Hello. I’m Janet Davies. I live in Harrow in the UK and I ‘m a pharmacist.

I first started to feel self-conscious about my body when I was a teenager. I am quite tall (5 feet 8 inches) and have a larger frame. Around the age of 15 I started to feel like I was bigger than the other girls in my class. This led to my first experience of going on a diet to lose weight.

In my early twenties I went to see a GP for help with my weight – I came away with a prescription for amphetamines! Luckily I realised that this would not be a good solution so I didn’t take them. Instead I went to a weight loss group for the first time.

In the following years I tried many diets in an attempt to lose weight. The diet would work initially but would be impossible to stick to. Dieting made me think all the time about food and eating. I would start a new diet, lose some weight but end up getting obsessed with food and would then gain more weight than I had lost. I gradually got bigger and bigger, ending up at nearly 22 stone (over 300 pounds) in weight and wearing size 24 clothes. The heavier and bigger I got, the more I felt like my weight and size were making me safe – I was hiding inside myself. I had so many pounds to lose to get to a healthy weight that it felt like it was impossible.

By the end of 2012 I was desperately unhappy about my weight. I hated myself, how I looked and how I felt about my body. I realised that I needed to do something as I was approaching the menopause and I knew that losing weight was going to get more and more difficult. I was also thinking that if I didn’t do something about my weight I was going to become unwell and develop a chronic illness. I reached rock bottom and needed to find a way forwards.

I had come across Pete some years earlier, when I realised that diets didn’t work and that the answer lay in my head. I knew that I needed to sort out my thinking and my behaviours around food and eating. I knew that I needed to be more active but I had been hopeless at sport when I was at school and had a belief that exercise wasn’t for me. It was time to make some changes and to start to focus on my health. I went to one of Pete’s workshops and met people who had had success in losing weight – this inspired me and gave me some belief that losing weight would be possible for me. I also found a personal trainer local to me who had been trained by Pete.

In April 2013 I made a huge change to what I ate, switching from processed meals, and lots of sugary foods, to healthy food and making my own meals. I also started doing regular exercise for the first time in my life. I wasn’t dieting. I was focused on my health and fitness.

Since April 2013 I have lost a total nearly 8 stone (almost 100 pounds). I lost 6 stone in 2013, but more importantly I have maintained that weight loss and gradually lost more since then. In April 2013 I was wearing size 24 clothes and am now wearing some size 16 clothes. I haven’t got to where I want to be yet. My goal is to be able to wear size 14 clothes – I know that I will achieve that goal.

I feel so much healthier and fitter than I used to – and I like myself a lot more than I used to! I am happier and much more self-confident. I am comfortable in my own skin, and love wearing clothes that fit and flatter my body.

Pete’s approach to weight loss has been at the heart of my success. A key element has been to develop a healthy relationship with food and eating and to eat much less than I used to. I have learned what works for me and I continue to adapt what I am doing. I have done a lot of work on changing my mindset and behaviours and being the best version of myself that I can be.

Throughout my weight loss journey, support has been critical to my success. I used to think I had to do it all by myself but I discovered that the support of positive, like-minded people is essential. I have had so much inspiration from other people in the Weight Loss Challenge group. Now I am enjoying being able to provide inspiration and hope to others. If I can lose weight then you can too!

If you want to lose find freedom from the scales, then join Janet and many others by taking the Mi365 Weight Loss Challenge. The Weight Loss Challenge is an exciting new approach to one of the greatest challenges so many people in the Western world face. It will help you break free of the dieting trap and make lasting changes in your life so that you become slimmer, fitter and healthier.