TO go from almost giving up on your weight to becoming a two-times London Marathon runner is a huge achievement. That’s what Becca Jones has done and I’m really pleased she’s agreed to write this guest blog in the hope it will inspire others to great things. This is Becca’s story in her own words:
“I found Slimpods back in May 2011, after many frustrating years of dieting with little success. I had always been a size 16-18 through my adult life. I’d tried everything and I’d just about given up and accepted that I was destined to be that size forever, when I heard about Slimpods.
“I started listening to Drop Two Dress Sizes and the changes happened almost immediately. I started leaving food on my plate, knowing that I was full. My desire to eat at times when I wasn’t actually hungry decreased and my ability to eat beyond the point of fullness also disappeared.
Becca proudly shows her medal
for the 2014 Marathon
“I also developed a desire to exercise – I took up running and soon got the bug. I entered a 5K race and then the 10 mile Great South Run and before I knew it I was training for the London Marathon 2012 along with two other people using Slimpods, Dawn Walton and Darin McCloud.
“By the time marathon day arrived I’d lost 2 dress sizes, now comfortably fitting into size 14s. We had the most amazing day – one I’ll never forget – crossing the line with Darin was a very special moment. But I knew that I wanted to do better and resolved to lose more weight, improve my fitness and come back to give it another go.
“But after the marathon my weight loss hit a plateau. I was still listening to Slimpods – eating when hungry and stopping when full, but my weight and size seem to have got stuck.
“At the time Dawn was training to be a Cognitive Hypnotherapist so I turned to her for some help. I wondered if there was something going on with me that was preventing me from making further progress.
“We had a couple of sessions together including one where we did something called a timeline – you basically take your mind back in time to find the event that might have been a trigger for your current behaviour and then you deal with that. It was a fascinating session and once we were done I knew that something significant had changed.
“I found that my relationship with food was now completely logical – there was no emotional connection whatsoever. I was ready to make some more changes to help me reach my long term goal of being a comfortable size 12.
“At around the same time I became aware of a personal trainer called Julia Buckley who was piloting an online fat loss fitness programme called The Fat Burn Revolution. It sounded like just what I needed, so I signed myself up for the 12 week course.
“The main focus of Julia’s programme was on intense exercise sessions using weights and High Intensity Interval Training. Both of these were new approaches to me but I found that I loved them and how they made my body feel.
“The second aspect of Julia’s programme was the dietary guidelines. Not a diet plan, but a set of easy to follow advice to implement into your diet to ensure that it’s best for fat loss. That meant cutting out a lot of things that had previously been staples in my diet – processed carbohydrate and sugar for a start.
“So out went the pasta, bread and sugary coffees and in came meals packed with lean protein and vegetables. With my mind now on my side I could see that these were entirely logical guidelines and following them was going to get me to my goal.
“I’ve now been working with Julia for over a year and in that time I’ve reached my size 12 goal and have lost 14% of my body fat. I’m the lightest I’ve ever been although I’ve stopped caring about my total weight. It means nothing. I’m far more interested in building muscle to help me burn fat and improve my fitness.
“Building muscle and shedding fat has also improved my running no end. The strength training has given me legs of steel and really helped my core strength too, something that’s really important for long distance running.
“So when I took on the London Marathon again on Sunday I planned to smash my time from 2012 – and I did! When I crossed that finish line I became a two-time marathon runner – and it all started with Slimpods!”
