Bank worker Amanda Hemingway, 56
One day I was walking through town and spotted a reflection of someone in a shop window. She was fat and looked like she’d made no effort. I genuinely thought, “Who is that person?” Then I realised I was looking at myself and I was really upset. The weight had been creeping on for a while, but somehow I never looked that bad in the mirror at home.
At that point, I was a size 18 and 14 stone 7lbs, at just 5ft 3in. My weight has been up and down all my life; I’ve done WeightWatchers and Slimming World but I never kept the pounds off.
My husband David, 52, and I both enjoyed eating and drinking. Our typical meals at home would be steak pie and chips, stuffed crust pizza, lasagne or curry. But I was also eating on and off all day at the building society where I work. Lovely customers would bring us treats – and then there always seemed to be a birthday to celebrate with cakes and crisps. Most of my colleagues were young and they could eat what they liked, but I couldn’t get away with it.
After seeing my reflection that day, I googled diets: I came across the Human Being Diet by Petronella Ravenshear and decided to give it a go. I’d had a recent over-50s check and I was healthy, but in the back of my mind was a family history of Type 1 and 2 diabetes. Even though David was overweight too, at nearly 19 stone, I was also a bit worried that one day he might wake up and think, “I don’t want to be with this fat person”. When you’re overweight, it can undermine your confidence.
The first two days of the diet you only eat vegetable soup, so I went back to Huddersfield where I had a house at the time, and got through those two days alone. When I went home I sprung the diet on David but said I’d cook two suppers, one for him and one for myself. But he could see that I was losing weight quickly and decided to give it a try.
For the first two weeks, you cook without oil, and you are allowed 130g protein and 130g vegetables, which is roughly a small chicken breast and some vegetables.
The hardest bit for me was cutting out tea with milk, as I used to have around a dozen cups of tea a day. Eventually, I got used to drinking black Earl Grey tea, and hot water, which still feels comforting in the winter. The sugar cravings were also hard, and I did get withdrawal headaches for the first few days.
Walking past a bakery and smelling the fresh bread was tough, but every time I was tempted I just had to think about not recognising myself that day in the shop window. I knew I had to stick to the diet.
I visit my elderly parents weekly, and they’re real feeders. They love nothing better than putting a hearty meal in front of you and my mum is a fantastic baker – there is always a pudding. I’d take my weighing scales, my portions and my apple for pudding. They’d eat their sticky toffee pudding while I had my apple and I think they found it strange when I’d have my chicken without gravy.
Some friends weren’t very helpful and refused to compromise. One friend called me to ask if I wanted to go for a curry: when I asked if we could go somewhere where I could get meat and vegetables, she just made me feel like I was being awkward, so we didn’t go. Another friend asked if I’d go to one of those dessert places!
But others were happy to compromise. We have a Toby Carvery in Yorkshire, and usually they give you a standard-size plate when you go into the restaurant. I asked for the children’s-size plate and I could have the regulation size of meat, vegetables and a black coffee, all for £7. Our friends had the regular-size plate with apple pie and a few ciders, and it was fine.
Within 3-4 weeks of starting the diet, I was sleeping better and my sugar cravings – and headaches – were gone. I also started to lose weight quite quickly – 8lbs in the first week – and the excitement of weighing myself every Saturday morning kept me going. Initially, I set my target weight at 12 stone. I thought, if I can get into a UK-size 14, I’ll be happy. But when I got to 12 stone, I changed it to 11 stone.
I started the diet in February 2021 and by August 2022 I had lost a total of five stone, getting down to a weight of 9st 10lbs and I didn’t exercise at all.
Now I can walk into Marks & Spencer and put a size 10 in my basket and know it will be the right size. I no longer have to embarrass myself by asking a shop assistant for the extra-large size, and little things like that keep you going.
Now, I’m on the maintenance plan and I’m allowed a treat meal such as steak pie and vegetables with some chocolate and a glass of wine at the weekend. There are also moments when we take a break, at Christmas or on holiday. But as soon as we got back from holiday we lose 5-6lbs quickly by jumping back onto the diet.
I have worked from home for the bank since Covid, and that makes the regime far easier to stick to. But I had to go to work recently and saw somebody I hadn’t seen for two years. She came up to me and said, “Are you alright? You’re not ill are you – you’re unrecognisable!” She didn’t know if I had lost all that weight by choice or not, and she wanted to check. Some colleagues didn’t recognise me at all.
Losing weight has given me a lot more self-confidence. I speak up in group situations now, whereas before I’d let things pass as I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. I’ve felt confident enough to let those unsupportive friendships go as well.
This way of eating has become a way of life for me now. I never used to cook vegetarian dishes before, but now we probably have three veggie meals a week. I get inspiration from the Human Being Diet Instagram channel. When I go to the supermarket, our basket is full of eggs, avocados, chicken, Greek yoghurt and frozen cherries. I get to the checkout and I see overweight people with baskets full of cereals and bread and frozen ready meals, and that is how I used to eat too. That is what keeps me on track.
Computer programmer David Hemingway, 52
“In lockdown, I put on quite a bit of weight, like a lot of people, and I’d reached 18.5 stone at 6ft tall. Just before lockdown, we’d gone on a cruise, and I’d bought a suit. It was massive – a 52 chest and a 44 waist. I’d also seen the doctor two years previously and been told I was prediabetic.
When you’re trying to lose weight you’re told to exercise, but a motorbike accident left me disabled and I can only walk short distances. I use a walking stick and a mobility scooter. So that was difficult for me, but also easy to use as an excuse. I’m a computer programmer and my commute is to walk across the landing. But even doorways were beginning to feel too small.
When Amanda started the diet I saw how much weight she was losing, and felt guilty that she was cooking two meals a day. I decided to give it a try. I’d tried to do the protein diet before, with shakes and bars, but it’s not sustainable, you can’t go out and enjoy doing anything with friends.
It wasn’t as hard as I had anticipated. I joined Amanda at stage 3, when she’d already been through the first 16 days which is much more restricted. By stage 3 you’re allowed to have a weekly treat meal and cook with olive oil. My biggest fear was not being able to have a beer on Friday night, but when we got to Friday night it was fine: instead of a beer, I had water, and it was okay because I was full of enthusiasm to stick to the diet. It’s helped that we’ve been on this diet together.
Straight away I was losing quite a bit of weight – 7lb in the first week and a stone after a month, which was fantastic. It sounds crazy but my original goal was to be still overweight, but to lose a stone. But it quickly became apparent that losing more wasn’t going to be a problem.
My work and character are quite goal-oriented, so I worked out how much I needed to lose to get a normal BMI and decided when I got there to have a shirt custom-made for me. Eventually, I got my weight down to 11.5 stone – I’d lost seven stone.
People told me I looked fantastic and that they wouldn’t have recognised me. It felt great to wear clothes I felt good in. The diet has become second nature now: we don’t feel like we’re restricting ourselves, we just eat more healthily. We have a lot of fresh food, and we rarely eat takeaways or pre-packaged foods. People have busy lives so I understand why they go for microwaved meals, but you have to plan and be prepared. We always have a variety of vegetables to hand we can chop or fry.
What’s good is we’re not continually depriving ourselves. We have a treat meal at the weekend, and I have a drink too, but I don’t drink anywhere near as much as I used to. Occasionally we go out with friends for an Italian, as that’s where they always want to go, but when I have a bowl of pasta I get so tired now, I instantly go into a “carb coma”.
We got married in September 2023 after 12 years together – it felt like the time had come to make it official. If it hadn’t been for the weight loss I’d have probably just worn a blue suit like everyone else, but looking good gave the extra confidence to be a bit more adventurous so I wore a morning suit during the day and a dinner suit in the evening. We took a break from the diet for that day, but with this diet, it’s easy to get back on track.
People tell me that even with my disability I move better, and my blood sugar is now well within the normal range. I started this to improve my health and the weight loss has been a good side effect. Looking back, I think I underestimated the importance of food.
David and Amanda live in Pontefract, West Yorkshire
What we ate before
Amanda:
Breakfast
Cereal with skimmed milk and a banana. On the weekend toast and jam, crumpets, or a bacon and egg sandwich.
Lunch
Sandwiches, crisps, chocolate bar and diet yoghurt in the week. At the weekend: pork pies, sandwiches, a cheese & ham toastie, cakes & scones.
Dinner
Lasagne, cottage pie or meat and vegetables. A Sunday roast, rice, curry and naan on Saturday.
Snacks
Biscuits chocolates, cake, crisps, bread and butter with homemade jam.
Drinks
Around 12 cups of tea per day and cordial.
Alcohol
Up to six bottles of wine or beer at the weekend
David:
Breakfast
Black coffee, bacon and egg sandwiches, crumpets and toast.
Lunch
Sandwich, pork pies or a microwave meal.
Dinner
Fray Bentos steak pie and chips, stuffed crust pizza lasagne, cottage pie, meat and veg.
Snacks
Cereal bars. Up to six packets of crisps, shared with Amanda.
Drinks
Diet Coke
Alcohol
Up to six bottles of red wine or beer, shared with Amanda.
What we eat now
David & Amanda:
Breakfast (between 6.45 & 7.15am)
Greek full-fat yoghurt with cherries, blueberries, raspberries or strawberries followed by black coffee.
Lunch (1pm)
Eggs – boiled, poached or scrambled – with a salad or sweet potato roasted chips, or an omelette. Batch cooked soup with cheese or roasted chickpeas. Casserole made in the slow cooker in winter.
Dinner (7pm)
At least three vegetarian meals a week made with beans, lentils or chickpeas. Baked feta and halloumi once a week. We get 95 per cent or 100 per cent sausage and burgers with roasted veg, sweet potato chips or salad. Pizza bases made out of gram flour. Chicken thighs and strong cheddar.
Pudding is an apple.
Snack
A treat is dark chocolate (85-100 per cent cocoa). A square takes the edge off when you need something sweet.
Drinks
Water (2-4 litres).
Alcohol
A drink with our ‘treat’ meal at the weekend.
Amanda’s top tips
- Plan ahead with meal preparation and choices.
- Make sure you’re following Human Being Diet on Instagram: it’s a fabulous community.
- Tell everyone what you’re doing – the true friends will support you.
- Don’t feel too bad if you have a slip-up: just start again where you left off.