A Northern Ireland man has opened up about how he shed 4st and found a new way of life in less than a year.
Sam Martin, 60, from Moneymore has recently been crowned his local Slimming World group's Man of the Year and says, never did he think this would happen.
He said: "I only came to the group to lose a bit of weight. Like everyone I suppose, decided in January 2024 that I needed to do something about my weight. I had been feeling really unhappy and uncomfortable for a while and had tried to lose weight before but I always found that I was either hungry or just couldn’t stick to it!
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"I had been to Slimming World before but again hadn’t stuck at it but with a new mindset and a better commitment to making some changes I decided that I was going to give it another try."
Sam went along to his local group where he was met by the consultant who reassured him and put him at ease immediately: “I was a bit nervous to be honest because I knew I would probably know people there and I didn’t want to feel judged.”
But he didn’t need to worry as the group was so welcoming and supportive that he went away determined to stick with it and at his first week weigh in lost a jaw dropping 15.5lb!
He says: "Imagine eating really tasty foods – we just adapt our meals to food optimising which means we still have our favourites but still have a weight loss too!"
Sam is a big part of the group as well, he never misses a chance to share his tips and ideas and equally takes the ideas from his fellow members too. When someone in the group doesn’t have the loss they would like, Sam is always there showing encouragement and a wee cheer on too, so much so that the group crowned him 'Man of the Year'.
Of course his very impressive 4st weight loss helped him accept the title as someone that has worked hard on improving his life through a shift in his mindset and his behaviours. Now he feels confident that with the help of his group and consultant he will stay at his new target weight!
As a target member not only has Sam lost 4st but he has now found a new way of life with exercise too and this combined with a healthy change of diet means that he stays at his weight loss target and comes to the group completely free of charge.
He explains: "I knew members that got to target were able to come to the group for free but I didn’t know that actually once you’ve lost the weight you then follow a different plan. It’s called Slim for Life and this is the plan that helps you maintain your target weight and makes sure that I don’t go back to my old ways!
"So I’m giving myself the best gift this Christmas and staying in the group so that I start the New Year in the best possible place. If I could say one thing to anyone it would be, don’t wait start now! Slimming World will help you every step of the way."
To join your local Slimming World group just log on to www.slimmingworld.co.uk.
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