A woman who was addicted to Coca Cola and drank 160 cans a month broke her habit in just two days – by listening to a 10-minute download before falling asleep.
“I’m full of energy, confidence and fun. For the first time in my life I feel I’m in control of what I eat and drink. Sugary things no longer interest me," says Jo Hallam, 44.
Jo, a shop worker from Balderton, Nottingham, used to call herself the Queen Of Fizzy Drinks. It was a standing joke among friends because every day she’d drink a minimum of five or six cans, and she loved her bacon sarnies and chocolate, too.
Lifelong problems with dodgy knees meant she did little exercise and her weight crept up to over 12 stones, which at 4ft 11inches meant her dress size was between a 14 and a 16.
Jo realised the only way she was going to overcome her addiction was to change something in her mind. She discovered a way to train her brain to lose weight by helping her change her attitude to food and drink – and crucially, stop drinking sugar-packed fizzy drinks.
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As she listened to a download called Slimpod for just 10 minutes a day she watched the weight fall away. She lost almost 60 lbs within 6 months.
Within two days she discovered she no longer craved Coca Cola. She hasn’t had a can of it since.
Jo is now down to a UK size 8 - 10 and because of her weight loss is able to walk at least five miles a day without pain in her knees. “It was so easy,” says Jo. “Unlike all those diet resolutions I’d made over the years, this one didn’t need any willpower. It just did it all by itself.
“I’m eating like I did when I was a teenager,” she says. “Over the years I’ve tried more than 60 ways to lose weight and always put the weight straight back on again.
“Now all I want is water. Even on a Saturday night at the social club I’m sitting here with my friend and we're drinking water together. I don't feel deprived because I actually enjoy it.”
Jo knew her eating habits had changed when she went to meet her daughter locally. They arranged to meet in Burger King and her daughter ordered a burger. “But I said: ‘I don’t want one of those, I’m going next door for a salad’ - and off I went. It was delicious."
Despite her dodgy knees, Jo has also begun to exercise again.
She has gone from hardly being able to walk down the road without being out of puff to walking to work and back every day. That’s a five mile walk – and her car hasn’t left her driveway in almost a year.
Jo had tried over 60 different ways of losing weight over a period of 25 years but none of them had enabled her to keep the weight off permanently. Every pound she lost went back on again eventually.
“My kids say I’m like the happy mum I used to be again. I’m not half so ratty, I don’t shout like I used to and I’m calmer and more relaxed than ever. I certainly feel completely different, there’s none of the old me inside any more.
“I’ve got so much energy now that I very rarely feel tired, even after a hard day on my feet at work. Before, I’d often be ready for bed by 9 o’clock, but now I can keep going until 11 during the week – and at weekends life’s too exciting to think about sleep.
“The whole family’s eating much healthier now because I’m buying a lot more fresh food to cook at home instead of buying in fatty takeaways. In fact, I think I’ve only eaten fast food twice in the past six months.
Harley Street specialist Sandra Roycroft-Davis, founder of ThinkingSlimmer.com the company which created the Slimpod says:
“Constant dieting often has horrendous psychological effects manifesting in low confidence, obsession with calories, deprivation, bingeing and generally feeling out of control.
“Many people diet because they think there's no other way. Now we’ve changed all that, making it possible to lose weight and love the skin you’re in."