Secret of slim success

Jan 17 2010 by Mieka Smiles, Sunday Sun

MOST have fallen victim to an unflattering photo, but for Katie Laverick, the image staring back at her kick-started a new lifestyle, which has seen the account manager lose more than half her body weight. MIEKA SMILES met her.

KATIE LAVERICK’S not one for fad diets. She’s been there, done that, got the T-shirt . . . and got nowhere.

In her opinion, there really is only one way to shift the pounds and keep them off – hard work and determination.

It was after spotting a picture of herself at a friend’s party that the 25-year-old from Blackhall, County Durham, decided that the weight needed to come off.

Katie said: "The idea to lose weight had been in the back of my head. I needed to do something but it was always ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’.

"Then I saw a picture of myself at a friend’s 21st and could see that I’d put a lot of weight on. It just didn’t look like me. I was really shocked. I had let myself go. That was when I thought ‘I’m going to have to do something or I’d never get it off’."

At 21st 7lb – and a size 22 to 24 – Katie was the biggest she’d ever been.

"I have always been quite big anyway, even as a child," explained Katie. "I wasn’t massive but I was always bigger than a ‘normal’ child would be. It was maybe when I started college, and when I started going out, that the weight did start to go on. And then it really became a problem three to four years ago."

It was a hectic lifestyle of grabbing food on the trot that Katie feels added to her weight gain: "I think it was being busy at work, grabbing something quick to eat and drinking on a night and on a weekend that wasn’t helping. I wasn’t doing any exercise and was being lazy. It was a hectic lifestyle.

"I could be shocking one day, but then missed meals the next day. I would also snack all day on crisps and chocolate and my portions would be far too big. It was all wrong."

Katie was also concerned about developing health problems if she continued with her unhealthy lifestyle.

She said: "I didn’t really have any health problems but if I had kept going the way I was I think I definitely would have developed Type 2 diabetes as it runs in my family. I don’t think it would have been long before I started having health problems."

Shopping for clothes was also a chore. She said: "As a size 22 to 24, I could sort of go into ‘normal’ shops for clothes but it was getting to the point where I was not going to be able to. You kid yourself, thinking they are making clothes smaller."

Friends tiptoed around her size, although others could be cruel: "My friends never said anything. Really, I wish they had, but I know it’s a hard situation to be in. I did probably see people snigger, but I would put that to the back of my mind and wouldn’t think about it."

After making the decision to lose weight, Katie started swimming, watching her diet and then headed to Harpers gym at Peterlee Leisure Centre, enlisting the help of personal trainer Jason Whiteman.

She explained: "I did think about joining to Weight Watchers but I have tried all of those types of diets in the past," said Katie. "They didn’t work but, then again, I didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t the right type of diet for me.

"I started at the gym in May 2008 but didn’t start working with one of the trainers until June last year. Since then I have exercised six times a week and watched my diet.

"I do two sessions with my trainer, Jason Whiteman, a week and do the rest by myself. At the gym I mix everything up and every session changes. I’m not stuck to a rigid routine. I do cardio and weights. I normally do one hour at a time, it just depends on the time I have got."