To anybody and everybody who wants to be as happy as me…

Over the last 12 months my life has completely changed, for the better of course. I have always been a very lively and bubbly person, always happy and out going.

However, there was always something missing, deep down I always knew what it was, but could never be bothered to do anything about it. If I did, in a matter of weeks I was back to where I started, or 10 paces back.

The question remains, what was the problem? It was my weight. I am 4 foot 11 inches and I used to weigh nearly 15 stones, today I am still 4 foot 11 inches and weigh 9 stone 4 lbs. I still have about 20 lbs of excess body fat that I want to burn. To date I have burnt 80 pounds of excess body fat.

The next question is how have I done this… Well, it has been a combination of three major factors being:

• Darren Christopher Rowland
• Exercise
• Low carbohydrate lifestyle

I started with Darren on the Weight Management programme. Very quickly I learnt to take my body to another level. By working out so hard that I felt the rush of adrenaline, it was like an addiction. Working out on my own wasn’t achieving the same results. At the same time I was attending slimming world classes. The weight loss was steady at first then I found some weeks I would gain a pound or so, but Darren helped me understand it wasn’t the end of the world and it wasn’t a gain of unwanted body fat.

About July, I had just come back from 2 weeks holiday in Mauritius. I hadn’t gained any weight whilst I was away. I was always unsure of what I could and couldn’t eat. I must say I was very impressed with Darrens patience; we sat down on lots of occasions and made a list of the foods I could and couldn’t have. Anyway, I thought to myself he keeps going on about this wonderful way of eating and how it would speed up the weight burning process so why not give it a go, if nothing else, to shut him up! So off I went, I stuck to it religiously not even once going off track. At the end of my first week I had lost an amazing 5 pounds. This was cool and on top of it all I had really enjoyed the way I had eaten. To be honest I did not feel as if I was on a diet, it was great. I had even been out for a Chinese meal. The weeks went by and I kept burning the excess body fat, I was able to exercise even better: what I was doing in an hour at the start I was now doing in 25 minutes. The feeling was out of this world I was so addicted to the exercise I was seeing Darren 5 times a week for consultations and updates. Soon everyone started to comment about how different I looked, the best part was going into normal shops and buying clothes.

I WAS NORMAL.

This all sounds great and easy, but believe me there has been some really tough times as well as loads of fun times, I have laughed and cried in the same moment. In all this Darren has supported me every step of the way, pushed me when it has been needed and praised me when required. I feel Darren has gone that step further than you would normally expect. Monitoring my food and exercise really helped. Some people think I don’t eat, but I eat all day and night, good food of course, I eat out and even though I am at the gym between five to six times a week I have a wicked social life and I am happier than ever.

What more can I say but thank you to Darren, you have changed my life, turned it upside down and given me something that no one else could. I have lost the fat and gained a very good friend for life.

Trusha Patel

Hertfordshire