It's amazing how much we have to juggle our social life with exercise and fitness. There have been many guilty occasions where I've shafted the gym and gone to hang out with friends. But all it takes is a few too many beers and not enough time spent on the treadmill, and you end up piling on weight. One person who knows this only two well is 27-year-old Charlotte Mears, who went from slim and trim before becoming obese and then going back to being thin again.
Charlotte had once been a committed gym bunny in her teens, but constant socialising, clubbing and meals out with friends in her early twenties meant that her weight soon ballooned. At her heaviest, Charlotte ended up weighing 14 stone and 12 pounds. She would often skip breakfast, but snack throughout the day on biscuits and cake, eating pizza and chips for dinner later. She was inspired to change two years ago after viewing a number of inspirational Instagram vloggers, and joined Slimming World to try to shed some weight; trading the fast food for porridge and fruit, and chicken and steamed vegetables for dinner.
Commenting on her incredible weight loss in a recent interview, Charlotte stated: "I was tired of feeling unhealthy, so I looked up other weight loss stories on Instagram and felt really inspired. I know people say you should be happy whatever size you are, but I wasn’t. Now, I feel much better. I’ve got much more energy, and feel like I can always be on the go ... I loved going out for Chinese. My favourite was crispy chilli beef or satay chicken. I’d be out for dinner twice a week, then cooking unhealthily, too. I wasn’t exercising and just eating more and more."
Now she's completely changed her whole diet, and eats only home-cooked meals. She sometimes indulges in eating out at weekends but balances this out with healthier dinners after. Charlotte added; "I drink about five litres of water a day, too, and snack on lots of fruit or smoothies. [My boyfriend] is really supportive. He always tells me how well I’ve done. He’s happy that I’m happy,” she said.“I still go out for dinners, but I’m better at reigning it in and getting back on track."
And Charlotte's advice for other people looking to shed a few pounds? "Just take it day by day, meal by meal," she says, "And if you slip up, don’t punish yourself too hard – just try and get back on track. It’s best to start out with something sustainable, and sociable. I did it by walking with my friends as I knew that was something I could realistically keep up."
So there you have it: if you're dismayed by your scales then your problem might not be your appetite. It could be that your social life is too busy and that maybe the gym has to come first instead sometimes.
