Healthy Eating Week, which is 12-16 June this year, is about supporting and promoting healthier lifestyles.
The 2023 theme is 'Healthy Eating Week – For Everyone' so we’re sharing an update on Kay and her incredible progression through healthy eating.
Kay is a person we support at one of our Endurance Care Worcestershire supported living services.
When Kay made the transition from her home to supported living almost 18 months ago, her goal was to improve her physical and mental health. At that time, she weighed almost 42-stone, she was extremely anxious and was self-harming.
The Endurance Care team immediately devised a personalised care plan for Kay to achieve more independence for herself. It encouraged weight loss through healthy eating, with focus on wellbeing measures to prevent her from self-harming.
After just eight months of Kay and the team working to the plan together, her progress was remarkable. She had lost six stone, had begun to integrate with the community, and was able to manage new diagnoses of diabetes type 2 and sleep apnoea, a condition where your breathing stops and starts while you sleep.
Kay with friends during her healthier eating weight loss journey
The team introduced Kay to a low-carb diet. With encouraged, newfound determination she has managed to stick to it. She has rewarded treat days incorporated into her plan, which are linked to her behaviours. This has been hugely impactful for Kay’s focus and for breaking her cycle of negative and harmful habits.
Kay especially looks forward to a take-away treat, which she only does once a month now, occasionally indulging in a bar of chocolate too. One of Kay’s favourite meals is faggots, which she enjoys with vegetables and a balanced portion of smiley faces. She especially enjoys making a stir-fry or a home-made vegetable soup.
The Endurance Care team continue to support Kay with meal planning, counting the carbohydrates for each meal. They ensure she stays on track when food shopping as she sometimes gets enticed by alternatives once she’s at the supermarket. Kay doesn’t like to plan her meals by the day as she often changes her mind. The team support Kay to have this flexibility and have created a tracker she can refer to, so she understands her recommended daily totals.
Kay has adapted to her new diet and is enjoying a good variety of healthier meals. One of her support workers has created pictures of meal portion sizes which Kay has on her kitchen wall – along with reminders to eat the right amounts of fruit and vegetables.
Today, with the dedication and support of our Endurance Care Worcestershire colleagues, and the way in which they have empowered her to become committed and focused, Kay has a new lease of life.
She has managed to lose over 17-stone since she’s been supported. She has gone from a size XXXXXL and having limited outlets for buying clothing, to a size 26. The joy of being able to buy pretty dresses, and other clothing items from regular stores is just one of the things that has helped ease Kay of her depressive state of mind. Visiting places has now become so much more accessible; being able to sit on the furniture with ease, access stairways and being able to use public transport and no longer needing specialist vehicles.
The team have consistently encouraged exercise to complement Kay’s diet, and among other things, she now practices yoga at home with a support worker. This is bringing her a tremendous amount of joy. Not only is she enjoying the sessions, but she’s also discovered she’s very flexible and has amazed herself. The discovery has given Kay such confidence and she’ll proudly display how high she can raise her leg, or how low she can get to the floor. She can now also get herself up off the floor, something she had always needed support with – usually by the emergency services.
Kay enjoying yoga with friends
Kay can now go up and down the stairs with ease, something she hadn’t been able to do for many years. She is so much steadier on her feet since her weight loss, and they no longer hurt her when she walks. The team lovingly filing and creaming them each night for her has also helped. She now walks to all her appointments, which is about half a mile, and recently managed a walk of two miles!
A healthier and happier Kay
Kay’s mental health and well-being is in a great place, so much so she’s on track to reduce her medication. She has not self-harmed since being in supported living and the improvement in her behaviour has been significant. She can get out and about now and has friends, attending a twice-weekly activity group which she loves. She also gets to see her husband more regularly now, having had to leave him behind to begin this journey.
Kay’s progression has been life changing for her and ultimately stemmed from being supported to eat more healthily.