At her lowest ebb Kelly Rogers sat alone at home weighing 18st telling herself: 'I have to do something about this'. The mum-of-two decided a few days before the start of 2022 it was time to change her life for good. She discovered a Slimming World class being run by Chris Norman in the Gors area of Swansea.
She decided to dedicate herself to a weight-loss journey – even speaking to her boss to arrange annual leave for 12 consecutive Friday mornings to allow herself to full commit to the class and the challenge which she was to take on. And her decision was about to be life-changing.
"During lockdown a few things were happening in my life – I became single and the kids were getting older. I had been struggling with my weight for years – I had been overweight since I had my daughter 26 years ago. I've tried every diet – Keto, WeightWatchers: you name it, I've done it," the 45-year-old, from Fforestfach in Swansea, said.
"I got up to 18st and it was just hard doing any exercises on my ankles, my knees – it was just hard going. I said to myself: 'Kel, you've got to do something.' I had to start buying bigger clothes. I like to go out and buy clothes and I'd be jamming into them and it got to a point where I'd only be buying clothes in Evans' at one point and that closed down and I realised there was nowhere really for me to go.
"I saw Chris' group advertised at the Gors but it was a Friday morning and I work so I had some annual leave left and I spoke to my boss and said: 'I really need to do something here' and so I took 12 weeks of Friday mornings off and paid for the 12-week countdown and committed to giving myself 12 weeks to really have a go of it. I just got on it, enjoyed it, started to see the weight come off, and it just went from there. I lost a stone, I was named slimmer of the week, slimmer of the month, and thought this was for me and the momentum carried on. Clothes started to become too big for me and I was able to buy smaller stuff."
Kelly said it was weekend habits socialising which caused problems for her in terms of weight gain. She said: "I used to drink on the weekends so it would be a bottle of wine Friday, go out Saturday and have two or three bottles, another bottle on the Sunday, so there was a lot of drink involved, and I recognised if I was to do this I'd need to cut down on the wine. Another problem is after you have a few drinks you can't stop eating and you are on the carbohydrates and the crap so I prepare myself now on a Sunday or whatever day so I have the right foods there – my eggs and my mushrooms. It's what I needed to do. It's still a struggle now but now I just prepare myself for it.
"My diet before wasn't too bad. Luckily I haven't got too much of a sweet tooth but it was definitely overeating which was the issue – portion sizes and carbs. I'd cook a pot thinking it was for the kids but really I knew I'd end up eating it. If I'd cooked it I couldn't stop until it was all gone. It was a case of eating too much. There would also be a ham roll or a bacon roll for breakfast and crisps, a snack in between, then lunch and a big dinner."
Kelly's hard work has seen her reduce her weight to 12st, dropping from wearing size 24 or 22 dress sizes to size 12 or 10. Explaining the changes she has introduced she said: "My diet now is much more prepared – it's more of an omelette in the morning or some boiled eggs, some spinach and mushrooms. Dinner is usually just a salad with chicken or fish. Before it would be the whole plate but now I fill my plate with more broccoli or cauliflower or spinach."
She attends the Warehouse gym and goes to boxing classes with Jay Harris and has even just signed up to a six-week boot camp, which she never would have imagined she would have been able to achieve in the past. She is also now set to become a Slimming World consultant at St Phillips Community Centre in Swansea city centre offering inspiration to others.
She said: "The first step is to actually acknowledge how you're feeling and to have confidence in that it is doable. There are sacrifices to make if you want the result but it is doable and it is worth it because it is life-changing. I have this consultancy job starting, my day-to-day life in the gym is completely different – I walk in there now with confidence and my head up and looking forward instead of dreading it. In my personal life as well I think: 'Not bad for 45 Kel!' I was told I'm going to be a nan now, my daughter Cory is pregnant, so another reason to stay fit and healthy. It's been a really good year."
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