Today we bring you a very interesting and inspiring interview with Verity Yarrow.
Verity has been a client at DVCC Bedford for just over a year and has achieved some great and inspiring results.
As a mother of 3 she definately does not have the luxury of time, yet has still managed to fit in her sessions at DVCC, and be inspired by the nutrition protocols.
Check out her interview on itunes or read below:
Mark: Verity has been a client at DVCC Bedford for a little while now. She’s achieved some very, very inspiring results and I thought that everyone would benefit from hearing her story. And hearing from Verity how she has *lost the weight and she’s managed to stay motivated and what habits she’s started or kept going with that have allowed her to achieve such amazing results.
So thank you for doing this, Verity
Verity: My pleasure
Mark: First things first, just to give people some context, how old are you please?
Verity: I’m 40 years old
Mark: And you’ve got how many children?
Verity: I have three children
Mark: Three children. What are their ages please?
Verity: They are 5, 7 and 9
Mark: Okay. So to dive straight into it, you have *lost how much weight so far?
Verity: I would say I have *lost close to 3 *stone now
Mark: And that’s the dress size is?
Verity: From a size 16-18 to an 8-10
Mark: Okay, excellent. So that’s a massive amount of body fat *loss
Verity: Yeah
Mark: Now, I want to go back to when you were size 16, what age did you decide that you wanted or needed to *lose weight?
Verity: I think it was a gradual thing. Again, when I was pregnant with my eldest, I probably became more conscious of eating healthily because I had picked up some pretty bad habits by then.
My social life was based around going to the pub and so lots of drink and then I was eating takeaways and going out for meals a lot due to having quite a good income and that’s just the way our social life was.
So there wasn’t much home cooking and there wasn’t much thought going into what I was eating. But when I became pregnant, you sober up and you become more conscious. And then of course, when the children are born, you want to be a good role model and then you become more conscious of what you and they are eating – so it’s a gradual awareness basically.
Mark: Let’s go back a bit further to how you found yourself putting on weight. Was it purely that lifestyle? And what age did you start putting on weight?
Verity: Yes I guess it was. I mean, you go away to university and think nothing about sinking 10 pints of larger every night
Mark: Which has always been an interesting conversation with you, and drinking larger!
Verity: My food consisted largely of cheese toasties, pizza, sandwhiches and lots of chips. You eat that way for so long it becomes habit
Mark: So you must have left university at around age 22?
Verity: Yeah, and then you leave university and go to work. I worked in the construction industry, and again that was a lot fried breakfasts and it was a lot of socializing after work. I would go straight to the pub from work as that’s just the culture of that industry
Mark: So it sounds like it was more of progressive lifestyle but made you put on weight. Was it purely the effect of having children that made you click and decide you wanted to get into a healthier lifestyle?
Verity: Yeah, that was really it. I think the older you become the more you become aware of your own mortality. Just before my 30th, I took a look at myself and said I really don’t want to be a smoker anymore. It wasn't in my life plan to be a smoker at 30!
Mark: Right
Verity: I had smoked half of my life by then so I gave up smoking, and I think it was literally 18 months before my 30th.
I did the same thing 18 months before my 40th. I decided I did not want to be 3 stone overweight when I turned 40. I knew realistically 18 months was quite a sensible amount of time to give myself to straighten myself out. I wasn’t looking for a quick fix, I just like setting myself targets.
Mark: Right. So it was the impending 40th that made you decide you wanted to *lose weight?
Verity: Yes
Mark: Now, let’s go back to when you were 35. The habits that you had then compared to the habits that you have now. For anyone listening, that is in a similar position to you as you were then and heading towards their 40th. What was a day in the life of Verity like compared to now?
Verity: No exercise, I didn’t do any exercise at all. I mean, walking around obviously with the children, with children you are active but you are not actually doing any cardio or anything that puts your body under any pressure. It is just constant exercise. From pregnancy onwards, I didn’t skip breakfast because that’s just the habit I got back into but it would always be toast or something that was very carb-based, I was always hungry by half past 10. So I would go to the biscuit barrel again. Lunch time would be sandwiches, lots of pasta and lots and lots of chocolate in the evening.
Mark: A lot of people would have those same habits that you had back then. How did you get into the habit of eating lots of pasta? Is that because that’s how you’ve always eaten?
Verity: No, we grew up with home cooked meals. I think you just – it’s just…
Mark: Time?
Verity: No, it’s always like an expectation. You just think that’s how everybody else eats.
Mark: Right.
Verity: But then pasta is how everybody else eats. That is why so many children are overweight these days.
Mark: So perhaps it is more education that is needed. With lots of weight *loss programs where you can eat pastas and other similar things as long as you get your points, it doesn’t actually educate people on the fact that they’re not potentially the best thing for weight *loss or health in fact.
Verity: Yeah, I think you’re probably right.
Mark: Now, what are the habits you have every day?
Verity: Nearly every morning, I will have eggs for breakfast. That could be omelets, poached eggs, boiled eggs or any of the hundreds of different options. Sometimes I will have bacon with it.
Mark: Good. And you are obviously still just as busy with your three children.
Verity: Yeah.
Mark: How did/do you fit exercising in to your busy schedule?
Verity: Exercise is easy because – especially when I first got into exercise. I went to exercise clubs once a week and enjoyed it and that was the thing. I was doing something with my friends and it was giggle and it wasn’t too serious. It wasn’t the daunting prospect of coming and joining a very pose gym where you feel like you’re being looked at and you feel like you shouldn't be there. Then I started running. I used to run around the fields with the dogs.
Mark: And so was your confidence a lot lower back then…
Verity: Yeah.
Mark: …than it is now?
Verity: Yeah.
Mark: Right, okay.
Verity: But then I just gradually felt more confident and then heard about you guys and…
Mark: So that’s a good one for a lot of people listening and a lot of people have said this on this podcast. Do not try and do everything at once, do not run before you can walk.
Verity: It’s literally tiny steps.
Mark: Exactly! A lot of people try and do everything at once and then once they drop or fail at one thing, they fail at all of them. Whereas, you set an achievable target, just over once a week and then running. And then now what do you…
Verity: Well, it was one of the things that you guys teach, which is to just introduce one small habit at a time and then gradually, you have a good basis of lots of tiny habits that help you maintain a healthy life as opposed to introducing everything all at once, which can become overwhelming.
Mark: Those changes work because they are gradual.
Verity: Yeah.
Mark: Whereas if you 10 years before, you said, well, I’m going to change and do all of this, you would never have achieved it because it’s just too daunting.
Verity: However, I do still allow myself treats.
Mark: Yeah.
Verity: How do you manage to stay motivated? How have you managed to stay motivated to keep *losing weight or to keep healthy?
Verity: Not wanting to go back to how I was I think is a large motivator. Also it is kind of easy now because the habits are formed. I think if I have a day or few days where I haven’t done any exercise, I really miss it now, so it becomes more of a habit. It becomes more uncomfortable to break those habits. The same with eating, if I have had a lot rubbish on the weekend, I feel yuck. And therefore, the motivation to keep going is because I don’t want to feel like that.
Mark: That’s good. And to anybody listening, you don’t have to come to DVCC, if you can make exercise something that you enjoy and is a positive part of your life, or your day, then it is much easier to be motivated to go and exercise.
Verity: Yeah, exactly.
Mark: So on the flip side of that, what do you still find the hardest in terms of living a healthy lifestyle?
Verity: I guess the hardest thing is peer pressure, which is a strange thing to say when you’re 40. You are not a teenager anymore. But quite often, when you’re out, people will try to encourage you to have a drink.
Mark: Right, okay.
Verity: But I have become much better at saying, “No, I don’t want to go for a curry or I don’t want to have crisps.”
Mark: And how do you get past that peer pressure?
Verity: It is just getting used to that slight discomfort.
Mark: I imagine the fact that you are far more confident now enables you to deal with that kind of stuff without it being an issue.
Verity: Yeah, I guess so and I think people just expect that of me now.
Verity: Yes.
Mark: So what advice would you give to someone who was in your position when you were, a size 16 and they are wanting to *lose weight, what advice would you give to them?
Verity: Just to take tiny, tiny steps. That is the thing. Do not expect a miracle. That is why I set myself 18 months because I knew I had taken probably 18 years to put that weight on. I was not going to *lose it in six weeks. Or take any of these products that they’re advertising on TV, lose 2 stone in a fortnight. That isn't realistic and the weight is not going to stay off. But just introducing small healthy habits, eventually will give you a healthy lifestyle.
Mark: And then look at you now compared to…
Verity: I’m a different person.
Mark: Awesome, Verity. Thank you very much.
Verity: Thank you very much.
Mark: You can check out Verity in her old pair of size 16 trousers, I think you will agree she looks great.
Mark: This is Mark from the DVCC. Bye-bye.
