Samantha Cobb decided to join Slimming World for “health reasons”, but didn’t think she would lose more than five stones in a year. Thanks to her “secret”, she lost 10 stones and 9 pounds
A Slimming World member managed to lose 149 pounds, just over 10 stone, in just one year by making one simple change while still being able to eat the food she wanted.
Samantha Cobb decided to join Slimming World last year and after initially finding it “scary”, she’s been going there every week since.
The 49-year-old has been so successful that she was crowned her group’s ‘biggest loser’ in 2023, just a year after her arrival.
Samantha, from Chelmsford, was happy that she was able to lose weight by eating her normal diet, but in moderation. She also shared her big secret – vegetables.
She said adding lots of vegetables to her meals made her feel full faster.
Talk to EssexLiveSamantha said: “I think the secret is to try to have as many vegetables as possible with your meals as they are categorized in Slimming World as fast foods as they help you lose weight faster. This fills you up much faster.”
Samantha also revealed why she decided to lose weight, explaining: “It was more health issues than anything, and I thought it was time I got my act together and something was done. sorted on that.”
She added: “I’ve always heard that Slimming World is really good, so I contacted Heidi, my consultant and she invited me to one of the groups, and I’ve been going there every week since the beginning of February from Last year. It was pretty scary at first because I didn’t know what the people were like and what I should do, but it’s the nicest group of people you can imagine having around to support you.
“They actually signed up my husband in July, so he’s doing it with me. It’s nice that you don’t have to stick to what you have to eat, you can have what you like; dinners roasts, spaghetti bolognese, curries, everything.You can still have that on the Slimming World plan.
“You can eat what you like within reason – not the crisps or the chocolate and that, but with the plan I’m on you can have what you like meal-wise, but moderate it to get a lot of vegetables with it, you can provide plenty of vegetables, as much as you want. »
She added: “Pasta that you can eat as much as you want and then moderate it with portions, which I didn’t do before I started. I found this quite easy – I know some people find this difficult, but instead of cutting things in moderation, I cut everything that I shouldn’t have all at once. I didn’t miss it when I started the journey.
Following the plan, Samantha said she was now “five pounds away from my 11 stone mark”, which is “halfway through the journey”, although she thought she would only lose five stones the first year.
She added: “But I’m staying with Slimming World when I reach my target weight.”
Samantha explained that it’s common for people to stay in Slimming World once they’ve reached their target weight so they can continue to get help and also bounce recipes off other people.
She added: “I feel really good now, I’ve lost so much. I’ve had ups and downs like anyone, times when I wanted to throw it all away, but Heidi will say ‘look what you did, you don’t want to throw it all away'”.
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