A MAN lost a whopping 8st in just six months – and named Loose Women star Denise Welch as his secret weapon.
Rhys Collington, 29, was a food addict who weighed 22st (308lbs). At his biggest he was a size 3XL.
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Rhys had struggled with following different diets since his teenage years, but then a light bulb went on and he decided to make a change in January 2023.
Rhys ignored his bags of crisps and chocolate, as well as the large family-sized portions of curry and spaghetti that he normally wolfed down in one sitting.
He lost 8 kilos and now weighs just 14 kilos (196 pounds), thanks to a diet of just 800 calories a day, combined with regular exercise.
Rhys follows in the footsteps of Denise Welch, who has opened up about overcoming her own food addiction. He believes he has changed his relationship with food and is maintaining his new weight by cutting down on portion sizes.
He can now “walk into any clothing store” and wears a size medium.
Rhys, an optician from Nottingham, said: “My weight was just making me miserable.
“There is quite a culture where it is important to be positive as a person, but I don’t understand how anyone could do that.
“I couldn’t buy clothes in regular shops and I couldn’t go on some of the rides at Alton Towers because the barriers wouldn’t close. I also had to buy clothes online from certain retailers who had size 3XL in stock.”
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Rhys remembers the moment he had to get off a roller coaster because he couldn’t fit on it.
“I couldn’t get on the Oblivion ride, that was really awful. You have to get out in front of everyone.
“The penny dropped when I realized how unhappy I was and how far I had let things get out of hand.
“When I was almost 30, I really wanted to change myself.
“Now I can walk into any store and try on anything. It’s a relief.”
A VICIOUS CIRCLE
Rhys struggled with weight from a young age and says this was because he simply ‘didn’t exercise enough’.
He said, “It was up and down.
“I just ate too much and exercised too little.
“I ate a lot – a typical lunch would be a sandwich, a bag of chips and some chocolate afterwards. Just things people eat, but way too much.
“For example, for dinner I would make a curry or a spaghetti bowl, but I usually ate the dish whole instead of portioning it, which is what I do now.
“I’ve done a lot in the arts, but I wasn’t necessarily a kid running around and playing football etc.
“It basically went like this: the older I got, the heavier I got.”
Rhys began to develop a food addiction and his days became dependent on when he would next one to be eating.
He tried different diets and weight loss methods, but nothing seemed to work.
He said: “I was more addicted to food. It can be very addictive.
“The first half of my shift at work I was thinking about lunch.
“My mother told me that when we were on vacation, I used to ask about lunch during breakfast and that it all went back to a food addiction.”
Rhys tried several diets, including Slimming World, but he was unable to stick to any of them.
“During the lockdown I tried a different diet, but we were locked up and we only cooked this and that, and because we couldn’t work for so long, the pounds came back on,” he continued.
THE TURNING POINT
After listening to actress Denise Welch talk about her own food addiction and the diet she followed, Rhys recognized herself in it.
He said, “I thought I would give this new diet with LighterLife a try.
“For me, the faster results were a big motivator.
“It’s always discouraging when you’ve been tracking something all week and you don’t get the results you want.
“In the first week I lost 6 kilos and in three weeks I had lost almost 2 kilos.
“Together with your mentor you really go into depth about when you notice that you are thinking about food and you try click bring yourself back into the moment.
“Now I’ve learned that this can be applied to any scenario.
“After the [LighterLife] I started reintroducing foods, continued exercising and continued to retrain myself.
“Sometimes I would go to work and someone would be shocked by the difference. It was a very quick 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”
He said, “I’ll go in the morning, before I go to work.
“I do strength training to build some muscle and tone up a bit.
“It will always be difficult to stick to it, but the great thing about this diet is that it teaches you how to deal with that addiction.
“I eat smaller portions now and I don’t think about food as much as I used to.
“I usually bring something with me to the office that is healthier.
How to Lose Weight Safely
Losing weight should be a long-term goal for a healthier life, not a series of drastic measures.
The NHS tips, which can be introduced slowly, include:
- Exercise 150 minutes per week – you can break this up into shorter sessions
- Try to get your 5 A Day – 80g of fresh, tinned or frozen fruit or vegetables counts as 1 portion
- Try to lose 1 to 2 pounds, or 0.5 to 1 kg, per week
- Read food labels – products with more green color coding than amber and red are often a healthier option
- Replace sugary drinks with water – if you don’t like the taste, add lemon or lime slices for flavor
- Reduce your consumption of foods high in sugar and fat – start by replacing sugary grains with whole grain alternatives
- Share your weight loss plan with someone you trust – they can help motivate you when you’re having a bad day
Read about:
“Some mornings I eat breakfast, others I don’t.
“I see it as something that gives me energy, and not as a necessity during the day.
“Overall I feel much better.
“I feel much more confident. I can dress the way I always wanted to, I’ve made new friends and it gives me the confidence to start dating again.
“Dating as a muscular guy in the gay community is difficult because it’s so body-focused.
“But it’s always going to be something that I have to manage. It’s a lifelong thing. You have to manage it.”
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