A married couple who love to cook and eat healthy with a little indulgence in between.
Helen is me, the one who manages this blog and all social media platforms.
Shane just eats what I cook and often comes up with recipe ideas for me to experiment and bring to life in the kitchen.
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, what ever the time of day hello and welcome to our journey.
First of all I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has shown their love and support to our journey and blog over the past few years, sharing our recipes and love for our food is what strives us to carry on. We have our ups and downs but with the love and support from all of you we keep going. So a massive thank you.
So what do we do?…
Helen
I am a full time stay at home carer, cooking and spending time in the kitchen is my escape. I also have a diploma in Diet & Nutrition.
Shane
I am an engineer for a small family business mainly making parts for theatre shows, some including Mary Poppins and Wicked to name a couple.
A little about our weight loss journey…
We tried several diets, pills and shakes over the years and nothing worked. They were either too restrictive or causing us health issues. After a bit of research online I came across an advert for Slimming World and thought I would give it a read and see if it would be for us. I found so many inspiring stories from real people, and real photos that was not photo-shopped to look like the diet was actually working to trick you to joining, it was real life members sharing their journeys and the transformations were amazing.
So that evening we decided to start 3 months of online membership to see if it was something we could stick to and the fact we both suffer(ed) with anxiety and depression and couldn’t face walking into a group full of strangers.
We both lost 4lb in our first week and it felt amazing. Now in our house the scales say something different even if you move them slightly so this result could have actually been more, could have been less too but I am accepting the 4lb loss and rolling with it haha. This spurred us on for another good week, where we lost another 4lb. Great we thought that’s half a stone in 2 weeks. “This diet is amazing” we thought. The following weeks went well with a few ups and downs as we adjusted to our new way of eating but something was missing…. support.
We had started to get criticism of how large our plates were, and we was eating all the wrong things, so we began doubting what we was doing (despite losing the weight) and felt like… whats the point… so we found a group local to us and plucked up the courage to attend a group to see if we could get some help, support and encouragement and make sure we understood the plan 110%.
We walked through those doors and was greeted by everyone, there was no clique groups, just a family of supportive members all on the same journey as each other. We turned up on the night of Woman of the Year and we left that evening so inspired and grateful for the help and advice we was given not just by the members but by our amazing consultant too.
We then booked a holiday (my very first trip abroad) and I was determined to lose the weight I needed to feel confident in a bikini. This became my “why”, why I am on this journey, and it kept me completely focused. The journey up to our holiday was slow, but it was steady. Holiday came around and I was confident enough to wear that bikini, not once, not twice, but the whole week we was on holiday. I stood proud and not felt the need to hide away and it felt great. Mummy tum, stretch marks and battle scars all on show. Shane was also confident in himself too and he has never been one for walking around with his shirt off. We came back from holiday and faced a gain but we was fine as we knew it would soon come off again. But how scary to see how quick it goes on to coming off?? Ooops!
We have won Miss Slinky and Mr Sleek both on the same evening, Couple of the year and have both been nominee’s for man of the year and woman of the year. We are so grateful to everyone who thinks we were worth being nominated and that we have inspired people in their journeys too.
Shane hit his target weight but soon started to get complacent and his weight crept back on again, this didn’t help my journey either as I felt left out so some weeks slowed right down for me. Regardless of our weights we are both a lot happier in ourselves, our social lives have improved and our confidence has soared. Slimming world really changed our lives, not just with our weight but with our confidence too and we will forever be grateful for that.
Our journey hasn’t been plain sailing there have been lots of ups, lots of downs and lots of low points when our confidence tumbles, but we have never given up, we may not be where we want to be with our bodies but its alright, why? because we continue to do our best, it doesn’t matter if we fall off the wagon a little, enjoy a slice of cake, glass of wine, we are all human, things happen in our lives, the most important part is making sure we keep trying and never give up. We will get to where we want in time, its not a marathon, this is life now, as long as we keep healthy and the weight remains coming off it doesn’t matter how slowly it does it, we will get there in time. It isn’t a race.
Never see a healthy eating plan as a “diet” its a healthy lifestyle and a new way of life. Also remember to never compare your journey with someone else’s, we are all different. Its something I had to learn straight away as Shane would bust out 6 or 7lb losses and I can barely manage 2lb eating the same things. Don’t compare, its so easy to fall into self destruct if you think you can follow someone else’s footsteps. Find your own path and keep going forward, don’t look back, if you follow a different path as long as you go forward it will all lead to the end destination.
Hickmans Slim Kitchen 