Louise Pugh who was a champion on two successive weight loss challenges

Louise Pugh who was a champion on two successive weight loss challenges and achieved fantastic health benefits that inspired me, her family and her colleagues!   This is her story...

 "I have quite literally been on a diet all of my life- I was first put on a diet by a doctor at 3 months old and have struggled with my weight ever since.

I have tried most diets on the market:

Cabbage soup diet- it worked as I lost weight but it had unpleasant side effects!! And I put on weight rapidly when I stopped doing it.

Slim Fast- again I lost weight but I felt ill and could not keep it up.

Weight Watchers- I have been to WW many times and managed to lose weight each time but because I viewed it as a diet I could not/ would not sustain it and put the weight back on and more each time.

I decided that I would give up dieting and just be happy as I was which I did until my 40^th birthday in December last year. I was not worried about turning 40 and thought I looked ok until I saw the pictures from my party. I looked awful!!

On the day I decided to do something about it a free community magazine was posted through my door. Inside was an advert for Weight Loss Challenge which sounded like my kind of thing as I am highly competitive!! I gave the number a ring and had my first conversation with Heba- straight away I decided she was a person I could get on with, loud, bubbly and very inspiring!! 

I joined WLC with the intention of losing weight, using my holiday in March as a goal. At first I struggled with WLC as I was not losing weight as rapidly as I wanted to. 

It took many conversations with Heba, during which she was very calm and encouraging, for me to realise that I needed to change my attitude towards food and weight loss and view it as a lifestyle change rather than just an attempt to lose weight. 

Through Heba’s classes I learnt about protein, the right nutrients, the benefits of green tea and drinking water, how Herbalife products can be beneficial in not only weight loss but also in maintaining a healthy life style and why it is more important to lose the fat inside my body and increase my muscle in order to be healthier.

People began to notice the difference in me after a few weeks and asked me what I was doing. After I explained  4 of my friends decided to join WLC to see if it could help them too. It did!!

At the end of the 12 week challenge I managed to lose 12.1 kgs (26.7 lbs) Which was a total of 13.8% of my starting weight. I also lost 8.2% fat and 40.5 cms from all over my body. The icing on the cake was winning the weight loss challenge and getting a cash prize!

At this point I looked and felt so much better but knew I still had a lot to learn and I still had fat that I needed to get rid of so I joined up for another 12 week weight loss challenge. At the end of this I was 6.5 kg (14.3 lbs) lighter, which was 8.2% of my body weight. I had also lost a further 3.5% of my body fat and 12.5 cms from all over my body. 

I was also very fortunate to come second in this challenge.

One thing I noticed during the challenge, other than the weight loss, was my fitness level improving. At the beginning I started walking daily with my husband and could hardly breathe at first let alone talk!! Now we still walk most evenings and I am able to hold a full-blown conversation. I also go to the gym twice a week and my trainer has commented on how my fitness level has increased.  

The challenge has also impacted on my family too as I cook healthier meals and encourage my children to be more active to ensure they do not end up like me (or how I was, constantly struggling with my weight)

At the end of the second challenge I realised that it was time to put everything I had learnt into good use and with Heba’s encouragement I decided to become a Wellness coach. I am just starting on this journey but I know that with Heba’s continuing support I will be able to help people be happier and healthier just as she has helped me.

 It is now 6 months since I finished WLC and I have not gained any weight, am still eating healthily and exercising more so for me it does work!!"

I was thrilled with her achievement!
This is amazing and inspirational.
Well done Louise.
 
Who is next?

Diets Don’t Work But Optimal Lifestyle Does...

Even though many believe that diets do not work, they are still willing to give them another go in the hope that this one might be the one. However studies have shown that up to 95% of those that diet regain their lost weight. Hence dieting is a temporary solution and if you diet, your body starts to store fat because it expects a period of “famine” and tries to prepare your body for the expected starvation. So, I ask my clients “do you want to lose weight for a while or lose it and never put it back on?” The answer is obvious. The permanent loss of weight means lifestyle changes that are maintained. This means hard work and I also tell my clients that you need to earn the body you dream off and it will be worth it in the end.

In the world we live in, we either have deficiencies or excess, as you see in the photo. Optimal health is the thin line between excess and deficiency and it may be achieved by making the right nutritional choices. Additionally you need to consider other factors that will reinforce your nutritional decisions.

Exercise has a wonderful effect on the body. It is a mood elevator combined with a positive metabolic effect. Exercise makes your bones stronger, supresses your hunger, regulates your stress hormones and improves your sleep.

Detoxification helps your body to get rid of the harmful chemicals and toxins that are “fat-loving”. If you don’t those harmful substances will find their way back to your blood stream and harm your health. Water plays a crucial part so drink lots of it. Green vegetables are good too. Avoid chemicals, additives and preservatives.

Another factor that is often neglected is adequate sleep. Deep sleep neutralises stress and helps your body rid itself from its fluids. Adequate sleep will also help regulate your ph body value.

Stress is an enemy that you need to manage and keep under control. If left unchecked it produces signals that will encourage you to eat and put on weight. Laughter is a good medicine for stress and it is effective in reducing its levels. So is exercise. If you prefer you could meditate by creating the right images in your subconscious which will make the right biochemical and neurological changes.

Finally exercise is a form of stress because it produces an Adrenaline rush and causes stress responses in your body. This is why exercise should be followed by relaxing activities such as yoga or deep breathing in order to balance the anxiety and the nervousness. Join my challenge this January it is this sort of knowledge that I share with my clients so that they are better informed and are able to make the right nutritional choices that support them in their journeys to better health. We will cover these and other topics that will enable you to make the right nutritional choices that will lead to a healthier life.

Heba Al-Zuhair | M.Phil in Nutrition, Physical Activity & Public Health 

Let Your Food Be Your Medicine

People are diagnosed with grave diseases in increasing numbers with many chronic illnesses approaching epidemic status. This is fueling the demand for medications in an increasingly “sick” population. So, where are we going wrong?

Medicines cannot replace food!

The truth of the matter is that medicines do not provide any nutritional value. They address a temporary imbalance so that the body is fooled into thinking that the imbalance no longer exists! Whereas nutritional therapy helps the body function like it is supposed to. The only way forward is to use medication initially but then have the desired long term change through nutrition.

Food may replace medicine!

The father of medicine – Hippocrates (460-377 BC), made a profound statement when he said: “Let your food be your medicine, and let your medicine be your food”. However, the world we live in today is awash with processed food that affects the human body’s enzyme activities and causes unwanted side effects. In spite of the grim picture above, I feel that there is light at the end of the tunnel and I work day and night with my clients to bring that bright future closer to them, one at a time! I educate them on food choices so that when they have a meal they get a balanced intake of nutrients that enhance their health. For example potassium rich foods are able to lower high blood pressure. Garlic lowers cholesterol by re-balancing its HDL & LDL parts.

Some foods are better than others!

However, we need to be careful with our nutrition choices because animals that live in the wild and feed on natural diets will enhance our health significantly more than those that have been restricted in farms and fed artificial diets. Crops that have been exposed to pesticides actually do more harm than good to our health.

Join my 12 week YOUNGER BODY AGE CHALLENGE this January!

It is this sort of knowledge that I share with my clients so that they are better informed and are able to make the right nutritional choices that support them in their journeys to better health. If you join YOUNGER BODY AGE CHALLENGE this January, we will cover these and other topics that will enable you to make the right nutritional choices that will lead to a healthier life.

Heba Al-Zuhair | M.Phil in Nutrition, Physical Activity & Public Health 

Nutritionist, Personal Wellness Coach & Herbalife Independent Distributor