Orla Coffey was so delighted to talk to Newsgroup about her weight loss journey with the help of Slimming World consultant Noeleen Herbage.
Orla explained her struggles since she was a teenager “I have Multiple Sclerosis since I was 15. I was pretty bad for few years, but it went into a deep remission in my twenties and lived a full and energetic life. Happiest of all was when I met my incredible husband and we lived a life of fun and adventure. However, it was not to be. In 2012, 7 weeks before our wedding, I suffered a catastrophic accident that left me with such severe eye and facial pain, I was unable to go near wind/moving air. An outdoors person, who walked a minimum of 40 minutes a day, I became trapped indoors. Over the next few years, on medication, and suffering with severe nerve pain, PTSD and depression. I put on a piano-sized piece of weight – I ballooned by ten stone. I was in a very bad place and this endured.”
Then Orla found Slimming World and began her weight loss journey but the reality of lockdown due to Covid-19 happened, she said “A big changer for me was Slimming World but particularly my amazing consultant Noeleen. The programme is easy to understand and with the guidance of Noeleen plus the support of my lovely group, my weight started to shift. By the time of lock-down, I had relieved myself of four stone. At the date of lockdown, when all the world was falling apart and I became unable to visit my fabulous family who are my main support, I became anxious that I would inflate again.”
As the Covid-19 pandemic developed, Noeleen moved her groups online, Orla commented “Thankfully, putting weight back on was not on the cards. Instead, the unreal Noeleen, putting client safety front and centre, cancelled our Slimming World face-to-face groups and she immediately mobilized. She, almost instantaneously, started a weekly Zoom session. With this, Slimming World and Noeleen gave us consistency and comfort – we got all the relevant food and slimming information whilst also, even more importantly, in my opinion, they gave us support. Even as we all sat individually in our homes, we were very much part of Noeleen and Slimming World’s Community.”
The online group really helped Orla to stick to the plan, Orla concluded “The online group support had emotional benefits and I’m very happy to report that my weight-loss accelerated during the lockdown. I had the support, I had something positive to focus on and consequently, I deflated. At the moment, I have lost seven stone to date and I am feeling very confident and excited that my ten stone award and sticker will be mine in the near future. I laugh when I think of how I’ll look back at the awful year of 2020 that we’ve all been through. It has been a never-ending horror show but I will hopefully look back with gratitude for the progress I managed to make in one vital, important and esteem-building arena. Thank you Noeleen and Slimming World!”
For more information or to join Slimming World contact Noeleen on 085 7499296 or www.slimmingworld.ie.
Pictured: Orla before and now.
