After weeks of overindulging over Christmas, many people will be hoping to lose a few pounds in January.
But it can difficult to find ways to adopt a healthier lifestyle that works in the long term. The ECHO has shared countless weight loss stories this year from people who have all had their own reasons for wanting to lose weight.
These reasons have included health concerns and one woman who was shamed by a stranger on Facebook. Here we take a look back at some of these weight loss stories to give us all some motivation as we head into the new year.
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Dad's in the middle of saving his own life
Ian Forrest, from Speke, tipped the scales at 34 stone 6.5lbs after drinking ten cans of coke a day and eating a diet of fast food and takeaways. But the Liverpool FC fan decided to change his life after he began feeling unwell while watching Manchester City play Inter Milan in the Champions League on June 10.
Ian, 45, told the ECHO: "The next day I had to go see a doctor. I phoned the NHS 111 number and they made me go to see a doctor in Huyton. I had a severe water infection." Ian was given antibiotics to treat the infection which cleared up three days later. However, from that day on, he made a promise to himself that he was going to lose weight.
After speaking to his mum and auntie who are members of Slimming World in Garston, Ian was encouraged to go along with them. He said: "My perspective of it was it's all for women, I'm a man, I'm just going to be embarrassed or I'll feel ashamed.
"It was totally the opposite. They were all really welcoming. Paula, my consultant, and the group have been really supportive.
Ian has lost 8st 1lbs in the space of six months and has dropped three sizes from 5XL to 2/3XL.
"I'm in the middle of saving my own life. If I never did Slimming World I probably would have died.”
Mum shed 18 stone after thinking she would die on an operating table
Kelly Barker lost 18 stone after thinking she would die on an operating table. The 43-year-old, from St Helens, said she had struggled with her weight since she was a child. As a primary school teacher, she felt like a "hypocrite" as she taught pupils to be healthy and active.
She said: “I struggled with my weight my whole life. As a child I was placed on a special diet and had to be weighed at school. While the other children were eating fish and chips, I would have to eat a separate meal on my own – usually something bland like boiled fish and potatoes.
"It made me believe that weight loss was miserable, embarrassing and shameful, and it didn’t work – I gained weight every year into my adulthood.”
Kelly, who is mum to 15-year-old Josh, said going away to university made her weight increase further. She said as soon as she had control of what she ate it was like "the floodgates opened".
Kelly’s weight also began to affect the way she felt at work and said she "felt like a hypocrite", especially when teaching her pupils about healthy living. She said her joints and back would be in "agony" after a day in work.
She said: "Although I’d plaster a smile onto my face, I just felt like a fraud. My big wakeup call came when my GP recommended weight-loss surgery. I researched the procedure and knew that my weight made me a huge anaesthetic risk. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would die on the operating table.”
With the help of her cousin Fiona, who is a Slimming World consultant, Kelly decided to completely change her lifestyle.
Kelly has since been crowned Slimming World’s Woman of the Year 2023.
'My friend told me he was scared to come downstairs in case I had died'
Mark Stafford from Wavertree lost five stone in just six months after his friend feared he'd find him dead if he didn't. Mark said he put on a couple of pounds like many people did during the pandemic and never lost the weight.
But when his mum died 18 months ago Mark turned to comfort eating to cope. The 53-year-old told the ECHO: "I had a sweet tooth I was having four sugars in coffee and loads of cheese and loads of bread."
At his heaviest, Mark weighed 21 stone. This weight gain coupled with his COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) had a major impact on his health. Mark said: "My breathing was getting worse… it took me five minutes just to walk upstairs."
These health problems meant Mark was struggling to live alone so he moved in with his friend Peter Mackie. It was Peter's concerns that gave Mark the wake up call he needed. Mark said: "Peter told me 'it's scary coming downstairs expecting you to be dead'."
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Peter encouraged Mark to go to Slimming World following another friend who went and lost weight.
Due to his COPD, losing the weight through exercising was not an option for Mark, instead he focused on diet changes. He said: "Slimming world call it food optimising where you eat loads of vegetables and you're only allowed so much sugar a day. They teach you to cook a lot more healthier."
Through lots of motivation from friends like Peter, Mark continued to shed the pounds and now he's just under 16 stone
'I changed my life by avoiding this aisle in the supermarket'
Pat Atkinson has lost three and a half stone in the space of 10 months after making some simple swaps to her diet. The 64-year-old, who works as a university lecturer of psychology, said she used to turn to ready meals for convenience after a busy day, but she now avoids this aisle of the supermarket altogether.
Pat has transformed her life since joining her local Slimming World group in Southport and following their food optimising plan.
told how she's been given a "new lease of life" ahead of her retirement.
Pat told the ECHO: "I avoid ready meals completely now. That's one of the biggest changes.
"I don't even go down the convivence aisle at all now. I'm taking pleasure in putting my meals together.
"I have so much more fresh vegetables and fruit in my diet. I also have potatoes, pasta, rice – they're all absolutely fine. You don't go away feeling hungry."
Mum loses five stone in five months after being hit by van
Kirstine McCord, from Birkdale, said she piled on the pounds during lockdown after suffering from back and hip pain. But things came to a head after she was involved in a road traffic accident while visiting a charity shop in Ainsdale.
The mum-of-two told the ECHO: "I went to put things in the charity shop. My mum was across the road in her car, and I went back to walk across the road and a van reversed and hit me. He just didn't see me.
"He did get out and help me. I got taken straight to hospital.
"It was horrendous for my mum to watch. She couldn't get out of the car quick enough."
Kirstine needed physiotherapy after the incident and moved in with her parents for support. She said: "I think after the accident I probably had a bit of depression.
"I went a bit low and probably ate more because I couldn't move properly. I thought 'I need to do something about it.' I wanted to get myself healthier and fitter."
The 40-year-old joined Slimming World in June last year and said she's "never looked back" since. She lost five stone in the space of five months by following Slimming World's food optimising plan and exercising in the gym.
Mum changed her life after seeing stranger's Facebook photo
Sinead Murphy said she didn't realise how much weight she had gained until she saw a photo of herself at a car show in Harrogate, which had been shared in a car group on Facebook.
The 51-year-old, originally from Manchester and living in Old Swan, told the ECHO: "[I lost weight] as a result of being fat shamed on the internet, on Facebook. I didn't even know the girl. I was probably old enough to be her mum.
"I think it was just a case of let's pick on someone new. She'd picked on a few people at previous [car shows].
"The picture got taken down when I reported it to the admin but it did upset me. I didn't realise how big I was."
Sinead said she first started gaining weight after meeting her partner of 12 years, Lee Tyrrell. The couple's diet consisted of McDonald's, KFC or Burger King every day and takeaways every weekend.
After seeing the photo a stranger had shared of her on Facebook, Sinead contacted her former Slimming World consultant about re-joining in June last year.
Sinead has lost five stone in the space of 12 months and has documented her weight loss journey on Instagram @slimmingworld_with_sinead.
Man shares how he lost 'dad bod' and 'reversed the ageing progress'
Mike Hallmark has been "given a new lease of life" after losing three stone in the space of 12 months. The dad-of-three, from Southport, first joined Slimming World as moral support for his wife Helen, who wanted to lose weight.
Mike, 54, told the ECHO: "I was resigned to being big, having a "dad bod", I thought it was inevitable. I was middle aged, it happens. I wasn't really watching what I was eating and suffered with indigestion quite badly.
"I was also quite unfit and I was a passenger at five a side, and struggled when playing tennis. I even avoided stairs if I could."
Mike said he "reluctantly" accompanied his wife and her parents to a local Slimming World group. He said: "I was a bit sceptical at first but it worked. After the first week I lost 7lbs, I thought this is actually really good."
Mike continued to lose weight by following Slimming World's food optimising plan and he started getting fitter, running 3km followed by 5km and 10km.
Mike now wants to help others with their weight loss and has swapped his full-time job as a Maths teacher at Hugh Baird College for his own Slimming World franchise. Mike said you typically get less men joining Slimming World due to misconceptions around weight loss.
Man looks 'like two different people' after weight loss
Craig Cavanagh, from County Road, Walton, knew he needed to change his lifestyle as he experienced first hand just how fragile life is after his dad, Chris, was diagnosed with sarcoma – a rare form of cancer. Following his dad’s diagnosis, Craig turned to eating “as a coping mechanism” and in a matter of months, the 37-year-old didn’t recognise himself.
The hospitality worker told the ECHO: “After my dad passed, I looked in the mirror and didn’t even recognise myself or who I had become. I didn’t see myself and that’s what made me kickstart my journey, I needed to stop ‘sitting in the biscuit tin’. It was a shock that I let myself go so much, I didn’t look like myself anymore.”
The general manager at Mason’s ,on Seel Street, said he had always taken pride in his appearance due to being in the entertainment industry and was consciously aware of how he looked to others. After taking some time to grieve and heal after his dad died, Craig came to the realisation that continuing to live life the way he was isn’t what his dad would have wanted.
Craig started his weight loss journey – at 15 and a half stone – with the aim of shredding fat and when done, not wanting excess skin. With knowledge from kickboxing training as a teenager, Craig went on a calorie deficit diet and did cardio – made up of swimming and running – three times a week.
Over the period of a year, Craig lost four and half a stone and was weighing in at around 11 stone. It was then he began to introduce certain foods back into his diet and work on his physique at the Gym Group, Liverpool Central in Clayton Square.
He said: “After I lost the weight I felt comfortable going to the gym without any pressure. Before, I didn’t want clothes to feel too tight or feel people were looking at me so I knew I couldn’t go in there and do my best at that point.”
Craig’s determination recently paid off when he won the member achievement award at the British Fitness Awards 2023. He was also shortlisted for two other awards.
Man knew exactly what to do after life changing moment in TK Maxx
Rob Kelly, from Croxteth Park, changed his life in a matter of months after a shopping trip at TK Maxx. The 38-year-old nurse avoided looking at himself in the mirror after piling on the pounds during lockdown.
Rob said he developed "lazy habits" and turned to food for convenience, snacking on crisps and cheese and having pasties for lunch. But Rob's turning point came when he saw his reflection in a mirror in the changing rooms at TK Maxx.
Rob told the ECHO: "I don't have full length mirrors at home. When I saw myself I thought 'that's it I've got to make a change'. I knew there was a local [Slimming World] group and knew where it was located, so I drove there straight from TK Maxx. I took down the details in my car and joined the very next week."
"I wasn't a massive over eater, it creped up on me quite slowly really without even noticing. In lockdown everything was so uncertain, so people were eating more and drinking more. I'd say a lot of my weight gain came from then really."
Rob said his confidence was low due to his weight and he avoided social situations. He said: "I was feeling tired, sluggish and had a lack of energy to engage in the activities I enjoyed."
Rob joined his local Slimming World group in March this year and lost three stone and three pounds in the space of five months. He's now lost three stone and eight pounds in total. Rob now wants to help others with their weight loss journeys and has started his own Sliming World group at the Royal British Legion at 20 Marlborough Road in Tuebrook.
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