FOR over three decades, Kathleen Court, 74, a retired doctor’s receptionist from Hull, East Yorks, has been chasing her dream weight.
But despite years of calorie counting she still yearns to be slimmer. Here, she opens up on her lifelong weight-loss journey.
LEANING over my trolley to reach the packet of diet biscuits, I frown when I notice the price.
They’re now over £1 and it really bothers me that I have to pay more for an individually wrapped, low-calorie “treat” that isn’t even tasty.
But this is the price I’ve paid for spending my whole life trying to keep my weight around 9st.
And when I dare let myself dwell on the astonishing costs, that £1 pack of biscuits is a mere drop in the ocean.
A recent YouGov survey revealed that 61 per cent of women report feeling under pressure to slim down to have the perfect body.
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted the “perfect” body, but I have always hated the tops of my arms and would like my middle to be slimmer.
So now, as an active 74-year-old, weighing an acceptable 10st 7lb and a size 14, I am back on the weight-loss bandwagon.
Despite being on a diet for more than three decades of my life — that’s 9,450 days if you take off 50 days a year for holidays, Christmases, illness and “treat” days — I still want to be thinner.
Niche products
And when I tot up the amount of cash I’ve thrown at trying to lose a few pounds, it comes to nearly £30,000.
It’s staggering. But I don’t regret spending the money, it has done me good, and sticking to the diets has kept me on the straight and narrow — as has going to the slimming clubs.
Over the years, my money has gone on clubs like Slimming World and Weight Watchers, with the longest stint lasting six years.
While £3 or £4 a week never felt a lot at the time, I reckon I’ve spent a couple of thousand on the weekly weigh-ins alone.
And at every one, I’ve treated myself to the club’s branded biscuits, crisps and chocolate.
At around £10 a week for those, that must be another £3,000-£4,000.
I’ve also piled thousands of low-calorie products into my supermarket trolley.
From Weight Watchers ready meals to low-calorie soups, jars of sauces and breads, there’s little I haven’t tried over the decades.
Some might argue that I would have spent the same amount on my usual supermarket shop. But niche products aimed at weight loss are invariably more expensive, then say, a comparatively cheap meal of stew and dumplings or a homemade pasta bake.
British women spend an average 21 years and eight months of their lives on a diet, according to research by weight-loss company Voy. During 2023 alone, they spent five months and one week cutting calories.
I can certainly relate.
In my teens and twenties I was naturally slim.
When I hit my forties, I weighed 10st 3lb and was a size 14 — the biggest I had ever been
Recently, when my husband, Norman, 78, a retired management consultant, and I dug out a box of old photos, I felt proud of how I looked.
I showed my daughter, Charlotte, 38, our only child, some of the snaps taken before she came along in May 1986.
“See, Charlie, your mother was slim once,” I told her.
“You’re pretty slim now, Mum,” she replied, shaking her head.
However, as kind as her words sounded, I’ve never felt quite slim enough.
After Charlie was born two weeks before my 36th birthday, I didn’t notice my weight slowly creeping up.
When I hit my forties, I weighed 10st 3lb and was a size 14 — the biggest I had ever been.
At 5ft 4in tall, I was starting to feel uncomfortable with my size, particularly the weight that had gone to my stomach, hips and bum. So in 1992 I signed up to Slimming World.
In the space of three or four months, I got to my target weight of 8st 7lb. I had never been happier.
I spent six years at that Slimming World club — paying weekly, buying its crisps and snacks at every meeting — and managed to maintain my weight for the entire time.
Really strict
I was really strict with myself and would weigh everything, from cereal in the morning to rice, pasta, potatoes and meat for my evening meal.
I even kept a measuring jug of 250ml of skimmed milk in the fridge, which was my daily allowance for breakfast and cups of tea.
While I wasn’t obsessed with the scales, I looked forward to the weigh-ins. Losing weight each week spurred me on.
Of course I had breaks. Some weekends I let myself eat whatever I wanted and on holidays I would stop counting calories.
But whenever I came home, or every Monday after a treat weekend, I would tell Norm or Charlie I needed to start slimming again.
Norm always told me I “looked stunning”, but he did notice when I gained weight and said he thought it didn’t suit me. However he never put any pressure on me to lose it.
Eventually, life got busier, we moved house and I stopped the Slimming World meetings.
When I hit my fifties, I consistently weighed over 9st and, no matter what I did, I couldn’t lose those extra few pounds.
I felt disappointed that I couldn’t shift the weight, when I had been so successful before.
I despise exercise, so I went back to what I knew would work — Slimming World.
While I wasn’t obsessed with the scales, I looked forward to the weigh-ins. Losing weight each week spurred me on
The weekly classes held in a local church kept me in check and I could see the physical fruits of my labour on the scales each time.
I spent the next decade at Slimming World and later at Weight Watchers, following their diet plans, buying the meals and keeping my weight around the 9st mark.
Eventually I did get sick of all the restrictions and as I hit my sixties my weight slowly crept up to 9st 5lb. But I felt relatively happy with that.
We got a dog — a gorgeous wire-haired Fox Terrier called Ted — and I started walking regularly with him, averaging one to two miles a day.
It was an exercise I finally enjoyed.
The 5 best exercises to lose weight
By Lucy Gornall, personal trainer and health journalist
EXERCISE can be intimidating and hard to devote yourself to, particularly at this time of year, when the rain is as relentless as your craving for carbs.
So how do you find the right workout for you?
As a PT and fitness journalist, I’ve tried everything.
I’ve taken part in endless fitness competitions, marathons and I maintain a regime of runs, strength training and Pilates.
Fitness is so entrenched in my life, I stick to it even at Christmas!
The key is finding an activity you love that can become a habit.
My top five forms of exercise, especially if you’re trying to lose weight, are:
- Walking
- Running
- Pilates
- High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
- Strength training
Every mother of the bride wants to look fabulous on her daughter’s wedding day, so when Charlie announced she was getting married in July 2016, I decided I wanted to get my weight down from the 9st 8-9lb I then weighed, to 9st 5lb.
So I joined Weight Watchers again, at a cost of about £5 a week, and got down to 9st 4lb for the big day.
When I saw the wedding photos, I was thrilled. Charlie and I really did look quite spectacular.
I kept on with the weekly weigh-ins and the diet plan and buying the products every week for the next few years, along with my regular dog walks, and I stayed at around 9st 5lb until I turned 70.
But recently, my weight has increased significantly and I just can’t seem to shift it. My metabolism is simply not what it used to be.
Last year I had a hip replacement and spent months sitting down and eating whatever I wanted.
Now, at 10st 7lb, my jeans are tight around the waist, my stomach sticks out and I have a tyre.
So I’m back to walking miles each day with Ted and I’m thinking of going back to Slimming World to see if I can shift half a stone.
The days of the scales hitting 9st something are well over for me.
But I’m not ready to give in to old-age spread just yet.
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