A food addict charity boss who gorged on nightly takeaways has finally shed an incredible eight stone in less than a year - after she admits 'constantly eating for 19 hours a day'. The 48-year-old even had the help of TV star Gregg Wallace as she fought to lose weight.
Diane Blackmore, a charity boss, saw her physical health deteriorate over the course of the pandemic as she was forever at her desk and fell into the trap of snacking throughout the day. Her diet saw her filling up on toast, crisps, chocolate bars, takeaways, cheese and crackers, and fizzy drinks.
In lockdown, Diane became the heaviest she had ever been, saying: “I was piling on the pounds because my charity went through a really tough time in that we were just faced instantly with no money whatsoever coming in."
Diane also began suffering long Covid, which led to incontinence problems and her body confidence took a knock - but those issues vanished once she decided to change her life and eating habits.
Diane, from Miskin in South Wales, is the chief executive of Follow Your Dreams, a charity for children with learning disabilities. While her mental health was positive throughout the pandemic because she was helping so many children and parents, Diane’s found her body taking the hit, stuck at her desk and snacking.
“We used to go out fundraising and everything, and then suddenly it stopped," she explained. "And then you’ve still got your bills going out and your rent on your offices and your staff to pay.
“So we had to make some staff redundant, close our offices and work from home. It was just awful, and on the other hand, we had hundreds of families needing our help because there was no one else out there for them.”
Diane quickly worked out how to support people using Zoom and delivered 30 sessions a week, from arts and crafts to quizzes. She said: “It was phenomenal what we achieved with so little, but the negative of that was I was sat down for practically two years, day, night, bank holidays, Christmas Day, just working away helping others – I just didn’t think of myself.
“I just didn’t realise the toll it had on me. Even though my mental health was brilliant because I was helping so many people, I failed to help myself and just thought I couldn’t continue like this.”
Diane decided to regain control of her health and lose weight, and started taking part in MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace’s healthy eating plan. Diane began following the ShowMe.Fit plan in March 2022, and uses the website’s meal plans every day, which consist of three healthy balanced meals daily with no snacks – something that was a shock at first.
She said: “I used to be constantly eating when working from home, sometimes I’d be constantly eating for 19 hours a day.”
Diane's diet before
- Morning snack: Two slices of toast with butter or jam
- Breakfast: Bacon and egg sandwich
- Afternoon snack: Half a packet of biscuits
- Lunch: Sandwich with a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar
- Dinner: Takeaway including starters and medium
- Evening snack: Cheese, crackers, fizzy drinks
Diane added that the plan has made her able to identify hunger signs more effectively, which was vital for her weight loss journey, saying: “We try to eat until we’re about 80 per cent full and that is a hard sign to recognise, especially for someone like me that considers myself to be a big eater.”
Diane regularly posts her meals and health updates on Instagram, and one day received a message from Gregg congratulating her on her progress. She said: “He messaged me saying, ‘well done, you’re doing great’. We started chatting and hit it off. Greg took an interest in my progress and he’s helped a dozen or so members where he gives up his time to really help support and mentor you.”
Diane’s diet after
- Breakfast: Coconut and chocolate porridge with almonds and banana chips
- Lunch: Coronation chicken with couscous
- Dinner: Fillet steak, butter bean mash and broccoli
Gregg and his son, Sid, three, who has autism, then joined one of Follow Your Dream’s Zoom sessions and demonstrated how to cook a healthy flatbread. Meanwhile, Gregg began mentoring Diane with regular messages. After slowly losing an impressive eight stone and dropping five dress sizes, Diane not only feels more body confident, but her health has dramatically improved.
She said: “My blood pressure is dropping. I had long Covid as well, but that’s gone.
“I used to have a constant cough from long Covid, which led embarrassingly at my age to incontinence problems and I had to wear pads and stuff. And I no longer have to do that.
“I’ve never felt deprived. It doesn’t feel like a diet, it’s a life-changing plan. It’s sustainable forever.
“It’s been seriously utterly life-changing.”
Gregg said of the eating plan: “For me, it isn’t a diet. I think diets are restrictive things that you do for a short space of time. Me and Di make healthy choices, we enjoy our food, and that is sustainable.
“At the beginning, it’s a little bit difficult because you have to stop your old routines and you have to learn new ones. So all the things you learn that made you overweight, you have to unlearn, but that doesn’t mean to say it has to be uncomfortable.”
Gregg said he set up ShowMe.Fit after losing four stone himself: “I’m a bit of a workaholic and it was lockdown. I couldn’t do anything, and there was a lot of press interest in how I’d lost weight.
“I sat in my office at home with loads of pads, pens, and highlighters. I tried to write down the process I had used to lose weight and keep it off. And it was really tricky.
“And then I thought, right, we need healthy recipes, and my wife started writing the recipes, and my daughter, Libby, said she could help me with the filming, and then I met Kat, the nutritionist.
“That creativity and that desire to help brought about ShowMe.Fit”.
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