With our help, 16-year-old Jake swapped a secret snacking habit for healthier behaviours and lost 11kg.
Footie-mad and a competitive swimmer, Jake had always been an active boy, walking to and from school each day and cycling with his friends on top of his sporting activities.
He ate reasonably healthy meals at home, so Jake’s parents (Katy & Scott) couldn’t work out why he was overweight.
Kay said: “He often found he couldn’t fit into his recently purchased clothes. He knew this wasn’t good and didn’t feel great about his self-image. We tried to help him sort this out, but it was beyond us.”
Sneaking snacks
It turned out that Jake was sneaking snacks when out with his friends and hiding food in his bedroom.
This secret snacking had become a bit of a ritual, so Jake and his parents signed up for one of our programmes, joining online webinars during the pandemic to learn about healthy lifestyles together.
They picked up useful tools like measuring portion size, along with practical information – such as the amount of sugar in some high-street coffee shop drinks.
“The online programme was run brilliantly. Informative, interactive and interesting,” Katy said: “We all found it helpful and picked up useful knowledge for life.
“The most valuable thing Jake learned was how to control his mind to overcome the unhealthy thoughts, and to snack in a healthy way.”
Healthy changes
Jake has made some great changes and now has a salad for lunch most days, and a healthy dinner (with no chips, even when they’re on the menu).
He’s allowing himself just one or two unhealthy snacks per week and has cut out fizzy drinks. He also uses a nutrition app to check the healthiest options when out with friends.
Jake has been finding ways to get active, including spinning on an exercise bike (which he asked for as a 16th birthday gift), doing Joe Wicks workouts four times a week and running 5km four or five times a week.
Having lost 11kg in weight, Jake looks and feels better — and has improved his 5km running time from 33 minutes to 27 minutes.
Katy said: “The overall experience was massively helpful for Jake and the rest of the family. A great experience.
“Thanks BeeZee Bodies for changing Jake’s size, body image and habits — and for giving him a lifetime of skills to keep this going.”
