News By Readers
Local art director shares how she lost 80 pounds and reclaimed her life
Lisa Fox says the Slimming World plan worked when nothing else did for her.
By Darla Atlas
As Lisa Fox struggled with her weight over the years, she noticed an interesting phenomenon: The larger she became, the more invisible she felt in public.
“I realized when I got to a certain weight that people don’t really look you in the eye,” says Lisa, 49, an art director from Allen, Texas. “They seem to look right past you. It’s a weird thing.”
While she notes that her own unhappiness may have contributed to the feeling of being invisible, “it’s definitely a societal thing. People are not gravitated toward overweight people. I think they just prejudge you and have the assumption that you’re lazy.”
By the time she reached her mid-40s, Lisa weighed more than 200 pounds. Frustrated with diet plans that never worked, she began to think that gastric-bypass surgery was the only answer. But when she noticed that a friend was shedding pounds on a program called Slimming World – the U.K.’s most popular weight-loss plan – Fox decided to give it a try. Skeptically.
“At first I thought, ‘Oh, this is not going to work,’” she recalls – mainly because the program encourages unlimited amounts of certain foods, including pasta, potatoes and eggs. “But I discovered that those aren’t the things that make people fat – it’s what we put on them.”
After she joined the program, Lisa and her partner, Brooke, began eating and cooking in a healthier way, limiting sugar, fats and alcohol, but not banning anything completely.
“It’s less about portion control than it is about balance,” she says of the program. “The main thing for me is that you don’t have to count every single thing you put in your mouth. That just makes it more natural for me. I don’t do well with tracking every little bite; it’s not the way I want to spend the rest of my life.”
What feels more natural to her is to make sure that one-third of each meal consists of fruits and vegetables, which she fills up on first, as well as snacking on them between meals.
Lisa has since lost 80 pounds. Friends, family and coworkers have taken notice; she’s regularly asked what she did to make such a transformation.
“Some have suspected that there was a gimmick involved,” says Lisa, who now works out five days a week, taking long walks and bike rides with her partner. “But then I tell them that it’s all about really healthy eating and a different way of looking at certain foods.”
Lisa also benefited from online support and tips for planning meals and keeping her motivation high. She says there is so much inspiration on the www.slimmingworldusa.com site: recipes, stories of how other members have overcome hurdles, and features about getting more active.
When she looks in the mirror today, “I can see the old me,” she says. “It’s like seeing an old friend. I’d sort of forgotten what I looked like. It’s a familiar face, and it feels good.”
Now that she’s in control of her weight and health, Lisa is more observant of the obese people around her. The people who, like her former self, feel invisible in society.
“When I’m out and about in crowds or restaurants, it’s made me realize there are so many people with weight problems – especially children,” she says. “It makes me so sad. I just wish I could help them all learn how easy it could be to change their lives, without having to be deprived or go hungry.”
“I realized when I got to a certain weight that people don’t really look you in the eye,” says Lisa, 49, an art director from Allen, Texas. “They seem to look right past you. It’s a weird thing.”
While she notes that her own unhappiness may have contributed to the feeling of being invisible, “it’s definitely a societal thing. People are not gravitated toward overweight people. I think they just prejudge you and have the assumption that you’re lazy.”
By the time she reached her mid-40s, Lisa weighed more than 200 pounds. Frustrated with diet plans that never worked, she began to think that gastric-bypass surgery was the only answer. But when she noticed that a friend was shedding pounds on a program called Slimming World – the U.K.’s most popular weight-loss plan – Fox decided to give it a try. Skeptically.
“At first I thought, ‘Oh, this is not going to work,’” she recalls – mainly because the program encourages unlimited amounts of certain foods, including pasta, potatoes and eggs. “But I discovered that those aren’t the things that make people fat – it’s what we put on them.”
After she joined the program, Lisa and her partner, Brooke, began eating and cooking in a healthier way, limiting sugar, fats and alcohol, but not banning anything completely.
“It’s less about portion control than it is about balance,” she says of the program. “The main thing for me is that you don’t have to count every single thing you put in your mouth. That just makes it more natural for me. I don’t do well with tracking every little bite; it’s not the way I want to spend the rest of my life.”
What feels more natural to her is to make sure that one-third of each meal consists of fruits and vegetables, which she fills up on first, as well as snacking on them between meals.
Lisa has since lost 80 pounds. Friends, family and coworkers have taken notice; she’s regularly asked what she did to make such a transformation.
“Some have suspected that there was a gimmick involved,” says Lisa, who now works out five days a week, taking long walks and bike rides with her partner. “But then I tell them that it’s all about really healthy eating and a different way of looking at certain foods.”
Lisa also benefited from online support and tips for planning meals and keeping her motivation high. She says there is so much inspiration on the www.slimmingworldusa.com site: recipes, stories of how other members have overcome hurdles, and features about getting more active.
When she looks in the mirror today, “I can see the old me,” she says. “It’s like seeing an old friend. I’d sort of forgotten what I looked like. It’s a familiar face, and it feels good.”
Now that she’s in control of her weight and health, Lisa is more observant of the obese people around her. The people who, like her former self, feel invisible in society.
“When I’m out and about in crowds or restaurants, it’s made me realize there are so many people with weight problems – especially children,” she says. “It makes me so sad. I just wish I could help them all learn how easy it could be to change their lives, without having to be deprived or go hungry.”
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