It's always good to have a gym buddy; someone who can help you out and motivate you to keep exercising - giving you the support you need, but also keeping you from wimping out at the last moment. Most people would choose a friend or a colleague to work out with, or a housemate or a partner to go on a diet with.
But have you ever considered slimming down with help from your mum? It might be a better idea than you think. If you need an example, then look no further than mother Adele Gordon and her daughter Samantha.
Adele and Samantha, from East Kilbride in Scotland, are now celebrating their brand new look after managing to shed almost 10 stone between them. Samantha had always been overweight, but her turning point came not long after the birth of her second child, when she saw a picture of herself on holiday with fiancé Tommy Greenan, and was disturbed by her size and shape.
Soon after, she joined diet club Weight Watchers, ditching junk food and microwave meals in favour of healthy, home-prepared dishes, and working out regularly. However, she was surprised when her mom, who then weighed 15st 5lb, decided to join her, and now the pair have managed to totally overhaul their lives.
Commenting on her recent weight-loss, Samantha stated: "I wasn’t so much one for snacking, but my main meals were big portions of all the wrong things. I’d eat chicken nuggets, fish and chips, silly amounts of pasta – just things you could bung in the oven easily. I also avoided exercise as I was so self-conscious.
"My self-esteem was massively impacted. But, one day in 2011, I got back from a holiday and was looking through photos and couldn’t believe how big I’d got. For so long, I hadn’t realised what I was putting in my body – and if I hadn’t seen that photo, I wouldn’t be where I am today."
She added: "One thing I learnt was to stop listening to those critical voices in my head. It is hard when you have a week where you’ve been really healthy and haven’t lost anything. I fell off the wagon for a good two months and dreaded going back to get weighed, but then I realised I had to face the music, no matter what."
Meanwhile, her mother Adele stated: "Samantha had been very good with me in the past, showing me the Weight Watchers app – which I now know is wonderful. She showed me how you can use it to scan foods in the supermarket, to see how many points they’re worth, and encouraged me to use it myself.
"But the thing with this is you have to be ready to be 100 per cent committed and need to do it at a time that’s right for you ... it was a real inspiration seeing Samantha at the other side of her journey. Not only did she look amazing but she seemed so much happier too."
Samantha and Adele are both hopeful that their story will inspire others to make more responsible dietary choices, and are enjoying their shared boosted self-esteem. Why not visit the official Weight Watchers website for more information on their weight loss program?