Joanne

Simon Horton Health > Stories > Losing weight > Joanne
Name Joanne
Age: 30
Status: Engaged
Occupation: Teacher
Location: Manchester, U.K.
Height: 5’5″
Starting weight: 210 lbs
Current weight: 140 lbs
Starting waist size: 36″
Current waist size: 28″

The Lifestyle

I never had a weight problem growing up, I was always quite active as a child and always stayed relatively slim, until at the age of 18, I went to university.

 

Inevitably, I began living the stereotypical student lifestyle, going out drinking 3-4 nights a week, eating lots of takeaway food and at first, I didn’t really notice the weight creeping up. However, after 3 years, I had put on more than 4 stone and it was when I looked back at old photographs from before I started university that I realised just how much I had changed.

 

I was now around 15 stone and I felt so uncomfortable in my body. I was unfit, my skin was bad, I always had break-outs and I knew I had to do something about it sooner rather than later.

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The change

I decided to cut out everything I considered “bad food/drink” from my diet and try to stick to just meat and veg. I wanted to change immediately.

 

I ate super healthy for a few days—chicken, vegetables—but eventually I crashed and ate everything in sight. I tried to get into a regular routine at the gym, but I quit when I didn’t see any results.

I’d lose a few pounds, then my results would plateau and I’d give up and put every last pound back on again.

Then, I met Simon… I had been going to the gym sporadically and built a basic level of fitness, but Simon completely changed my programme, replacing the long, tedious cardio workouts with far more enjoyable and varied weight-training and HIIT workouts, which I not only enjoyed a lot more, but also saw far more consistent weight loss results with.

 

Simon showed me a totally new and different approach to my nutrition, whereby I focused not on restricting and basically torturing myself as I had previously been doing, but instead, changing my nutritional habits to allow a much more sustainable approach which would be much easier to stick to long-term.

 

I began prepping all my lunches for the week on a Sunday, ditched the restrictive fad diets and actually ate a lot more of the foods that I enjoyed. I got back to the gym and began to really enjoy my training routine. I felt myself getting fitter and stronger every week, and before my progression had chance to plateau out, Simon would update my training programme to ensure I continued to progress.

Simon showed me a totally new and different approach.

2 years later, I have now lost exactly 5 stone! (70 lbs!) Not only that, but I can see how my muscle tone has developed in every area of my body. I feel like a totally different person to the one who started this journey and with Simon’s help and support, I have completely turned my life around and now regular exercise and healthy eating has become a way of life. I still go out, socialise and have a few drinks on the weekend, but Simon has shown me how to allow for this and still maintain my results long-term.