‘Cancer made me realise I had to lose weight’ says Peterborough Slimming World consultant Sammie

Slimming World's Sammie Todd, before and after her weightloss.

Sammie Todd, a 52-year-old grandmother, from South Bretton, is launching the group at St Andrew’s United Reformed Church in Netherton.

She joined her local Slimming World group in Bretton and within a year, dropped from a size 24 to a size 10 with a jaw-dropping loss of 7st 9.5lbs.

She said: “I was overweight all of my adult life and it really made me miss out on activities with my children and grandchildren.

“It wasn’t until I had cancer and I was going through to my life-saving operation that I realised I really needed to make a change to my life to help protect myself from diabetes and other weight-related illnesses.

“I’ll never forget that my eldest grandchild said ‘Please never leave me Nan’ and I made a promise to him that I wouldn’t. So, true to my word, I made some lifestyle changes and to this day, I’ve been doing things that I never did before, thanks to Slimming World.”

Sammie also made it to the final 10 throughout the UK and Ireland, in Slimming World’s national competition, Woman of The Year last October.

Her group will meet on Mondays at 9.30am. For more details, call Sammie on 07494872585 or email [email protected].

Taking over the group at the Millennium Centre off Dickens Street on Mondays at 5.30pm and 7.30pm is Holly Nikel, who joined her local Slimming World group in Peterborough in September 2015 and dropped from 14st 1lb to 11st 12lbs.

She said: “I joined when my first son was five months old and I was planning how to introduce healthy solid food for him.

“My BMI during pregnancy meant a Gestational Diabetes test and desperate heartburn ensured sleep was disrupted ahead of birth. Like many people I was uncomfortable with my weight, but hadn’t accepted that vulnerability fully before then.

“Pregnancy and having a baby was a trigger to look after myself too. I felt very fortunate as the plan was explained as it fit in with family eating with real meals, and amazed to find out my nutritional needs as a breastfeeding mum would have meant other slimming organisations would have turned me away.

“I lost my first stone in 13 weeks and my second in another 17 weeks.”

You can contact Holly on 07944 906 969 or email [email protected].