Meet Zak, Zak has been working with us on losing some weight and increasing his physical activity through our Lose Weight With programme and our Move More Pathway. Zak came onto the course extremely motivated to change his unhealthy lifestyle habits and was eager to do what he could prior to starting.

Not only did he want to lose weight and move more but he also wanted to drink less, and within two weeks of working with our practitioners Zak had gone from drinking 14 units of alcohol per week to just one! Following this, Zak consistently reported 7 dry days a week.

When Zakjoined us, he was dealing with several health conditions, with the most difficult to manage being fatigue. Zak had tried to manage his fatigue since being diagnosed with post viral fatigue at the age of 35, he does this by ensuring he gives himself adequate time to rest in between the periods of being physically active. Zak expressed how difficult this can be as there is a fine line between being active enough and being too active.

Before Zak started the course, he was exercising for roughly 75 minutes a week. Slowly but safely Zak built on this while listening closely to his body in order to manage the fatigue effectively and he achieved his 105 minutes of moderate physical activity by week 9 of the course. But this was not the end of Zak’s goal as his finished the course having achieved 207 minutes of moderate physical activity, with 75 of these minutes being at a vigorous intensity. Zak has now set himself the target of the couch to 5k run which he is working on week to week alongside his family.

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Zak focused on his weight loss journey and consistently made sure he was eating his 5 portions of fruit and veg per day. Through following the guidance and advice given in the weekly sessions, he saw the weight fall off. Zak exceeded his 5% weight loss target of 6.4kg by nearly 1kg at week 7 of the course. But it didn’t stop there, after achieving his initial weight loss goal, Zak was eager for us to set him another target. After suggesting we aim for a loss of7% in order to keep the goal within reach, Zak was keen to go one step further and round it up to 10%, a new target of 12.7kg. Zak finished the course having lost a total of 12.6kg which is just shy of 2 stone, a total loss of 12cm from his waist and lowering his BMI from 39 to 35, and a fantastic 6-inch difference on his belt holes.

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Zak was always at the heart of the group. The first to offer their hand if anyone needed extra support or some help with a difficult barrier or trigger. He began practising mindful eating with almonds, which he surprisingly found a useful technique to minimise snacking. Zak loved the accountability of the course and found this helped with keeping motivation high and reinforcing those good habits while at home. Zak went one step further to offer ongoing support to another member of the group whose hobby is also bike riding. Their plan is to share with each other their bike rides again for the accountability as well as motivation.

Not only did Zak reduce his weight, BMI, alcohol intake and increase his physical activity, he also impacted his general health in so many ways

· Zak has stopped taking water tablets all together and doctors have reduced his blood pressure tablets as his once high blood pressure has returned to a normal range.

· He stopped consuming caffeine after 8pm which had a huge impact on sleeping pattern. Zak is getting better quality sleep as well as waking up feeling refreshed rather than lethargic.

· Zak had been working towards getting back out on his bike before starting the course and could only manage 5-10 minutes to begin with He gradually increased this in increments of 5 minutes and is now able to go for a bike ride of up to an hour continuously.

· Through doing the course he has increased his knowledge surrounding the benefit of being physically active, and he is focusing on maintaining this level of activity.

What was the biggest challenge?

“Initially, cutting down on portions but that is down to a fine art now.Managing hunger to begin with and getting head around the change was a challenge. Having the motivation and desire to do so was vital. Replacing old habits that have been there for years has been difficult too.”

What are you most pleased with?

“The fact I can get into my cycling shorts and noticing clothes are too big. Pleased to be able to do more, bike rides and starting to run. Really pleased with overall well-being.”

What affect has it had on you?

“I’ve not felt as good as this in a long time, over all well-being has improved.”

What did you enjoy about the programme?

“Everything was encouraging. Heard about other programmes where there are forfeits for putting weight on, whereas with this course there was no shaming or forced guilt. The practitioners didn’t put pressure on or shame us and always gave lots of encouragement. The group were all treated as individuals, and I’m impressed that the practitioner remembered individual facts about us in the group. This personalised support increased accountability and I didn’t want to let practitioner down.”

What did you not enjoy about the programme?

“Disappointing that the course could not be finished (because of Covid-19)as it was designed to be done face to face. However, One You Lincolnshire have made the virtual sessions as similar as possible.”

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 For more information on how we can support you visit https://www.oneyoulincolnshire.org.uk/lincolnshire-residents

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