Francesca Harrall

IMAGINE giving up snacking on junk food and chocolate bars after just one day of listening to a Slimpod programme. That’s what happened to Francesca Harrall, 27, from Suffolk – and in six months she’s lost 14 lbs* and gone down to the lightest she’s been for six years.

“The great thing about Slimpod is that I never feel tied to the scales like I did when I was dieting,” she says. “Instead, I focus on inches and the way my body feels, with weight loss quickly becoming a by-product of healthier life choices rather than purely being about the way I look.”

Francesca’s story is tinged with sadness because her comfort eating was triggered by the death of her mother. But the positive effects of her Slimpod programme will inspire you.

“Those days of buying big bars of chocolate to devour in one go are behind me!” she says.

Look how Francesca’s body has changed in six months*:

Starting measurements:

Weight – 10st 6lbs

Neck – 14″

Chest – 37.5″

Waist – 28.5″

Biceps – 11″

Hips – 37″

Thighs – 23.5″

Latest measurements:

Weight: 9st 6lbs

Neck – 13″

Chest – 36″

Waist – 25.5″

Biceps – 11″

Hips – 35″

Thighs – 22″

This is how Francesca describes her transformation in her own words:

“I had been underweight for most of my life – always being extremely active and athletic as a child and teenager, and a fussy eater to boot. That was until my Mum was diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2012 at the age of 44 (when I was 22) and died eight months later.

“The extreme pain and stress of losing a parent meant I started comfort eating A LOT of junk food, mainly chocolate (I’ve always had a sweet tooth). Coupled with my quest to quit smoking, it ramped up my appetite and of course, my weight in quite a short space of time.

“I remember at my heaviest I was 11st 4lbs, which for someone who’s only 5ft tall is a lot of weight to carry. I would buy two large 100g bars of chocolate a day and sit and scoff them at my desk, where I spent 18 hours every weekday, and then all weekend on the sofa.

“I’d quit smoking, but my lifestyle was so unhealthy. I had depression, anxiety and panic attacks, so I was never motivated to move my body and on the rare occasion I did, I would feel self conscious about the way I looked and make excuses to only do the minimum amount of work.

“Somewhere along the line I started dieting, something I’d never felt I had to do before. I tried every diet you could think of; Atkins, Paleo, vegan, juice fasting (that made me very ill) and because I felt so deprived, my weight just went up and down.

Photo of me was shocking

“Fed up with the whole cycle of dieting, I ignored trying to lose weight for a while. I had poor self confidence, always sucking in my stomach when wearing nice clothes and trying to squeeze into the same clothes that had fit me a few years ago.

“I love fashion, so I started an Instagram account so I could document all of my thrifted outfits. It was only in an un-posed outfit photo where my timer had gone off too early that I got a true look at what my weight had become.

“For someone who had always been slim, it was shocking to see myself heavier than I thought I was. I knew it was time to actually face the problem and do something about it, but I was at a loss where to begin.

“Hypnotherapy had helped me with my anxiety and bereavement so I ran a quick Google search for hypnotherapy for weight loss. Among the results I saw Slimpod and that day, I bought it. I weighed 10st 6lbs when I started my Slimpod journey.

“With my first day of Slimpod my chocolate craving disappeared. It was weird! I went to the supermarket to buy a few bits and on the way back home I realised I hadn’t thought about chocolate like I usually would. I got a ton of household chores done that day too, which I’d been putting off. It was less about planning meals and exercise like a ‘diet’ and more about tuning into what my body needed.

The great thing about Slimpod

“Thinking this way became my new normal, and gradually my self confidence rose as I dropped inches. It took a while for my sedentary lifestyle to become more active, but I got there.

“Within eight weeks I was starting to move my body in ways I found fun, using workouts like jogging and Pilates to make me feel good, rather than choosing some gruelling, difficult workout to punish my body. Before I knew it, I was exercising most days of the week and feeling amazing!

“The great thing about Slimpod is that I never felt tied to the scales like I did when I was dieting. Instead, I focused on inches and the way my body felt, weight loss quickly becoming a by-product of healthier life choices, rather than purely being about the way I looked.

“I happened to weigh my luggage on my bathroom scales in September, by standing on them holding my suitcase and then without.

“I’d thought something was wrong as I weighed less holding my packed suitcase than I had done when it was just me standing on them on the first day of Slimpod six months prior!

“It was the first time I’d weighed myself in all that time and I’d lost nearly a stone; I’m 9st 6lbs – the lightest I’d been in about six years!

“Since then I’ve managed to keep the weight off and only really listen to my pods when I need a pick me up. And those days of buying big bars of chocolate to devour in one go are behind me!”