A man lost nearly six stone through Slimming World after a decade in which he ate to ease the pain of his emotions. Samuel Davies said the group changed his life.
Samuel Davies, 31, from Tonypandy, struggled with his weight after the trauma of losing his mum, Lisa Helen Davies, who passed away from cervical cancer at 40 years old in 2010. Since then, emotional eating has had a huge impact on his life, mental health and eating habits.
He said: “My mother passed away when I was 20 years old and that’s when all my weight gain started. I started emotionally eating, and - as seen commonly in most men - I struggled to express my emotions and turned to emotional eating for comfort. I would secretly hide food in my bedroom and became a bit recluse, as I didn’t know how to express how upset I was.”
Samuel said he would hide his food so no one could see how much he was eating. By hiding the wrappers of the chocolate bars or takeaway boxes, he felt that is was a way to almost “kid himself” that it ever happened. He said: “I would often skip meals, not eat for days on end but then there were days where I would binge and eat comfort food, takeaways or anything I could lay my hands on to try and fill the void. I didn’t love myself, and neither did I care to look after myself.
“My mum and I were always really close, she was like my best friend. I lived with her when I was 20 years old and she was only 40 when she died. It was a great loss to me, as it would be for anyone who lost their mum, but particularly as I was so young. During that time I put on a lot of weight, at my heaviest I was 18 stone and four pounds.”
Samuel said his turning point was when he saw a picture of himself at his cousin's wedding. He said: “I went to find a suit for a family wedding, being shocked when I measured my chest and waist, struggling to find a suit to fit me. Although everyone said how smart I looked, I just couldn’t see past how much weight I had gained.”
He added: “I tried every ‘fad diet’ you could think of and I did lose weight, although only briefly as soon as I stopped because the ‘fad diets’ weren’t sustainable the weight would pile back on and even come back with a vengeance.” That is when Samuel remembered his mum’s success at Slimming World which helped her lose weight and she was even once awarded ‘Miss Slinky,’ which is a title Samuel said she “wore proudly.”
In 2019, Samuel decided to join Slimming World, which gave him newfound confidence and helped him lose the extra pounds he had gained since his mum’s death. He said: “I joined the group along with my sister and was nervous about joining because I didn’t know what to expect and if there would be any other men there. Everyone was so warm and welcoming, and instantly I didn’t know why I was so nervous about joining.”
In his first week, Samuel lost 10lbs and felt completely “liberated” by the programme. Within a year he received his four-and-a-half stone award and has since become a target member after reaching and maintaining his goal weight (which was decided by Samuel, not Slimming World) by losing 5stone 12.5lbs.
“Joining Slimming World has given me a lot of confidence and as well as losing weight it has also given me emotional tools, which has helped me figure out my trigger foods and when I'm most likely to go to eat those foods. It also shows you strategies on how to avoid those foods and help you replace them with healthier alternatives. I learned so much about food optimising, and I soon changed my way of thinking about food, gaining healthy eating habits and realising that you can actually eat filling, satisfying meals, be healthy and still lose weight," said Samuel.
He added: “I feel like I can speak out more, share my feelings and I’ve made a lot of friends there who I’ve shared a lot with and have had similar situations to me, as well as losing weight. It’s allowed me to come out of my shell and meet loads of like-minded people. We were all there for the same reason but had different reasons as to why we put on the weight. It was great to go through the process with people and now have that bond.”
In July of this year, Samuel became a Slimming World consultant - the only male consultant for Slimming World in the Rhondda Valleys - and helps his groups stay motivated during their weight loss. He currently has eight males in his predominantly female groups but believes it’s a step in the right direction in helping people, and men in particular, with emotional eating and weight gain.
Samuel is a deputy manager at Zoar Care Home and also runs his own Slimming World groups on a Tuesday at 5.30pm and 7pm at the Hibbs - Gelli / Ton Pentre in Rhondda Cynon Taff. Anyone can join Sliming World by simply going to a group near them.
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