Cookstown lady inspires hundreds with online video-blog of her weight loss journey

Spurred on to do something about her size after bumping into an old friend who had started Slimming World, the 52-year-old committed to video-blogging her efforts every day as an extra motivation.

But now, with her daily videos being watched hundreds of people, Linda said it has spurred her on to succeed after numerous efforts to get her weight under control.

“I have always had issues with my weight,” she told the Mail. “I ran into this girl four or five weeks ago who was at Slimming World and I thought, if she can do it, I am going to go back again.

“I was sitting thinking ‘when I go back here, I’m going to take a wee video of myself and put it on to my laptop so I could look back at it’.

“I told Suzanne [daughter] this and she said, you should put it on Youtube and maybe somebody else will take inspiration from it.”

And so far Linda has had amazing feedback from those who have watched her videos and follow her on Facebook.

“I’m quite shocked at how much of a response I got,” she said. “It’s been all good.

“I’m quite a shy person and I have actually shocked myself that I have done this. My natural look when I’m not smiling is that I look really sour and really cross and I’m not like that at all - I’m actually quite approachable - It has helped my confidence.”

As for how she approaches the video blog, she said: “I try to just say what’s in my head.”

“I think a lot of people have got the same kind of thoughts as I do, only they haven’t come out and actually said it.

“I suppose they can relate to that, and think ‘God, if she can do it, I can do it too’.

“At the very start when I put them [the videos] on, I said ‘even if one person said to me, you have helped me to lose weight’, I would feel great about that. Then a girl from work came up to me and said, ‘I have watched your videos and that’s why I’m back today - you have given me the inspiration’.”

But as well as helping others to take the leap, Linda said the videos have helped her to keep on track too.

“Because I have done the videos, I can’t very well let myself down,” she said.

But even when the weigh-ins don’t go to plan, she doesn’t hold back either, Linda put on 2lbs at her most recent weigh in, and she still shared it.

“I’m bloody raging at myself, “ she said. “All week I didn’t eat anything that wasn’t accounted for, the only thing I can think is I ate a lot of pasta and spaghetti.”