KATY Davies has been dealing with some weighty matters for the past five years.
As Slimming World consultant for Barnard Castle, she has helped residents shape up and shed an amazing 525 stones.
It has been very much a case of practising what she preaches – Ms Davies trained as a consultant after first signing up as a member and losing four-and-a-half stones in a year.
“Takeaways and cheese were my downfall – and being inactive didn’t help,” she said.
“My weight had crept up and it got to the point where I had had enough and had to do something about it.”
Previous attempts at dieting hadn’t worked and when she first signed up for Slimming World, she decided to do it on the quiet.
“I did quite a lot of research and it seemed like this might work, so I gave it a go and it did.”
It was only when her weight loss became noticeable that Ms Davies let the cat out of the bag.
“I definitely feel better for it – more energised, more pro-active and a lot more confident,” she said.
After tasting success, she signed up as a consultant, taking on a Monday evening class at the Parish Hall, in Newgate.
Initially, she combined this with her job as a consultant at Kyle Travel, in Barnard Castle.
However, she left the travel world to take on a second Slimming World class in the town.
“There is a lot of training involved and it is ongoing training – and in lockdown they were fantastic with the training,” added Ms Davies.
The pandemic posed plenty of challenges – slimming classes switched to the Zoom platform.
In-person classes resumed between lockdowns from August to November in 2020 and again in June last year.
Omicron Covid notwithstanding, classes were due to resume this month on a Tuesday, at 5.30pm and 7pm, back in the Parish Hall.
Ms Davies decided to merge the Monday and Tuesday classes for the time being.
“It needs a bigger group to get more out of it. That’s where you get the support and inspiration,” she said.
“I’m now in the bigger room at the Parish Hall. There is plenty of space, we wear masks, there is sanitiser and social distancing measures are in place.”
