods (25%), and not planning healthy meals (23%) which derailed them.
The top temptations which can cause setbacks, according to those surveyed who have tried to lose weight, are having unhealthy snacks such as chocolate, crisps, cakes and biscuits in the house (41%), Saturday night takeaways (21%), cakes and pastries when buying coffee (20%) and fast food after a night out drinking (18%).
Dr Amanda Avery, Slimming World’s Health and Research Consultant Dietitian says learning how to handle setbacks is crucial for long-term weight loss success. She says: “As we’ve seen with the results of this research, setbacks on a weight loss journey are to be expected. Things don't always go perfectly to plan and that's life. What’s key when this happens, is to be kind to yourself. Learning to accept that a setback is part of your slimming journey can help stop you being derailed altogether. It's good to have some personal strategies for dealing with potential setbacks or, even better, have strategies to try to minimise the risk of setbacks. Within Slimming World groups, members receive personalised expert guidance from their Consultant, to help them with the motivation, accountability and commitment they need to avoid or navigate setbacks.”
The survey, carried out by Censuswide, also polled members of Slimming World’s 13,000 community weight loss groups and online programme. Of the members questioned, 82% feel more capable of dealing with setbacks than they did when making previous weight loss attempts. The vast majority (72%) of members questioned said they’re less likely to experience setbacks now they’re a member of Slimming World, due to the flexibility and support the plan provides and 84% agree they’re more confident in their ability to recover from a setback while losing weight than they were before joining.
“Slimming World’s approach combines support to change your mindset around weight loss with a flexible healthy eating plan and a physical support activity programme – both of which can be tailored to your lifestyle and ability. Members, who attend a weekly group gain knowledge and expertise to understand themselves better as a slimmer. They are encouraged to use deep thinking and techniques including visualisation and planning to build their motivation, self-belief and commitment so they can change their relationship with food, physical activity and weight loss in general and achieve long lasting success” says Liz
Professor James Stubbs, Appetite & Energy Balance, University of Leeds, agrees having a flexible mindset is important to any weight loss endeavour. He says: “For anyone looking to lose weight, it’s important to remember that this is not a quick fix, it’s a gradual process. As with any journey it is good to be prepared, to have plans, tools to help you navigate and coping strategies for when the journey can get difficult. Behaviour change plays a key role and there will be days when setbacks will be experienced and things don’t go so well, which is perfectly natural. Learning how to navigate setbacks is what helps people develop the skills needed for lasting behaviour change. Even people who are highly successful at losing weight and keeping it off have setbacks and revisit some of the strategies they used to lose weight initially.”
If you would like more information about joining these award-winning consultants groups their details can be found on the Slimming World website and they would be happy to answer any questions.