Caroline loses over three stone and gains a career

Caroline Boyd, who lost over three stone thanks to Slimming World, also bagged herself a career as a consultant and now encourages others to lose weight.
Caroline BoydCaroline Boyd
Caroline Boyd

Caroline, who now runs the Lisburn Christian Fellowship Slimming World group, confesses she once had an unhealthy relationship with food.

She tried but failed many different weight-loss programmes before she discovered Slimming World.

“Life would always get in the way and I’d go off track,” she said. “It would knock my confidence and I’d end up feeling like a failure, like I couldn’t stick at anything.

“When you have an unhealthy relationship with food, as I did at the time, comfort eating can feel like the only way to make yourself feel better. I’d turn to chocolate but afterwards I’d feel even more guilty and empty and before long I’d have given up completely.

“Since joining Slimming World my outlook has changed completely. With the support of other people who have experienced the same thing I gradually started to realise that I wasn’t the only one who this happened to. We’re all human and we all have our off days, the important thing is that we’re able forgive ourselves and draw a line under it.

“Now if I ever have a lapse I’m careful to always talk to myself as I would any of the members of my group – with encouragement, support and without any judgement or blame.

“And that’s why the support of a group is so important, as by sharing problems and solutions with other people, you realise that you’re really not alone and you have a network of people like you who really understand and care, to help pick you back up when things go wrong.

“After all, things will often go wrong, and learning to cope with lapses, forgive yourself and get back on track is the key to successful weight loss.”

Caroline revealed the findings from a new Slimming World survey. Around 1,722 slimmer’s found that almost everyone who had tried to lose weight in the past (98%) had experienced a slip-up where they went off-track in a way that they worried would affect their weight loss journey.

The survey found that Slimming World members learned how to reduce how critical they are of themselves when things go wrong.

The research found members are now less likely to comfort eat and more likely to get back on track, and more likely to lose weight and keep it off. In the survey, 84% of Slimming World members went on to lose weight after a lapse.

The Slimming World group meet at Lisburn Christian Fellowship each Wednesday at 6pm and Thursday at 9.30am. For more information contact Caroline at [email protected]. or call 07843062077.