Weight loss family continues to inspire

Published 27 January 2012

Losing weight can be pretty tough, so the healthy way that a family from Barry has achieved a huge and healthy weight loss over the past 18 months is an inspiration to anyone who is currently embarking on a New Year fitness drive.

Just over a year ago, Keri Turner, husband David and their daughter-in-law Sadie all featured on the Sky One TV show ‘Fat Families’ as they were carrying a hefty 29 stone of extra weight between them.

They had battled with their weights for years and tried all sorts of yo-yo diets, but nothing had worked. Taking part in the show heralded a massive transformation in their lives, with healthy eating and exercise sessions at Barry Leisure Centre helping them to lose a combined 16 stone.

And the fantastic news is that Sadie and David have maintained their new healthy ways to stay roughly the same weights that they were after completing the TV show, while Keri has dropped a further two stone in the last 12 months.

At her heaviest, Keri was just over 25 stone and if she achieves her goal of losing another two stone this year then she will have lost more than half her original weight.

There has been no magic formula – just a lot of determination, sensible diet changes and plenty of exercise both outdoors and at their local leisure centre.

On the TV show they were introduced to Chris Jones, the LifeStyle Health and Fitness Manager at the Cowbridge and Llantwit Major Leisure Centres, who then came down to Barry Leisure Centre several times a week to become the Turners’ trainer, giving them a varied exercise programme to make exercise enjoyable.

Regular exercise has become a firm part of their lives ever since, with Keri saying: “We now all enjoy exercise and we now do a lot of walking. Sadie and I also enjoy swimming and we have tried Zumba a few times too. Chris Jones was our personal trainer for the Fat Families show and has always put us through our paces in the gym with cardio and interval work that is designed to burn a lot of calories. He has remained a friend and a constant help with any nutrition or exercise queries we may have.” 

Jonathan Rogers, the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s LifeStyle Operations manager said: “We are delighted that we have been able to help the Turner family with their weight loss. Chris has worked hard to help them with their training and I understand that they have embraced everything he has asked of them during their sessions at the leisure centre. They have taken massive steps to improve their health by being consistent with their new approach to both exercise and eating.”

Previously, the Turners had thought nothing of scoffing four or five plates of food at the local all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, and would enjoy king-sized curries and pies that would make Desperate Dan proud.

Those eating habits are now firmly a thing of the past. “We would never go back to our old bad eating habits as we feel we have been given another chance in life” said Keri. “We eat much smaller portions now and also use the low fat alternatives such as skimmed milk and low fat cheese.”

Keri added: “The main advice I would give to anyone who wants to lose weight is to plan ahead with your meals. I always find that if I don’t plan my meals then things can go wrong as we tend to eat on the run and this will lead to eating bad foods. I sit down at the beginning of each week to plan our meals and then when shopping I buy only what I need for those meals and nothing else. If you don’t buy bad foods to begin with then you can’t eat them. Exercise is also a vital part of weight loss, even if it is simply walking every day, but some kind of gym plan or fitness class is ideal.”

To find out more about how the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s leisure centres can help you achieve your weight loss targets, please visit our Leisure centre pages.