I lost 10 stone without fat jabs - this is how
Oliver Roberts had always been self-conscious about his weight. But countless attempts to shed the pounds just resulted in the weight creeping back.
Something had to change. And the spark for that change was a ski trip in March 2023, when the 33-year-old realised his weight was impacting his enjoyment of one of his favourite activities.
He was nearly 24 stone and his life was literally going downhill. Fast.
“I’ve skied all of my life and always loved it, however this trip I really struggled due to my weight and to be honest I really didn’t enjoy the trip,” says Oliver, from Bournemouth, who runs a garage.
When he got home, he made contact with Layla Gordon, a nutritionist who works with online healthcare platform L-Nutra Health, to help him shed some weight once and for all.
Layla gave Oliver some blood tests which showed that he was pre-diabetic bordering on diabetic.
“One reason that I started working with Layla was because I felt like I was constantly hungry and that no matter what I ate it didn’t seem to fill me up,” says Oliver.
“During these blood tests we found that my leptin levels were significantly out of scope which I now know is the hormone that helped regulate your hunger so basically I’d become completely deficient in the hormone that tells you when you’re full.”
Oliver worked with Layla to improve his diet and develop a healthier relationship with food.
Through these changes and becoming more active, he began to shed weight rapidly.
“I always thought I had a fairly healthy relationship with food growing up,” he says.
“My parents wouldn’t really allow junk food, we had very few takeaways and always home cooked food.
“As I got older I tended to have more snacks but still nothing too wild. I didn’t have many takeaways or junk food.”
However, Oliver had always been self-conscious about his weight, and it began to impact his mental health.
“I have attempted many times to lose weight,” he says.
“And although some of them were successful, losing five stone in the past, the weight never stayed off and it would always creep back on.
“My weight was becoming more of an issue for my mental health. I had very low self-esteem and a very low mood because of it.”
He says working with Layla helped him understand what a good diet is and the foods that are healthy and the ones that are not.
“Working with someone has been invaluable for me as not only does it hold me accountable but it helped me to maintain a good mental attitude towards weight loss which I think is probably one of the biggest factors in what I’ve achieved,” says Oliver.
A big moment was when he had lost 7.5 stone and struggled to shift the scales any lower.
Layla had just begun offering the Prolon five-day fasting mimicking diet in her clinic.
“I was the first of her clients to try this form of fasting and as a result I was able to lose a further 1.5 stone, reach my goal of nine stone and continue to lose weight and balance my metabolism with one cycle every three months,” he says.
His current weight loss stands at nine stone 8lbs and his next big milestone is the 10 stone mark.
He started at 23st 13lb with a waist of 48 to 50 inches. His latest pair of shorts a 32-inch waist. He currently weighs 14st 3lbs.
His T-shirt size was XXL sometimes XXXL. He now wears a L for most brands and almost an M.
“I feel like a completely different person now both mentally and physically so there’s obviously been huge improvements in my physical health,” says Oliver.
“I’ve seen a complete remission of the diabetes, various improvements in cholesterol levels and other other levels that have been measured from blood tests.
“I’m far more active than I’ve been in years or even ever.
“My friends and family are immensely supportive and proud of what I’ve achieved and many of my friends are shocked at the difference.”
Oliver’s weight loss is so dramatic that sometimes when he’s at work, customers that haven’t seen him in a while don’t recognise him.
“On a couple of occasions I’ve had people asking to speak to me because they don’t realise its me,” he says.
“I am a very private person. I’m not very outgoing and I’m quite shy so for me to speak out about this is a big step outside of my comfort zone.
“The only thing that I hope to achieve from doing this is to help show even one person that it’s possible to take control of your health and make positive changes.”