‘Super–mum’ beats yo–yo dieting to be named super slimmer!

With hobbies including rock-climbing, kick-boxing and tap–dancing, it’s no wonder Lisa Hopton’s sons have nick-named her ‘super–mum’. Now their stunning super–mum has won a national slimming title after beating yo–yo dieting for good by losing 5½st and keeping it off for 10 years.

Former stage school pupil Lisa, 43, spent more than two decades – from the age of 11 – following fad diets which saw her weight yo–yo up and down, including one plan which made her faint after she ate nothing but pineapple all day. That all changed in March 2001 when Lisa joined her local Slimming World group and lost 5st 7½lbs in eight months. Not only has she maintained her svelte size 8 figure ever since, despite the breakdown of her marriage and undergoing a hysterectomy, she also runs her own Slimming World group helping others to lose weight. Now Lisa’s achievements have seen her named Slimming World’s Top Target Consultant 2011.

She says: “I will have a weight problem for the rest of my life but thanks to Slimming World I’ve learned how to manage it. After you lose weight it’s easy to think that all your problems are over, but life doesn’t work that way. In 2002 my husband moved out, leaving me alone with our two young boys, and later that year I discovered I needed a hysterectomy. It hit me hard and the old Lisa would have turned to food for comfort, but I realised that while life isn’t always within our control we are responsible for our weight. Life’s difficult but healthy eating and being active can be easy – the key is knitting the two together with the support of a group.”

Lisa’s weight worries began more than 30 years ago. She won a scholarship to a well-known theatre school and remembers one agent saying she’d have more luck in auditions if she lost weight. Following fashionable fad diets including the cabbage soup diet and an all-pineapple menu saw Lisa slim down but she’d soon put the weight back on, unable to stick to the strict plans.

Back home in Wimborne, Dorset, Lisa met her husband in 1992 and the pattern of yo-yo dieting continued. Contentment and nightly ready meals and takeaways caused Lisa’s weight to creep up, but when they married three years later two months of crash dieting saw her slip into a size 8 wedding dress. Two pregnancies in three years – Harrison was born in 1997 and Bailey in 2000 – and a severe bout of post–natal depression saw her gain more weight, until, at her heaviest Lisa weighed 19st.

In 2001 Lisa decided to tackle her weight problem once and for all. She says: “My mum’s friend commented that I’d ‘lost my sparkle and infectious smile’ and I realised she was right. I didn’t want to be the fat mum in the playground so, after reading about a local Slimming World Consultant in Slimming World magazine, my mum and I decided to join her group.”

Determined, Lisa lost 6lbs in her first seven days following Slimming World’s Food Optimising eating plan and couldn’t believe how much she could eat while losing weight. Full English breakfasts of grilled bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs were a far cry from the fads she was used to, and within eight months she’d dropped from 15st 4½lbs to 9st 11lbs and from a size 18–20 to an 8. 

Since then Lisa’s trained to become a Slimming World Consultant running the Corfe Mullen group in Dorset, and, leading by example, she’s stayed at her target weight since November 2001.

After years of waiting in the wings, Lisa’s weight loss gave her the confidence to return to the stage and she joined a local amateur dramatic society. As well as winning lead roles, she’s also taken up tap–dancing, rock–climbing and achieved a yellow belt in kick-boxing. She says: “Losing weight has made a massive difference to my family life. I’m not sitting on the sidelines anymore, I can do anything my boys can do and we have so much fun together – they say I’m a ‘big kid’! Recently we were looking at some old photos and my son said, ‘Mum, I’m so proud of you’. What more could a girl want?”

Dr Jacquie Lavin, Slimming World’s Head of Research and Nutrition, says: “As Lisa shows, it’s never too late to break the cycle of yo-yo dieting and many people find that having the support of other slimmers who have been through similar experiences can help. She’s proof that with the right tools – a realistic healthy eating plan, regular and enjoyable activity and the support of those around you – getting and staying in shape is achievable for everyone, whatever life throws at you.”

VITAL STATISTICS
Starting weight: 15st 4½lbs (209lbs and 95kgs)
Weight now: 9st 11lbs (146lbs and 66kgs)
Weight loss: 5st 7½lb (63lbs or 29kgs)
Height: 5’ 6”
Size then: 18–20
Size now: 8
Joining date: March 2001
Hit target weight: November 2001

TYPICAL DAY BEFORE

Breakfast: Big bowl of Alpen cereal with milk, followed by toast (white bread) with honey

Lunch: Baguette filled with cheese and pickle, with a packet of crisps

Dinner: Chicken korma with rice, onion bhaji, naan bread, poppadoms, and mint sauce with onion salad

Snacks: Mars bar, ice cream and big bag of crisps

TYPICAL DAY NOW

Breakfast: Alpen with fat-free yogurt, topped with raspberries and strawberries

Lunch: Jacket potato with tuna and a huge salad

Dinner: Recipe from Slimming World magazine such as Baked Cannelloni or Spaghetti Carbonara with lots of vegetables.  

Snacks: Cherries, chopped pineapple, grapes, apple, fat-free yogurts, vegetable crudités such as yellow peppers and carrots dipped in fat-free natural yogurt with mint sauce stirred through, and fun-size bag of Maltesers or a Cadbury’s Flake.

Drinks: Lots of water.

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For further information please contact the Slimming World press office on 01773 546039 or email: public.relations@slimming-world.com

Lisa Hopton runs the Corfe Mullen (Wimbourne) Slimming World groups at St Nicholas Church every Wednesday at 10am, 6pm and 7.30pm. New members are always welcome.

Watch a video of Lisa talking about her weight loss journey here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2k5Kd0O_9c

Notes to Editors

• Slimming World is the largest and most advanced slimming organisation in the UK.  Margaret Miles-Bramwell (OBE, FRSA) founded the company in 1969 and there are now more than 7,750 groups held weekly nationwide via a network of nearly 3,000 Slimming World trained Consultants.
• 400,000 members attend Slimming World every week and achieve outstanding success.
• Members lose 1.3million stones every year: 25,000 stones every week, 5,000 stones every day, over 208 stones every hour, that’s 3 stone 7lbs lost every minute of every day with Slimming World.
• Slimming World pioneered referral schemes in the UK and actively supports the building of partnerships with the NHS and local authorities to develop effective strategies to manage overweight and obesity in the community. Slimming World works with university researchers and specialists in an active research programme to further knowledge of the causes and treatment of obesity.
• Slimming World’s healthy eating plan, Food OptimisingÃ’, and the principles behind Slimming World’s philosophy are based on a deep understanding of the challenges faced by overweight people. Slimming World integrates practical, up-to-date dietary advice with a highly developed support system.
• Slimming World Consultants receive specific training in dietary aspects and the role of physical activity in weight control. The highly developed training focuses on facilitating behaviour change in a group environment, acknowledged by experts as being the most effective way to support long-term weight management.