Dieting and slimming stories
Sell a real-life weight-loss and dieting story here…
Celebrate your weight loss and slimming success by selling your story to a magazine. Magazines and newspapers adore stories about how people have changed their lives with exercise and diet.
It doesn’t matter whether you have lost weight through a gastric band operation – or you have followed your own diet, because all real-life weight loss stories are considered.
Sell my true weight loss story: Which diet stories sell?
Here’s our list of the real-life weight loss stories editors ask for…
* Lost weight with Slimming World, Weight Watchers, Rosemary Conley diet, Cambridge Diet.
* Lost weight by exercising, body building.
* Losing weight with the 5:2 diet.
* Weight loss using the no -sugar diet or a low-fat diet.
* Stories with great before and after photos.
* Men and women who decided to lose weight after being shocked into it by an embarrassing experience – perhaps you got stuck in a turnstile or broke a chair at your child’s school…
Magazines also want gastric band stories…
Had a gastric band or a gastric bypass? Have you undergone a new type of operation that others might like to read about? Fill in the form to the right of this page >>
Have you had a gastric band operation on the NHS? If you have lost a lot of weight by having a gastric weight loss operation, then let Featureworld know.
Newspapers and magazines want relationship real-life weight loss stories…
Have you and your mum dieted together? Maybe you dieted and your twin sister didn’t – or perhaps you both went to a diet club together?
Did you and your husband or partner both start healthy eating together?
Quirky real-life slimming stories…
Lost weight on a diet of crisps or chocolate? Wacky stories are very placeable. Danielle lost weight when her own mum hypnotised her. Her story went on to appear in two newspapers and a number of magazines!
If you have lost weight you have an inspirational story to sell!
Weight loss stories in the News!
What stories about dieting, slimming and weight loss are currently in newspapers, magazines and on TV?
A look at the latest healthy diet stories and MY VERDICT on how user friendly the diet is…
The Daily Mail recently ran this story, Lose 10Ibs in 10 days: Top nutritionist reveals the diet celebrities use.
Nutritionist Hayley Pomroy has written a book called The Burn which features a ten-day plan, five-day plan and three-day plan. She is confident you can lose 3Ib if you have three days and 5Ib if you have five days.
Pros: Short and sharp. Very low calorie so it will work.
Cons: Snacks are a glass of water! So you’re unlikely to stick to this diet for very long…
Verdict: 4 out of 10.
The Art of Eating Well, a healthy eating book by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley
The Hemsley Sisters’ healthy eating book..
Two sisters have brought out a cookbook of healthy eating – including how to use up leftovers in healthy recipes – and the latest advice about eating saturated fats.
Inspired book. However, all is not as it seems. A recipe includes mince pies with no sugar. BUT it does have maple syrup which many believe is much the same as sugar! Plus lots of dried fruit (again high in sugar.)
Verdict: 6 out of 10
How healthy is the food you eat?
This is a healthy diet feature I wrote, which appeared in the Mail On Sunday newspaper…
Why not contact me using the form to the right of this page >>> and tell me which diet worked for you?
Who has the healthiest diet?
How healthy is your diet?
By Alison Smith-Squire
Many of us like to think we eat healthily but do we really? We asked four readers, who all believe they do eat healthily, to keep diaries of everything they ate and drank for seven days – and then asked three diet experts to give their comments.
Our Experts:
Jackie Lynch is a nutritional therapist who runs www.well-well-well.co.uk
Dr Jonty Heaversedge is an inner city GP in a large practise in South East London: www.drjonty.com
Dr David Haslam is full-time GP, physician in Obesity Medicine at the Centre for Obesity research at Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Chair of National Obesity Forum: www.nationalobesityform.org.uk
THE VEGAN
Carolyn, 41, works as an ambulance driver and lives in Peterbrough, with husband, Kevin, 49 who manages a local hospital radio station, their two children Rose, 10, and Tor, eight and Connor, 16 and Sasha, 15, from Carolyn’s previous relationship.
Statistics: Weight: 9st 5Ib
Height: 5ft 7”
BMI: 20.5 (extremely healthy)
Carolyn says: ‘For humane reasons the whole family is vegetarian, and because I believe dairy farming is cruel, we don’t eat much dairy, and only have eggs from our own hens. We do eat fish, though. I suppose you could say we were part-time or weekday vegans – or we-gans! Although I like chocolate, and am so busy, our main meals are cooked from scratch so I believe my diet is balanced and I’ve always been slim. However, as a non-meat eater since the age of 20, in the past, having felt tired, my doctor diagnosed anaemia and I now take iron supplements.’
Diet snapshot
Breakfast: White toast, butter and jam.
Mid morning: Fried egg, two hash browns, baked beans. Orange juice, KitKat.
Lunch: Four cream crackers with cheese and butter
Snack: Two mini ‘Celebrations’ chocolates.
Dinner: Two Linda McCartney sausages, oven chips, peas and vegetarian gravy. Chocolate and banana Angel Delight.
Snack: apple juice and iron sachet, B6.
Drinks: Four teas with soya milk, two sugars.
Jackie says: ‘Carolyn is typical of many vegetarians who lack quality protein in their diet, relying far too much on cheese and crackers. Starting with a major sugar boost of white bread with jam and sugary tea. Hence, Carolyn is running on empty, reaching for a quick energy fix in the form of biscuits, cakes and confectionary. She should swap some Quorn products for kidney beans or chickpeas and sugary snacks for raw almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds – good sources of iron and protein. Ironically her diet also lacks vegetables and omega 3 – although in sardines and salmon – it is also in walnuts and flax seeds.’
Jonty says: ‘Carolyn is a good example of how being a healthy weight does not necessarily mean your diet is healthy. For a vegetarian, the lack of ‘ five a day’ increases her risk of bowel cancer. She seems to be trying to get most of her vitamins and minerals in the form of pills and sachets when she should be including more variety of food – nuts, pulses and of course vegetables!’
David says: ‘It’s all very well having principles and Carolyn probably feels she’s doing a great job with the soya milk, Linda McCartney meals and odd healthy home-cooked meal, but in fact the she’s throwing all of that away by filling up on sugar, bread, chocolate oranges and fruit juice. With all that sugar, Carolyn is lucky she has a normal BMI but it can’t be called ‘healthy’ with this diet.’
THE CALORIE COUNTER
Fulltime mum Laraine, 52, lives in Dorking, Surrey, with husband Alan, 57, a special needs teacher, and children Christopher, 20 and Charlotte, 16.
Statistics:
Weight: 101/2 stone
Height: 5ft 4”
BMI: 25.2 (at risk of weight-related problems)
Laraine says: ‘I’ve always wanted to be slimmer. In my teens I went on a 1000 calorie a day diet – needless to say it didn’t last long. I’m a dress size 14 but want to lose a stone and be a size 12 and ideally want to lose a stone. I don’t overeat – some days if I’m busy I don’t eat much at all. I choose organic food and always eat a wholewheat type breakfast with a grain sandwich for lunch and dinner is healthy fish and rice. Yet I’m still finding it difficult to lose the extra pounds.’
Diet Snapshot
Day One
Breakfast: Two cups tea milk with 1 sugar each
Two weetabix with milk and sugar sugar
Lunch: Half Patisserie Valerie chicken Caesar salad baguette
Dinner: 1 Co-Op Massaman beef curry ready meal
Slice Co-Op coconut sponge
Quarter slab Hotel Chocolat
One aniseed twist sweet
Glass red wine. Vitamin C tablet
Day Two
Breakfast: Two cups tea, with milk and sugar
Two shredded wheat with milk and sugar
Lunch: Two thick slices wholemeal bread with spread, ham and Leerdammer cheese.
Seven cherry tomatoes
Handful grapes
Slice Co-Op coconut sponge
Snack: Coffee with milk.
Bite of chocolate
Dinner: Restaurant carvery: roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, chipolata sausages, roast potatoes, roast and steamed veg.
1/2 pint lager
Handful grapes
Vitamin C tablet
Day Three
Breakfast: Two cups tea with milk and one sugar
Two Shredded Wheat with milk and sprinkling of sugar
Lunch: Quarter Co-Op chicken, bacon, stuffed crust pizza
Banana
One aniseed twist
Snack: Coffee with milk
Eighth of a slab of Hotel Chocolat.
Dinner: M&S sea bass fillets fried in butter
One boiled potato
Garden peas
Two Go Ahead yoghurt biscuits
Vitamin C tablet
Jackie says: ‘Laraine is like many women who have been dieting on and off for years and whose metabolism has slowed – and whose weight as a result, has plateaued at a higher level. Laraine is clearly obsessed with calories as the route to weight loss, restricting her eating for a few days and then suddenly letting herself go with a heavy roast dinner or a pizza. This continual yo-yo dieting ensures your body stores fat on restrictive days – like a camel storing fat for a famine – and slows down your metabolism.
If Laraine ate the same amount of calories in protein, such as lean meat or fish, and included more fibre and vegetables, rather than chocolate, cakes and sugar (also stored as fat) she’d be in very different shape.’
Jonty says: ‘Laraine’s diet is full of ready-made food, which is often high in salt. Too much salt makes the body retain water in the blood vessels increasing the pressure and making us more prone to having a stroke or heart attack. Laraine needs to buy a recipe book, preparing meals from scratch, adding herbs to taste rather than salt.’
David says: ‘It’s not surprising Laraine is finding is hard to shift the pounds as her diet consists of too many high glycaemic foods such as rice, pizza, chocolate, desserts, bread and bananas. Replacing these with higher protein alternatives such as nuts and swapping fruit juice for water would be a start.’
THE 5:2 DIET FASTING FAN
Adam, 43, works as a project manager and lives with his partner in Ilford, Essex.
Weight: 151/2st
Height: 6ft 5”
BMI: 25.7 (at risk of developing weight-related problems.)
Adam says: ‘At 6ft 5” I’ve always been slim but a I’ve noticed the weight has crept on as I reached my forties. For the past six weeks I’ve been on the 5:2 diet where you eat normally for five days of the week and consume around 600 calories on two days. I didn’t want to be denying myself any particular food so it appeals and my job involves travelling so it fits in around that. So far I’ve lost half a stone but I’m struggling – ideally I’d like to weigh around 13st.’
Diet Snapshot
Day One
Breakfast: Full English breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast, mushrooms, beans, toast) tea.
Snack: Tea and and Danish pastry bites
Lunch: Venison sausages, mash, veg and salad.
Chocolate cake with custard.
Cup of tea.
Snack: Grapefruit juice
Snack: Apple juice, apple, packet yogurt flakes.
Dinner: Chicken schnitzel, mash with peppers and sprouts. Diet lemonade with shot of Schapps. Picnic bar, tea
Day two (diet day)
Breakfast: banana soya milkshake with cinnamon and vanilla extract.
Lemon tea and sweetener.
Snack: lemon tea and two lemon biscuits.
Lunch: Poached fish fillets, semolina mash, ratatouille. Chocolate flake
Dinner: Couscous, tomatoes, olives, kipper.
Apple juice, chocolate flake, peanuts
Snack: Orange juice and lemonade, crisps.
Day Three
Flask of coffee
Breakfast Full English fry up as before. Tea, yoghurt
Snack: tea
Lunch: belly of pork with green salad and couscous
Small slice of cheesecake and a portion of banoffi pie.
Dinner: Takeaway McChicken sandwich, chips, Topic bar.
Jackie says: ‘While I commend Adam for eating real food and a varied diet, I’m not a fan of the ‘feast or famine’ 5:2 diet. With fasting comes an increase of the hormone grehlin, which regulates appetite and this can lead to binge eating on the ‘whatever you like for five days’, messing up your metabolism. Sugar is the single biggest factor when it comes to gaining fat and Adam is eating a huge amount of it. He also drinks a lot of juice – two glasses can add up to eight teaspoons of sugar. All Adam needs to do is cut out the desserts, cakes an confectionary and stick to his main meals to quickly see a difference.’
Jonty says: ‘A breakfast fry-up every day is high in saturated fat and salt and over time could put Adam at risk of heart disease. Then on his fasting day alone the two flakes, biscuits, crisps and peanuts alone add up to 600 calories…’
David says: ‘Adam is grazing on far too many carb-based foods – desserts, chocolate bars and crisps – without a care in the world. But this uncontrolled grazing could ultimately cause his cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure to rise. The 5:2 diet can work brilliantly – many of our patients have found it works and have managed to keep it up long term, enjoying the two days off normal food – but any successful diet requires sacrifice, which Adam doesn’t seem to understand.’
THE FITNESS FANATIC
Louise, 23, is a fitness model and bodybuilder. She is single and lives in Hove, Sussex.
Weight: 11.4 stones.
Height: 5ft 11”
BMI: 22.2 (extremely healthy)
Louise says: ‘Maintaining a well proportioned and healthy-looking body is my job. So I don’t find it hard to stick to eating five to six small high-protein meals a day and I do also have occasional days off when I will have a glass of white wine or some high cocoa dark chocolate. As a body builder who regularly competes, I am aiming to have low body fat with sculpted muscles. However, if I am preparing for a fitness photoshoot I might up my carbohydrate intake slightly to soften my look, giving me more curves.’
Diet Snapshot
Day One (1683 calories)
Meal one: 200g Spinach, 136.08g filet steak, 25g almonds, 100g raw mushrooms.
Meal Two: 25g whey protein, 200g raw mushrooms
Meal three: 200g Raw Spinach, 370g Cod Fillet
Meal four: 1cup roast chicken breast
Meal Five: 25g Almonds, 185g cod fillet, 160g broccoli
Meal six: 75g whey protein
Day Two (1730 calories)
Meal One: 138.08g fillet steak, 30g almonds, 100g green beans
Meal two: 180g lean turkey breast mince, 30g sweet potato baked in skin.
Meal Three: 37.5g almonds
Meal four: 1cup white long-grain rice, 180g lean turkey breast mince, 100g green beans
Meal Five: three unsalted organic rice cakes, 1cup whey protein
Meal Six: 100g sweet potato, 156g skinless chicken breast fillet, 100g green beans
Day Three: (2082 calories)
Meal One: 1 large chicken breast, 25g almonds, 150g green beans
Meal Two: three egg whites, 50g pure porridge oats
Meal Three: 180g Turkey lean breast mince, 6g white rice cakes, eight button Brussel sprouts.
Meal four: one white Cheddar rice cake, 25g whey protein.
Meal five: 150g lean turkey breast mince, green beans
Meal six: 1 large chicken breast, 100g brown long-grain rice, 50g whey protein, four white rice cakes.
Jackie says: ‘High levels of animal protein have been linked to an increased risk of osteoporosis and also with a risk of kidney problems such as kidney stones. High levels of sodium can also come from eating so much animal protein, which can store up cardiovascular problems in the future. So Louise would benefit from upping the vegetable protein in her diet eating more lentils, chickpeas, beans, nuts, seeds, wheatgrass and quinoa. She should also try to eat a broader range of vegetables rather than the same ones and include more Omega 3 found in fresh oily fish such as tuna or salmon. There is also a lack of wholegrains in her diet, which can promote a hormone imbalance and lead to oestrogen-dominant fertility problems such as fibroids or endometriosis.’
Jonty says: ‘My only criticism is Louise’s diet reads more like a list of ingredients than appetising meals. Eating is the chance to socialise, to experience new textures and flavours. A healthy diet should nourish out minds as well as our bodies and Louise’s diet looks like a military operation rather than that enjoys the pleasure of food.’
David says: ‘The way Louise has listed her food with calories, grams of protein, sugars, fibre against them makes me believe she’s obsessed with food and statistics. While her diet is nutritious, I would worry about Louise’s obsessive nature and how sustainable it is to have six such carefully planned and documented meals a day.’
If you are a weight loss, dieting or slimming expert and have an idea for a newspaper or magazine feature contact me using the form to the right of this page >>>