Teresa Whyte from Dundee is proof that age isn’t a barrier to weight loss.
The 77-year-old, who tipped the scales at 15 and a half stone, has lost an impressive four stone 10lbs in just 12 months.
The granny-of-three confessed to trying various weight-loss plans over the years and had previously maintained a healthy weight by following the Slimming World regime.
But after a fall during lockdown, she fell off the diet wagon and started piling on the pounds.
“I have always had to watch my weight,” she said.
“When I was younger I tried the slimming shakes and other diets, but nothing has ever been as successful as Slimming World has, for me.
“I have been a bit of a yo-yo dieter through the years and my weight has tended to go up and down.”
What made Teresa re-join the slimming plan?
Teresa, who now clocks in at 11 stone 4lbs, had stuck to the Slimming World weight-loss programme for around four years.
But in March 2020, just as the world was locking down due to the Covid pandemic, she had a nasty fall in her garden, fracturing her back.
This – coupled with unhealthy eating habits – saw the pounds begin to creep back on.
“I had a fall in the garden and fractured a bone in my lower back,” she said.
“It turned out that I have osteoporosis too which didn’t help.
“And because of where the fracture was, it couldn’t be fixed. I take medicine for it to help mend the bone, but it will take a long time.
“I had to use a stick to walk but I was struggling to move because of all the weight I was carrying.
“During Covid my daughter Shona, who lives with me, and I were practically living on processed meals from the supermarket and takeaways. We weren’t cooking so the weight just piled on.
“But it got to January last year and I said to my daughter that I couldn’t stand sitting around getting fat any longer.
“This was when I decided to re-join my local Slimming World group.”
When did she start losing weight?
Teresa said the weight started to come off quickly. She lost 10.5 lbs after a few weeks and by March 2023 she had lost one and a half stone.
She revealed that she shed the pounds by swapping Indian and Chinese takeaways and microwave meals for boiled eggs, poached salmon and chicken.
“For breakfast I would have two boiled eggs with toast (wholemeal bread) and a coffee with semi-skimmed milk,” she explained.
“For lunch I would have poached salmon and homemade lentil soup and for a snack I would have a Slimming World Hi-Fi cereal bar.
“And for dinner I would have low calorie meats like chicken or make burgers from five per cent mince.
“I might have a baked potato with the chicken and sometimes I will have macaroni cheese or bolognese.
“For dessert I would have a banana or a orange with yoghurt.”
As a weekend treat, Teresa allows herself a vodka with diet Irn Bru, rather than wine which has more calories.
In terms of exercise, she does a lot of walking in the summer but not so much in the winter when the weather can be bad.
Motivation to stick to the slimming programme
Teresa, who is widowed, said attending her weekly slimming group, run by consultant Rhonda Mitchell, helps to keep her on track.
And she finds that if she doesn’t go, she won’t be as motivated to keep to the plan.
“You have to keep going to the class. If you don’t you will end up falling by the wayside.
“You have to stick with it. It’s a lifestyle change and you will feel much better for it.
“It gets to the stage as well that you really look forward to going because everyone has a laugh.
“Rhonda, our consultant, is really good and she has the place in an uproar!”
Teresa, who has two stone to lose until she hits her target, said that her children, daughter Shona, 50, and son John, 54 – and three grandchildren, Oran, 18, Freya, 16 and Alice, 13 – think her weight-loss is ‘wonderful’.
She continued: “Losing the weight has also really helped my back. It has really improved.
“It took me a while to get over the fall but after losing some weight last summer there was one day I was able to do a four and a half kilometre walk.
“I wouldn’t have managed that before if I had been heavier.”
Teresa recommends Slimming World to others – no matter what age they are.
And she says you don’t need to be expert at following recipes for the plan to work.
She added: “I would say to anyone wanting to lose weight that it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you stick to the programme, you can lose the weight.
“I don’t like cooking, so if I can do it, anyone can.”
Conversation