A MAN has lost an incredible 8st in just six months – with Loose Women star Denise Welch being hailed as his secret weapon.
Rhys Collington, 29, was addicted to food and weighed 22st (308lbs) despite being a size 3XL.
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Rhys, who has struggled with diets on and off since adolescence, had an “epiphany” in January 2023 and decided to make a change.
Rhys also threw away his crisps and chocolate packets, as well as the large family portions of curry and spaghetti he usually ate in one sitting.
After combining a low 800 calorie per day diet and regular exercise, she lost 8 st and now weighs only 14 st (196 lbs).
Following in the footsteps of Denise Welch, who has openly said she overcame her food addiction, Rhys now believes she has changed her relationship with food and is maintaining her new weight by eating smaller portions.
Now she can “walk into any clothing store” and wear a size “Med.”
“My weight situation is making me miserable,” said Rhys, an optical assistant from Nottingham.
“There’s a huge culture around being positive as a bigger person but I have a hard time seeing how anyone can do that.
“I couldn’t buy clothes in regular shops, I couldn’t go on some of the rides at Alton Towers because the barriers weren’t closed and I had to buy clothes online from certain retailers who sold sizes 3XL.”
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Rhys recalled the moment he had to get off a roller coaster because he couldn’t fit on it.
“One in particular that I couldn’t ride was Oblivion, it was so embarrassing, you had to get off in front of everyone.
“The light bulb moment was when I suddenly realised how unhappy I was and how out of control I had let it get.
“As I approached my 30s, I really wanted to change myself.
“Now I can walk into any store and try on anything I want. It’s like a breath of fresh air.”
VICIOUS CIRCLE
Rhys says he started having issues with his weight at an early age, and that it was because he was “not moving enough”.
“It went up and down,” he said.
“I was just overeating and not moving enough.
“I used to eat a lot – a typical lunch would be a sandwich, a packet of crisps and then some chocolate. It was the kind of thing people eat, but a lot of it.
“A dinner I would cook would be maybe a curry or a spaghetti bowl, but I would usually eat the whole meal rather than portion it out, and that’s what I do now.
“I was very involved in art, but I wasn’t the kind of kid who ran around and played football.
“So it all started from there, and as I got older I gained more weight.”
Rhys began to develop a food addiction and his days became dependent on when he would eat. Next to eat.
She tried various diets and weight loss tactics, but nothing worked.
“I was more addicted to food, it can be very addictive,” he said.
“I would spend the first half of my shift at work thinking about lunch.
“My mom told me we were on vacation and I was asking about lunch while I was making breakfast, which led to food addiction.”
Rhys tried various diets, including Slimming World, but couldn’t stick to any of them.
“I tried a different diet during quarantine but we were stuck at home and just cooking this and doing that and being away from work for that long I started gaining weight,” she continued.
TURNING POINT
Rhys shared his own feelings on the subject after listening to actress Denise Welch talk about her own food addiction and diet.
“I thought I would try my new diet with LighterLife,” she said.
“For me, getting faster results was a great source of motivation.
“It’s always demoralizing when you follow something all week and you don’t get the results you want.
“I lost 13 kilos in the first week and almost 2 kilos in three weeks.
“With your mentor, you delve into the times when you find yourself thinking about food and try to pinpoint it. explode Bring yourself back to the moment.
“I have now learned that this can be applied to any scenario.
“Later [LighterLife] I revamped my diet, reintroduced foods, and continued to exercise and reeducate myself.
“Sometimes I’d go into work and someone hadn’t seen me for months and they’d be shocked at the difference. It was a really rapid change.”
NEW HABITS
Rhys now goes to the gym five times a week to maintain his new habits and says it has “opened new doors”
“I go in the morning before work,” he said.
“I do weight training to gain muscle and tone up a bit.
“It will always be difficult to maintain, but the beauty of the diet is that it teaches you ways to manage that addiction.
“I eat smaller portions now and don’t think about food as much as I used to.
“I usually take something with me Office this is healthier.
How to lose weight safely?
Losing weight should be a long-term commitment to a healthier life rather than any radical measure.
Here are some tips that the NHS can gradually adopt:
- Be active for 150 minutes per week, which you can break up into shorter sessions
- Aim for 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day – 80g of fresh, canned or frozen fruit or vegetables counts as 1 portion
- Aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds or 0.5 to 1 kg per week
- Read food labels – products with more green colour coding than amber and red are usually a healthier option
- Replace sugary drinks with water; if you don’t like the taste, add lemon or lime slices for added flavor
- Cut down on foods that are high in sugar and fat – start by replacing sugary cereals with whole grain alternatives
- Share your weight loss plan with someone you trust; they can motivate you when you’re having a bad day.
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“Some mornings I might eat breakfast, some mornings I might not.
“I think of it as something that nourishes me, not something I need throughout the day.
“Overall, I feel much better.
“I feel so much more confident. I can dress the way I always wanted to, I’ve made new friends and it’s given me the confidence to date again.
“It’s hard to date a big guy in the gay community because it’s so body-centered.
“But it’s always going to be something I have to manage. It’s a lifelong thing. You have to manage it.”
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