When I hit the menopause in my 50s my body started changing. At 5ft 4in, I developed that classic barrel-shape – my boobs and belly basically met and I was hurtling towards 11st and a very tight size 14. Really I was a 16, I just refused to buy that size.

What was alarming me was that previously I had always been slim. I was 9st and a size 10 all my adult life. In fact I only put on half a stone after having three sons – Jamie, 34, Will, 32, and Todd, 28 – during my 37-year-marriage to husband Dave, with whom I ran a shop-fitting business.

I’d always gone to the gym and even had personal trainers, but now nothing I did seemed to work. I’d do a workout and have a couple of oat milk lattes as a reward. I’d fast, then snack on Ryvita Thins, because I was hungry. The problem was, I’d sometimes have ten, with half a tub of hummus. 

I’d also have a glass of wine in the evening, then a couple of bottles with Dave on the weekend, and I fell into the habit of drinking beer and snacking on crisps while watching the rugby. Our social life centred around eating out, or going to the pub, around our village in Lancashire.

By February 2024, I was 56 and my son Will was getting married that September. I thought: ‘If I can’t lose weight by the wedding, then I might as well throw in the towel.’ I saw a post about nutritionist Petronella Ravenshear’s Human Being Diet (HBD), so I read her book and it just made sense to me.

Her Human Being Diet is essentially a Mediterranean-style diet, only with less fruit and more vegetables, which follows four stages. For the first stage, you need to clear 16 days where there’s nothing in your diary while you detox from dairy, alcohol and sugar. I timed mine when friends were on holiday, so nobody would wonder why I wasn’t having a social coffee or glass of wine.

Phase One is intense – two days eating nothing but vegetables. I felt like I was getting the flu, but as I’d read the book I knew this is what can happen as you detox. Phase Two lasts 14 days and consists of three meals a day with protein but no oil, sugar, grains, dairy, alcohol or nightshade vegetables (which includes peppers, tomatoes and aubergines).

I’d have boiled eggs with asparagus soldiers for breakfast, prawn and avocado salad for lunch and grilled chicken and spinach, cabbage and courgette for dinner. I was actually eating more than before. Meals have to be planned, so you leave five hours in between and no snacking. The weight just fell off – I lost 12lbs in two weeks, it was amazing.

Phase Three, for a further ten weeks, is the same three meals a day, but now you can reintroduce eliminated dairy and nightshades to see if you can tolerate them and add in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil with each meal, plus have a treat meal once a week, which can be anything and include a glass of wine. You can only have black coffee or tea with your meal.

My target was to get back to 9.5st and I hit that in eight weeks. I messaged Petronella and she advised me to see where my body wanted to get to, so I continued and dropped down to 8st 10lb and a size 8 after 12 weeks. I’ve never been this size before, it’s incredible.

Two years later, I’m still following Phase Four, and I've maintained the weight loss and feel so healthy, with glowing hair and skin. I am also an ‘HBD Angel’, helping other people in the HBD Club. Now my daily diet is blueberries and walnuts, with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, cinnamon and ginger for breakfast, two fried eggs, spring onion, tomato, mushrooms and spinach and an apple for lunch, and sea bass and vegetables with tamari soy sauce for dinner. I still avoid pasta and bread as they make me bloated and I struggle with dairy, but will have halloumi and feta and drink a couple of glasses of wine a week.

The biggest change was not doing cardio – HBD advises you not to do cardio for the first 12 weeks. Now I do Pilates, yoga and strength training. My kids said: ‘Mum, you’ve got your energy back.’ It’s changed my life, I never want to go back.

Here’s how I did it and how you can too…

Ask your friends and family to support you

Tell them what you’re doing, so they won’t make the mistake of offering you cake or wine. I had to sit my husband down and ask him to support me by at first eating separately because he does love a pudding.

Make a list of whys

Instead of weight goals, make a list of ‘why’ goals. I wanted to feel good for my son’s wedding. Put them on Post-It notes and stick them on your laptop or fridge – they’re a great motivator.

Gulp water like a caveman

On the HBD, you can drink only water in between meals. Don’t sip, but gulp like a caveman, as it fills you up and stops you feeling hungry.

Take measurements

Don’t look at the scales every week. Instead, do measurements, because while you might not lose weight, you’ll lose inches. I saw a difference in just two weeks. The same goes for before and after photos – you’ll be astounded.

I don’t have ‘gym noise’ any more

I used to have ‘gym noise’, where I felt I had to do cardio to lose weight, but now I do Pilates, yoga and walk in the countryside. I feel calm, balanced and am stronger than ever.

I don’t snack

On the HBD, you eat a meal in an hour, leaving five hours in between and there’s no coffee or tea after dinner. Before, I’d reach for biscuits and chocolate as an evening snack, but with the meals you eat in the day, you no longer feel hungry in the evening.

thehumanbeingdiet.com

As told to Kerry Parnell