£30K TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE WINNER: Samm Lost 3st* & WON £1000 Cash!

Samm knew she wanted to get the most our of her New You Plan experience so when we launched our £30K Transformation Challenge, she got stuck in! As well as losing 3 stone & dropping 4 dress sizes*, she won a MASSIVE £1000 cash in our Sept/Oct Fall Focus Challenge. Here, Samm shares how she went from feeling miserable to amazing!

New You: Why did you decide to join the challenge?

Samm: I really like being involved in things, and when I do something, I tend to throw myself into it fairly full on. So I immediately wanted to get involved with Secret Slimmers and when I saw the daily challenges I started doing those. So when I saw this Transformation Challenge I decided I may as well take the photo. I wore one of my favourite tops that I really want to get back into so that it looks decent rather than clinging to every possible curve. The August deadline was just 5 weeks later so I decided to keep going and enter the next one at the end of October to give myself a bit more time.

New You: Was there anything that helped you stay on-track while doing the challenge?

Samm: I set up an Instagram account called Bursting My Balloons. The idea was to share my journey and also to burst a balloon each time I lost a stone. Doing this gave me accountability - I knew that it was real and I had to stick to it. My daughter, who has just turned 16 is big into social media and she's been helping me do that, and that's been really nice that we can do that together. I'm also religious about doing my weekly weigh ins. I like to do them first thing on a Sunday morning and then I sit down with a cup of coffee and I complete all the different charts. I also regularly try on old clothes to see what I can get into and look at photos to see the difference. That all keeps me on track alongside the Secret Slimmers group as well. That's great.

New You: Throughout the challenge, were there any milestones that you hit?

Samm: Well, I've popped 3 balloons and I've lost three stone. I've gone from a 24/26 to a 20 and an 18 in a few things*.

New You: We’d love to know how you heard about the plan!

Samm: I was a previous Slim and Save customer. I did the plan 18 months ago and lost quite a lot of weight, but stupidly put most of it back on again. And so when I came to restart, I looked for Slim and Save and realised that they were on the verge of closing, and had joined up with The New You Plan.

Because I'd done Slim and Save in the past, and I knew that this method of packs and food replacement worked for me, it seemed like a logical choice to go with The New You Plan. Because I trusted Slim and Save, I felt confident that they wouldn't have joined just any old company.

Getting started...

New You: What led to you starting the plan?

Samm: I felt desperate, unhappy, miserable, frustrated, had low self-esteem and no self-confidence. I hated going out with work because I never had anything to wear. And I hated clothes shopping because it was always so depressing.

I work in a school and at lunchtimes I have to clean the lunch hall and put tables away, so that part of my day is quite physical. I was getting so much joint pain. My ankles and knees were aching and I was starting to get pins and needles in my hands, which I know can be a sign of a problem with weight. And I was just feeling so old and I kept saying things like, "Oh, it's my age". And then I thought to myself, you know what? I'm only 48. If I'm going to say it's my age for the next 30 years, that's pretty depressing. It's not my age, it's my lifestyle and my weight. And that was really the final straw.

One of the big reasons that I decided to take action, apart from the joint pain, was because I love doing amateur dramatics and I do a yearly panto with a local group. This year, it was increasingly difficult for the costume lady to find anything that would fit me, and I was quite embarrassing. She kept finding trousers in charity shops and saying, "Oh, I've found some for you". And I tried them on and they didn't fit. In the end, I pretended that a pair fitted. I actually went online and ordered myself a pair of XXXLs and idn't admit that they weren't the ones that she'd given me. I love panto and it had got to the point where I was considering not doing it again. I realised that was really silly because this is my weight now stopping me doing something that I really enjoy. So that was a bit of a turning point.

New You: And tell us about that first week…

Samm: Hard because I'd done it before. I knew it was going to be hard, so I was prepared for that. And the fact that I've had so many false starts in the past. I had good intentions, but part of me always thought I'd never get further than a couple of days. But I planned really carefully this time. I deliberately started the first day of the summer holidays because I work in school serving lunches. Quite often, if there's food left over after lunch, we were allowed to have some of it. And that's just not great for anyone who's trying to diet or stop overeating. I deliberately decided to start on the first day of the summer holidays to give me 6 solid weeks of getting myself in the zone and in a lovely routine before I had to face coming back to school. In school there's always treats. In the staff room, the head teacher very kindly brings in biscuits to help staff morale. But again, it's really difficult to resist temptation if you're not good with food.

So I did my order and I wrote myself a plan of what I was going to do each day and what four packs I was going to have each day. Something worked this time, and I got in the zone really quickly.

New You: What are your go-to meals & snacks?

Samm: I love the Cafe latte shake, warm. It's a favourite for me in the morning. I quite often have that for breakfast, but it's also a favourite for me in the evening, especially as we're coming into the sort of cold evenings now. Cozying up on the sofa with a warm Cafe Latte shake and watching the telly is quite nice. I also love the Rice Pudding, warm with cinnamon sprinkled on the top. My third favourite is the Strawberry and Banana Shake with a Pineapple Boost.

Life changing...

New You: How would you say the plan has changed your life?

Samm: Well, it's allowing me to do so much more. I've got so much more energy, which is having a positive impact on all areas of my life. It's a massive help at work, especially with the physical things. I work in a classroom, which is quite small for the number of children we've got in there, and squeezing between the desks to help children is so much easier. I've just got so much more energy to do stuff with the children. I've started going to the gym with my daughter, so that's something else we can do together.

We all like theme parks here and there's one just down the road. I used to go on things with the kids when I lost weight last time. I was able finally to go on rides and things with them. And then as the weight crept back on, I found myself standing more and more on the sidelines once again, which I hated. So now I'm back to joining in with everything, which is really important to me because my children won't be here forever wanting to do stuff with Mum, so I want to make the most of it while they are.

New You: What is the nicest compliment you have received since losing weight?

Samm: Anne-Marie, one of the other ambassadors, commented on one of my photos that my smile had got bigger. And I thought, that's a really lovely thing. It is a nice one because that reflects how I'm feeling. My smile is bigger because, as you can probably see there's not so much fat around my face, but also it probably is bigger because I feel so much happier about myself now. Someone else said that I look years younger, which is always lovely to hear.

New You: How will Christmas look for you this year?

Samm: I'm looking forward to wearing nice clothes. I'm looking forward to going out and actually wanting to go out and enjoying that bit before you go out, where you have a bath, get dressed and do your makeup. Last year my children gave me a few bath bombs for Christmas, but because I couldn't fit in the bath, I never used them. I've finally been able to use them in the last few weeks, because I can finally fit in the bath again.

New You: What would you say to someone thinking of starting the plan?

Samm: Do it. Pick your start date carefully and plan properly. Don't do it half-heartedly - commit to it fully, and don't put it off. You could sit here now in November and decide to wait until after Christmas. But then after Christmas, there is always another reason to put it off. Just don't do that. Just pick your time and go for it. There's never going to be a perfect time. Just pick your time and go for it.

New You: And then finally, what’s next?

Samm: My goal when I started, which is quite a long term goal, was to be at my target weight by my 50th birthday, which is August next year. My original target was seven stone but actually, I've subsequently realised that seven stone still leaves me slightly in the overweight category. So I might be aiming for 7.5 - 8 stone to get into that perfect category, but I've got plenty of time until next August.

Fancy Losing Weight & WINNING Cash?! End 2023 STRONG!

Samm is proof that you can lose weight and change your health for the better!

Whether you want to lose half a stone or 10 stone, have a slimmer figure, or are just looking to get maximum nutrition in minimum time, then New You can make the perfect partner to get you to where you want to be.

END 2023 STRONG! Join Our £30K Cash 2023 Transformation Challenge

Sarah won £1000 cash and you could win too!

Our final deadline of 2023 is:

• 31st December 2023

That means you have from now until the New Year to create your transformation. If you entered earlier this year and didn’t win, you can still enter again. already entered and haven’t won, please keep submitting your photos. Just remember to take your “I AM IN” photo now so that you will have amazing before and after photos.

Get all the details in this dedicated blog post here.