When Jenny Irons joined a body-slimming club to support her sister, she never expected the diet and exercise to transform her own life—a life that has now been thoroughly changed. Almost 240 pounds (approx. 109 kg) lighter, Jenny is no longer depressed and hiding behind baggy clothes.
Furthermore, she’s even ready to look for love.
Jenny, a 46-year-old carer from Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, England, was struggling with chest and foot pains, headaches, and shortness of breath at her heaviest, 383 pounds (approx. 174 kg). She agreed to accompany her sister to a local Slimming World group for moral support in September 2018.
After a painful divorce, a redundancy 0f employment, and being forced to sell her home, Jenny turned to food for comfort.
“I was in a really bad place,” she explained. “I would go to the supermarket at 10 p.m. at night or 5 a.m. in the morning so that no one would see me. I wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone and I hid my body in baggy clothes. It was a very lonely place.”
Jenny was relieved to find solidarity among fellow slimmers. “There were people [at Slimming World] of all shapes and sizes and everyone was so helpful and friendly,” she recalled.
Best of all, unlike the fad diets of Jenny’s past, Slimming World’s “Food Optimising” diet plan worked for her.
At her lowest point, a typical day’s snacks for Jenny would include white bread sandwiches, biscuits, chips, chocolate, cheesecake, peanuts, and ice cream. For dinner, she often ate fish fingers with fries and beans.
Under the Slimming World regime, Jenny’s diet transformed. For snacks, Jenny reached for apples, berries, carrot sticks, fat-free yogurt, and popcorn. For lunch, she would eat a chicken or prawn salad, and for dinner, spaghetti bolognese or an omelette with salad.
“[Y]ou can still enjoy all your favorite meals,” Jenny explained, “just cooked in a different way, and you don’t feel like you’re on a diet at all.”
With support from the group, Jenny’s confidence skyrocketed. So did her energy levels.
“I felt better in myself and had the confidence to start exercising,” she explained. “Before, I only ever walked from my car to work ... Now, I can walk for miles, and if I don’t go for a walk, I start getting itchy feet; I’m the new Forrest Gump!”
Lockdown measures in early 2020 threatened to disrupt Jenny’s progress, but she kept her goal at the forefront of her mind. She joined weekly virtual meetings, checked in with her consultant, Carole, and eventually reached her target weight of 145 pounds (approx. 66 kg), marking an incredible 238-pound (approx. 108-kilogram) weight loss milestone since her journey began.
On top of that, Jenny went down 12 dress sizes, and her BMI dropped from 54 to a healthy 22.
For her remarkable achievement, Jenny was named Slimming World’s Woman of the Year 2020.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself,” she admitted, “and being named Woman of the Year is like the cherry on the cake, or should I say, fruit salad! My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.”
