This story is sponsored by Slimming World.

A Harrogate slimmer is celebrating after reversing her liver disease by losing over a third of her body weight with Slimming World. 

Sylvia Skipper was told by doctors that her non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was off the scale, with a liver fat content of over 70%.  

“I was heading towards severe cirrhosis of the liver, which could lead to me needing a liver transplant,” said Sylvia. 

“The consultant explained the only legitimate way of improving or reversing this was by losing weight. I had struggled with so many diets in the past I had just about lost faith.” 

It was then that she turned to Slimming World, whose science-based healthy eating plan has helped thousands of people across the UK achieve their weight-loss goals without ever going on a diet.

“I vividly remember messaging Cate Pervana, who runs Slimming World groups in Harrogate, and sharing my health issues with her,” said Sylvia. 

“I had previously had thyroid cancer, so I struggled to control my metabolism and doubted my ability to lose weight. 

“But Cate gave me the reassurance I needed, and I joined Westcliffe Hall Harrogate Slimming World group.” 

Combining Slimming World’s no-hunger eating plan with its Body Magic physical activity programme, Sylvia soon started to see the weight fall off. Just over a year later, she has lost 6st 7.5lb – over 40 per cent of her original body weight – and is now down from a size 24 to a size 8. Even her feet have shrunk from a 6 to a 4 and she’s now proudly wearing her favourite pair of Christian Louboutin shoes, which had been stuck in her wardrobe for years. 

Sylvia Skipper combined Slimming World’s no-hunger eating plan with its Body Magic physical activity programme to lose weight.

“But the best news came this morning,” said Sylvia. “I now have less than 5% fat in my liver, I have completely reversed my liver disease, and I’ve been discharged. 

“I am so grateful to Cate and everyone at Slimming World for giving me all the support I needed. Getting healthy again has been my sole motivation on my weight-loss journey, and I feel on top of the world.”

Sylvia Skipper was in danger of needing a liver transplant, but with the help of Slimming World has stopped her liver disease in its tracks.

Slimming World in Harrogate and Knaresborough runs several groups, making it easier to find one to fit into your schedule. Cate Pervana runs groups in Harrogate, and Christine Husband runs them in Starbeck and Knaresborough.

Find out more: 

If you want 2023 to be the year you achieve your weight-loss goals, find out more about your local groups by calling Christine Husband (Starbeck and Knaresborough) on 07890 621324, or Cate Pervana (Harrogate) on 07834 897533. 

Alternatively, check out the Slimming World Harrogate and Knaresborough Facebook page here. 

A Harrogate slimmer who lost almost 12 stone has launched a crowdfunding appeal to pay for surgery to remove her loose skin.

NHS worker Debs Smith embarked on her epic weight loss after her dad died in December 2019.

Ms Smith, from Jennyfields, started off weighing more than 21 stone and had 68-inch hips at less than five feet tall. She said:

“I was literally wider than I was tall.”

Over the next two years she shed eleven-and-a-half stone, now weighing just below 10 stone, and says she’s never felt happier.

Debs Smith, right, before her weight loss

But she has already spent £35,000 dealing with the impact of her dramatic weight loss by paying for two operations to get rid of what she describes as “the loosest skin I’ve ever seen”. She says:

“I looked and felt like a tiny skeleton stuck inside a giant hot sleeping bag made of skin.

“Not how anyone wants to live, this affected my mobility, daily hygiene and dignity.”

The two operations, which took 16 hours in total, lifted and reconstructed everything on her upper body. Removing the loose skin from her stomach alone got rid of one-and-a-half stone.

She flew to Cairo for the operations because the cost is far less in Egypt than the UK, but her funds are now depleted.

She said:

“To make those earlier operations happen I took out a bank loan and an extra mortgage.

“The two procedures would originally have included my thigh areas but I have bleeding issues, which slowed down what could be achieved each time.

“A final procedure is needed for the huge amount of sagging skin on my thighs.”

Ms Smith, who was helped in her weight loss by Slimming World in Jennyfields, has launched a £5,000 crowdfunding campaign. So far it has raised almost £500. She said:

“Before I lost weight I could walk only a few yards before becoming breathless; I now often walk with my dog for two to three hours and its still a wonderful experience.

“However, my thigh skin hangs like big loose curtains flopping around inside trousers, so I can’t wear patterned trousers without looking very odd.

“Either leg can easily get stuck to or under the other leg in bed.”

You can donate to Ms Smith’s campaign here.

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Harrogate Borough Council‘s leisure company has launched a free weight management programme to help men get active, eat well and lose weight.

Brimhams Active has been running the Fit4Life initiative in the Harrogate district for some time.

But this week it has launched a free programme for men-only funded by North Yorkshire County Council.

The 12-week programme starts on Monday, March 28 and takes places once a week at Jennyfield Styan Community Centre in Harrogate from 7.30pm to 9pm.

The first half of the session will involve an exercise class followed by nutrition advice.

Brimhams Active’s staff will teach residents about food choices to change their current behaviour and how to develop a healthy relationship with food.

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The programme will provide information about goal setting and eating awareness, dieting and myth bunking meal planning, portion sizes and shopping guidance.

To join, you must be a male aged 18 and over and have a body mass index over 30 kg/m2 (25 BMI if you have co-morbidities or are from BAME group), be willing to commit to losing five per cent of body weight and have no uncontrolled co-morbidities.

Changing lifestyles

Matthew O’Sullivan, health and wellbeing development officer at Brimhams, said:

“Fit4Life is a fantastic weight management programme and we’ve had some really successful stories of people losing weight but more importantly completely changing their lifestyles for the better.

“We know men might be reluctant to attend a mixed Fit4Life session so have decided to launch a specific session on a Monday evening in Harrogate that will be really informal and a chance to take part in an exercise class as well as learn about to achieve healthy weight loss.”

To book a place, call 01423 556106 or email active.health@brimhamsactive.co.uk.