Here is one truly inspirational story: Jo Cantle: “My weight loss journey”

I am delighted to be able to share Jo’s story with you as this is probably one of the most inspirational stories I have come across as Jo has put so much thought into this in order to really inspire those that are ready to take action. She has shared not only her results and how she achieved it, but the entire mind set one needs to have to achieve long term weight loss and health. Thank you so much for allowing me to share your story, Jo, you are an inspiration on many different levels and your determination will never fail you!

(‘Not to be copied without prior permission’)

“I’ve written this for information purposes only and hope that it may help or inspire others to take action. Plus it has always been a personal goal of mine to write my own weight loss testimonial, like I’ve read and admired in so many magazines over the years that I’ve been trying to lose weight.

I have been overweight for as long as I can remember and always would have described myself as ‘the wrong side of slim’ as I was always the slightly bigger one than my friends at school. When I was 7 my parents moved my sisters and I from Birmingham to Weston-super-Mare, where they bought a business….a General Stores called The Chocolate Box – so it was mainly sweets they sold, as you can imagine for a 7 year old – I was literally a ‘kid in a candy store’ and I feel that this was possibly where my weight issues developed.

As I got older and became aware of being larger I of course tried various ways to control my weight, although I’m happy to say, that I was always sensible enough (or was that I just liked my food too much) that I didn’t go the dodgy route of starving myself or purchasing unsafe pills etc – my first real diet that I can remember was at 14 where I think I lost about 7lbs and felt fabulous – however it soon came back on and then what followed for the next 10+ years was some serious yo-yo dieting.

While at Art College, I ate and drank all the wrong stuff as many students do. I ate on the run and drank copious amounts of alcohol and knew little about a healthy diet and continued that style of eating after I left college and moved back to Weston with my husband Colin.

Once in Weston my weight steadily progressed up to a size 22. My husband is naturally quite slim and seems to be able to eat a lot (however I have studied his eating patterns and actually what he does is manage his weight naturally through eating when he’s hungry – now there’s a revelation!). Anyway, I used to match his portions and ate what he did and I got steadily bigger. By the age of 26 I was at my biggest and my doctor was warning me about high blood pressure – having lost my Dad 4 years earlier to a heart attack, I knew I had to take control of my lifestyle.

Colin & I decided to get married in 1998 and I was determined not to be a fat bride, so I joined a club and lost 5 stone – looking back it was not the programme, it was my determination that helped me succeed. I do remember feeling hungry most of the time, which caused a ricochet effect once the wedding was over, as I then made up for the lack of eating during the previous year by making sure I ate everything and proceeded to regain 3 stone.

One positive thing that came from that programme was I became seriously passionate about exercise – in particular running, and had trained myself from running for 5 mins around the block (and then collapsing in a heap) to running over 10 miles at a time. So we then set ourselves a target of running the London Marathon which we did in 1999 in just over 5 hours. This controlled my weight gain to a certain extent, but as any avid runner knows, they advise you carb-load prior to long races – and if you continue to carb-load after racing (which I did) – you gain weight!

Fast forward to 2002 – I was probably at the end of my tether with my weight and certainly an emotional low point, I had tried hypnosis, magazine plan after plan, I had a pile of diet books each discarded as I felt hungry, tired and just completely fed up and really felt I was destined to be fat all my life. I had also become an Aerobics Instructor – but as my eating was all wrong – I was never going to be the shape and size I really dreamed of being.

It was at this point I went searching not for a weight loss solution one day, but a work from home solution, as I was in a personal situation which meant I had to find a way to make more income. This is when I came across Herbalife, now I was very sceptical because it was something that I hadn’t considered before, but once I understood that it was a programme that was built on a very sound nutritional philosophy of over 20 years – it made sense to join the company and use the programme.

So I got started on the programme at which point I was a size 18/20 – within a month I had dropped to a size 16 (sometimes 14 depending on where I shopped). I continued to use the products for weight management, good health and sports nutrition, but the truth is, I got too relaxed with my result and was so busy running our business I forgot that my results ARE my business. Colin & I are fortunate to be asked to be guest speakers and train quite a lot at the Herbalife seminars and when you’re up on stage – you are a representative of the brand, and I was not confident that I was representing the brand that I’m so very proud of.

So in August last year I took some steps to correct this…here is my 4 point plan.

1) I made a decision to lose 30lbs, I didn’t have a time scale in mind, but I knew I wanted to lose 30 lbs and I had also been inspired by friend & fellow distributor Tina Garrett-Clarke who I’d seen lose over 49lbs the previous year (and she’s a Mum of 4, so if she could do it I could too!)

2) I visualised my outcome by getting pictures of bodyshapes I could aspire to and pasting my head onto them, and also wrote out some positive statements.

3) I worked out a plan for myself based on all the knowledge that I have about protein, carbs, calories, exercise and water. I used the Herbalife products (Formula 1, 2 and the Thermo Beverage + others as it makes it easier than trying to work it all out for yourself – this way it was done for me!)

4) I gave myself accountability in the form of agreeing with my dear friends Ian & Karen Goulding that we would set ourselves a challenge and over a 12 week period we emailed each week our results. We then started another 12 week stint straight after.

By Christmas I’d lost over 25lbs and then Christmas, New Year and my birthday got in the way and I ‘relaxed’ a bit – but due to the plan I was following and the control that the Herbalife programme gives me I only regained about 2lbs.

I’ve just got started with a 6 week Distributor Weight Loss Challenge, which is keeping me on track. So I’ve now lost over 2 stone and 55 cms – and I’m fitter and healthier than I’ve ever been.

I’ve increased my exercise as I also had given myself a target of competing in the 2009 London Triathlon with one of my team members, Becky Reeve, and I’m doing the running section which I want to complete in a respectable time So I run or go to the gym 4-5xs per week – which I just LOVE!

Key Things I’ve learned – Which I Hope will Help Others….

1) Loving yourself is one of the biggest gifts you can give to yourself and those around you – and if you’re not sure where to start then I recommend Louise Hay “You Can Heal Your Life”

2) Change starts with making a decision and backing it up with a plan of action

3) Giving yourself accountability is important to help you in those times when you feel like giving up (that’s why we do follow up with our clients)

4) Guilt about eating something doesn’t serve you, it’s more likely to send you bingeing, so get over it, enjoy it and forgive yourself, and be better tomorrow.

5) Balance is the key, if I want to have a meal out or enjoy a slice of cake that my Mum has made, I’ll eat it, the Herbalife programme is designed that you can still do that and enjoy yourself.

6) You have to rethink your bodyshape and think of yourself as slim (hence the visualisation), because otherwise your brain will always sabotage your results, by returning you back to your original state of being overweight.

So thank you for reading, I hope you have found it of interest, I continue on my journey, but it’s now a highly enjoyable road, I now truly feel I will be slim for life!”

If you would like to contact Jo regarding her story, here are her contact details: Jo Cantle, Tel 07984 471 271, Email Address healthy_future@btinternet.com or visit her site at www.future-slim.com