A mum-of-two has managed to keep off the massive 7st she lost for years by changing her mindset, she claims.
Rachel Williams, 41, battled against her weight since the age of eight, and had started to believe there was no way of turning it around.
But as Rachel approached her 40th birthday she still hated her figure so much that she didn't want to be photographed with her two young children.
Knowing something had to change, Rachel realised she had to address the way she spoke to herself and use mind-over-matter to create a healthy lifestyle, Manchester Evening News reports.
Incredibly, it was this rather than tracking calories that helped Rachel finally tackled her obesity.
Since July 2019 Rachel has lost seven stone - dropping from 16st 5lbs to 9st 5lbs and for the first time in her life has kept the weight off too.
She now credits becoming mindful and “counting chemicals, not calories” with her slim physique.
Rachel knows exactly how it feels to have tried seemingly everything to tackle her weight - and so is now determined to try and help others. Since losing the weight, she has trained to become a health and lifestyle coach to be able to encourage others.
Rachel, 41, lives in Henbury in Cheshire with husband Anton and their two children, Sofia, 8 and Solomon, 2.
Rachel says: “I started putting weight on from the age of 8 years old, I can remember my mum taking me to Weight Watchers when I was 12 or 13 years old. In hindsight, reflecting on my journey now, I can see I was a secret eater, eating sweets, crisps, chocolate. All the comfort foods.
“Later on in life I went through a phase of ballooning and then just stopping eating - that was when I was at university. I dropped weight but not in a healthy way. From then on I yo-yo-ed and I have tried every diet in existence I think - from WW, Slimming World, the Dukan Diet, the Maple Syrup diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, Atkins, 2:5 - I tried everything.
“The one I had most success with was Slimming World, and that's the one I'd go back to and felt comfortable with. But then you'd get to target, you’d come off plan, and I’d pile the weight back on and then some.”
As Rachel began to approach her 40th birthday, she was horrified after seeing a photo of herself on holiday with baby boy Solomon. “That was me at my biggest,” Rachel says.
“I'm there smiling, but inside I'm not smiling, I'm just feeling awful. That particular summer I didn't want my photo taking."
"I thought gosh, I don't want my picture taken and yet my daughter Sofia was saying ‘come on mummy’. I thought I need to do something about this, because I'm taking memories away from my children. They're not going to have pictures with their mummy. Something really cut me up about that.”
Despite her rigorous personal training schedule, involving long workouts and nutrition plans - Rachel was horrified to see she was still not losing weight.
Frustrated, she paid to see a naturalist to see what was going on.
She was told she had parasites in her gut and to stop eating all forms of sugar. She ditched sweet food where she could. Mortified, she found even doing that did not make the weight come off.
And that’s when Rachel started to read personal development books and about biohacking, the concept of changing the environment to give you control back of your biology.
"After addressing my mindset, focussing on what I was actually eating, and how my body was responding versus the calories, all of a sudden the weight started to come off. I was like, what?
“I started to focus on what I could have to eat rather than what I can't and the weight started to come off. I continued going to the gym three times a week, drinking water, and really focusing on the quality of food I started to eat - I got rid of all diet food, all processed food.
“I started to look in the mirror and see Rachel.”
By June 2020 Rachel had gone down from 17 stone 5lbs to 10st 5lbs in a year. By December 2020 she was down to 9stone 5lbs and has not put a pound back on since.
"I feel more alert now, I have a lot more energy, I'm able to keep up with my children. I run around the park and don't think twice about it and my skin seems to glow a lot more.”
She no longer counts calories but counts chemicals instead - ditching all processed foods from her daily diet.
Rachel says: “For example, I know if I eat sweet potato, I bloat, but I never addressed it before. I never had that awareness before of listening to my body so now I only eat white potatoes.
“Now I look at labels, I count chemicals not calories. I'm very conscious of what I put in my body. Do I love pizza? Yes. So if I feel like pizza I eat sourdough pizza with the best quality toppings.
“I eat freshly baked sourdough bread, and I don't have anything low fat anymore because it's full of chemicals.
“Similarly with a burger, if I want a burger I'll have a burger but it's going to be a good quality meat burger. I don’t use oils, because they cause havoc to your gut.
