Isle of Wight residents have just three days left to claim funded places on gloij, a 12-week digital weight loss programme that gives users access to personalised coaching through specially trained health mentors, who are on hand to support by phone as needed.
Access to the programme is being made available free by Isle of Wight Council as part of the government’s adult weight management services grant until 8th October.
Tackling rising obesity
According to the Council statistics, 62.3 per cent of adults on the Island are either overweight or obese — 68 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women.
In addition, 32.8 per cent of children aged 10 to 11 are deemed to have excess weight.
Helped thousands of residents
To date, gloji has helped over 5,000 residents around the UK lose a total of 4,495kg (over 700 stone) between them, with another 939 people either on the programme or about to start.
Real-world story
One person who has completed the programme and is urging others to sign up is 51-year-old grandmother Rachael Brown from Lincoln.
Rachael, who needs a liver transplant, says being referred to the gloji programme by her GP has not only led to her losing almost three stone in weight, but has enabled her to reduce the amount of insulin she needs to manage her diabetes from 60 units per meal to just 16, putting her in a more positive position for the transplant she needs.
Now, in addition to her reduced daytime insulin, she has also been able to reduce her night-time slow-release insulin from 160 units to just 60.
Lost almost three stone
She says,
“I’ve been overweight all my adult life. I’ve tried free sessions at Weight Watchers and Slimming World. You name it, I’ve tried it, and nothing worked for me.
“I’d lose a couple of pounds and that would be it. I had got to the end of my tether. I didn’t even want my partner to know how much I weighed because I was so ashamed.
“But in the first week on gloji I lost 12 pounds and across the whole of the programme it’s now two stone and 12 pounds in total. I can’t tell you how happy I am. It really has changed my life.”
Gloji is not a diet
Rachel says the key for her was that gloji is not a diet.
“Diet for me is simply ‘die’ with a ‘t’ on the end. I don’t like being told what I can’t have. If you tell me I can’t have something, then I want it. It turns from a want to a craving to the point where I could tear somebody’s head off to get it.
“With gloji, I found there is nothing you can’t eat in moderation and as long as it’s part of a balanced healthy diet.
“Seeing different recipes on gloji and different ways of cooking things was brilliant.
“My partner’s a chef and even his eyes were opened. And even though I’ve completed the programme, I’m still following the gloji ‘way’.”
“It’s about changing the way you think about your food”
Rachel describes gloji as “a different way of losing weight without losing all the nice things”,
“Of course it’s about healthy eating but it’s also importantly about changing the way you think about your food.
“You don’t have to look at a plate of food and think, I can’t eat that.”
Living proof that digital content can work
Rachel’s experience proves the effectiveness of a digital approach to healthy living and weight loss, says Jack Bennett, operations Lead at gloji.
“Rachel is living proof that digital content can work just as effectively as others and that the content available through gloji is powerful and flexible enough to fit around your busy schedule. It also shows that this is not purely about dieting or weight loss necessarily, but these come as a by-product of improving our healthy lifestyle habits.”
For more information, visit the gloji Website.
Article edit
1pm 5th Oct 2022 – Article republished
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