I’m 61 years of age, married to Mark, have 2 daughters, 2 grandsons and really enjoying retirement. Prior to retirement in July 2012, I was the Assistant Headteacher in a large primary school in Luton. My role was demanding and often stressful - I would be at my desk by 7am and rarely left school before 5.30pm.
That said, I loved working with young children and seeing them blossom was one of life’s pleasures.
In December 2010, I caught a virus which affected my hearing, and overnight suffered a hearing loss that never returned. By September 2011, I made the decision to take early retirement in July 2012.
This was quite scary as work played such a large part in my *life. My daughter Jo was already a client at DVCC and she persuaded me to give it a try in October 2011. I had played netball until well past 50, but my weight had slowly crept up since giving up.
Weight *loss was not my main reason for joining – I needed a new lifestyle to replace my old one…
Initially, I attended after school 2 or 3 evenings a week, plus Saturday morning. When I finally gave up work, I began booking sessions every morning. This gave me an incentive to get up early and to maintain regular habits. Despite lots of encouragement, I still didn’t embrace the dietary aspect of the DVCC! I did, however meet lots of lovely people, staff and clients, who have shown unending patience when trying to hold a conversation with me!
I finally decided to bow to pressure and began following the Metabolic Damage protocol (or diabolical diet as I rechristened it!) when my youngest daughter announced her engagement. Whilst I haven’t lost the huge amounts that some clients have achieved, I have *gained muscle and *lost fat, and feel stronger now than I have ever felt and I have dropped a dress size before the impending wedding.
I think a common comment about achieving results is, “I wish I’d done this earlier.” However I can honestly say it would not have had the same impact on my *life as it has now. It’s never too late to create a new lifestyle for yourself!
