Motivation Weight Management

For this month’s podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Caroline, a client of our Swords Clinic and a wonderful example of how a positive mental attitude can benefit us, regardless of how difficult our situation is.

Caroline had breast cancer in 2018 and went through a challenging time. She began gaining weight as a result of two operations, rigorous chemotherapy and radiation, and the treatment with medication.

Do you think this prevented Caroline from having a proactive and optimistic attitude? Absolutely not!

Caroline is a fighter and her journey will inspire you to beat whatever obstacles you may experience.

Speaking with Caroline made me realize that when we’re going through a difficult moment, negative thoughts are all we can see and we often neglect our own wellbeing, while in fact, being active and optimistic may help us clear our brains and keep going.

I hope you enjoy my chat with Caroline! Her story has truly inspired me, and I am sure she will inspire you too.

The post Don’t let breast cancer stop you going after your dreams appeared first on Motivation Weight Management.

What an emotional story we have for you in the latest podcast. Elaine, who did an incredible job losing 3 stone, 4 pounds. She was close to having to get a hip replacement, facing serious surgery she instead decided to take control of her eating, once and for all. Focusing not on what she was eating, but why she was eating.  She improved her health to the point where she has been able to come off medication and doesn’t need to have the surgery anymore. It is people like Elaine that make what we do worthwhile and we think you will agree that her story is an emotional rollercoaster that just grabs you.

The post Fat Loss V Weight Loss appeared first on Motivation Weight Management.

In Ireland, there is not a lot of published information on how weight loss can directly and positively help type 2 diabetes patients to reduce of come off type 2 diabetes medication. We’ve been doing our best and over the years have published some useful advice on preventing type 2 diabetes and also on how to deal with it. See resources section below.

As you are probably aware, weight loss is good for your overall health and it extends your life expectancy.

One of the big benefits of weight loss is that it enables type 2 diabetic patients to reduce or come off type 2 diabetes medication entirely.

In today’s podcast, Aisling is joined by one such patient, Valerie Shaw, who has experienced just that.

Valerie has lost just under 2 1/2 stone / 15.87 kilos with Motivation. Prior to joining Motivation, Valerie had to deal with cancer, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, a hip problem and high cholesterol.

What made Valerie touch base with Motivation?

Two things:

The combination of seeing her image in the mirror and realising that she was a ticking time bomb spurred her to make a decision, and Valerie says:

It’s all very well in theory knowing these things but it’s actually wanting to do something about it or getting a fright to say, listen you have to something about it.

During her pregnancies, Valerie was advised that she may develop gestational diabetes but that did not come to pass. As life progressed, she was always conscious of her health and her blood sugar readings were always within the healthy range. There was never any indication or red flag that there was a health issue to be addressed. Valerie didn’t notice anything amiss that would indicate type 2 diabetes symptoms.

A confluence of physical ailments changed all that and altered Valerie’s life for the worse. Valerie was diagnosed with cancer. She was successful in treating the disease but it did leave her with a compromise – the chemotherapy weakened her hips and as luck would have it, she fell and this led to a prolonged bout if inactivity. This in turn led of overeating and subsequent weight gain.

As a nurse, Valerie is only too aware of the medical complications associated with type diabetes: delayed wound healing, kidney and heart problems, ulcers and most frightening, amputations. As Valerie assessed her overweight condition and her doctor’s prognosis, she saw two options:

From Valerie’s viewpoint, from where she is now, free from type 2 diabetes, has come off type 2 diabetes medication, she has these words of advice:

You have to be committed to it. You have to be in the right place. Put yourself in the right place and say, there is never going to be an ideal time for anything, so it’s time for yourself. It’s time to say right, this is my time. I want to feel better, look good and be healthy.”

There is an absolutely fantastic cameo appearance by Irish humour in Valerie’s podcast. We won’t spoil it by telling you here.

We are very proud of Valerie’s achievement and the amazing transformation that she has enabled, through Motivation, to take place in her life. We hope that readers of the blog post and listeners of the podcast will find comfort and strength that they too and break free from type 2 diabetes and go on to lead happier and healthier lives.

Please note: you should contact your GP should you feel that you may have type 2 diabetes symptoms. It is a regular occurrence for us to have GP’s refer their type 2 diabetic clients to us so that we can assist with weight loss. As Valerie says, the GP will tell you that you have to lose weight but you must also want to. Here at Motivation, we provide the infrastructure and support to help you achieve your weight loss goal.

If you want to, we can help you to say goodbye to type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 Diabetes Resources

How To Avoid Or Manage Type 2 Diabetes

How To Manage Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes – Are You Or A Loved One At Risk?

How To Come Off Type 2 Diabetes Medication – podcast below – just click the play button

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Welcome to the third podcast in our Connecting the Dots series. Adolescent Relationships With Parents is today’s title and I’m delighted to be joined again by Stuart Wilson of Zest Life.

When adolescents come into our clinics, they complete a Mental Weight report and from that we identify those habits, behaviours and attitudes that are the root cause of the overeating. In that report, we look for triggers, those events or issues that are a catalyst for change from regular eating patterns, to ones where overeating* becomes an issue. *It may well be a number of issues combined.

One of the key triggers we look for is the adolescent relationships with parents.

As Stuart points out, and this is important: the therapeutic style as we once knew it is long gone – that time where you dropped your child and came back at a later hour to pick them up. Now, it’s more of a collaborative approach, akin to the one here at Motivation, where the parent(s) are engaged in the process to support the life space (the world of the adolescent and how they are growing up, the connections and relationships within their world). The job of the therapist is to connect (the dots) and collaborate where possible to support, encourage and help heal the life space so that they can walk through and develop the correct procedural aspects of developing as a young person.

This developmental aspect is a critical component of growing up and it’s covered in detail in our second podcast of the series – Understanding Risk Taking & Peer Pressure in Adolescents.

Sometimes we delay in seeing the adolescents as we first have to support the parents before anything can be done (potentially) with the adolescents.

One of the most common things we talk about is parenting styles – are you in unity about how you parent your children. It doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything but it means, what we present, we have to be in unity over.

Children will always say, “I can go to mum for this for dad for that”. They know which buttons to press.

That’s what parenting is: to increase and assist the life space of the young person.

That’s not always possible because there are different parenting styles. The next few paragraphs may make for uncomfortable and upsetting reading as they will challenge you to define the style of your parenting. Remember the Connecting the Dots refrain:

Reach out, talk about it. The wonderful thing about being an adult is that we are in our fully developed brain. Our brains are neuroplastic, we can change, we can crate, we can adjust, so it’s never too late.

Parenting Styles

If we want a relationship with our children in the future, it’s never too late to look at that and to change it.

NOTE: There is no judgement in any aspect of the above. It simply is.

We need to get the guidance and help so that we can move into being receptive parents and to work in a collaborative manner.

The path is an easier one if the parent is in a collaborative manner.

Can you show up for them? That is the really significant thing. This is the ultimate example of making a bid for you kid. It’s a huge gesture and sometimes, that all it takes.

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To listen to this most engaging podcast, Adolescent Relationships With Parents, just click below.

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For last week’s Motivate Me, click here – Are You Trapped In The Interiority Stage?

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Welcome to the second episode of Connecting the Dots, a three-part podcast series that aims to help parents and their adolescent / teenage children to understand and address some of the most pressing issues they face both at home and in society today. The theme or title of today’s podcast, Understanding Risk Taking & Peer Pressure in Adolescents, is a natural progression from the 1st podcast where we looked at body image and self-esteem.

I’m absolutely delighted to have Stuart Wilson from Zest Life back in the chair with me and I have to say, Stuart’s input is invaluable. My message to parents and adolescents: please tune in, you will be so much the better for it. We may not have all the answers but oftentimes, knowing how to identify the problem and being able to handle it in the most appropriate and effective way is the critical part.

Also, if you think you are the only parent / adolescent facing these challenges. Rest assured; you are not. There are communities out there with support frameworks to help you. Remember…..

You are not alone.

So, to the topic at hand – understanding risk taking & peer pressure in adolescents.

Risk taking is actually part of the process of developing as a young person.

Before we get to risk taking, we need to spend some time looking at the various development stages from baby through to adulthood. As toddlers, kids are embedded. That is, they are utterly dependent on their mother and father for everything. At the age of 5 or 6 when they start school, they are starting to disembed a little. The disembedding is an entirely natural process where the child is learning how to decide for themselves and make their own choices, be it friends or activities that they prefer. This is normal behaviour and it’s good, though naturally, for some parents it can be emotionally challenging.

This disembedding stage lasts a while and leads into the interiority stage. Typically, this is around the first year in secondary school. This is where the adolescents begin to define their own friendships and groups. It’s all about fitting in and belonging.

This interiority stage lasts for 5/6 years from which they progress to the integrated stage, where they feel they’ve landed, kind of know who they are and perhaps, know what they want to do with their future.

Then they launch into adulthood. Depending on how embedding, interiority and integrated went, this has a defined impact on whether the launch into adulthood is a good one or a bad one.

Adults can get trapped in the interiority stage and addressing that issue requires assistance.

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Adolescents want to speed through interiority. They will try to fit in with various groups and to do so, may engage in risk taking or activities deemed appropriate by the group – alcohol, vaping, sexual encounters.

So, they will take risks and it’s important to note that risk taking is normal. It’s good that they are in this state but as parents / adults we have to be careful of the risks we allow them to take.

You are not alone.

What can we do that will help our children move safely through the interiority stage where risk taking is part of that life?

Talk. Talk. Talk.

As obvious as it may seem, talking is the most important thing you can do.

Parents can often feel that their children don’t want anything to do with them during the interiority stage. The opposite is the case and you bridge this by bidding. Bid for their time by continually offering your time to listen and to help. To be there. Be consistent and keep bidding.

You will love your children as you were loved yourself when you were a child – hugging and/or verbal affirmation. But that may not be their language. We need to reach them appropriately, not the way we way but the way they need.

If we make the bid but there is no response, remember they are still hearing you.

You are not alone.

There are more useful takeaways in the Understanding Risk Taking & Peer Pressure in Adolescents podcast below. Just click the play button.

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This podcast series, Connecting the Dots, is about awareness and trying to find out why adolescents are overeating in the first place.

We find that there are three main reasons or triggers that are at the root of why adolescents are overeating. Bear in mind, overeating is but one of the escape or safety valves that adolescents may turn to.

In today’s podcast we will deal with the first trigger and that is Body Image / Self Esteem and the Influence of Social Media.

We need to be very real about what is happening to our young people and how challenging the environment is for them to be growing up in.

Adolescents are growing up in a world of social media and can only see one world. The parents grew up prior to this super connected, always-on world, so they can see two worlds. Parents can call this the online world or the internet world but for the adolescents it simply is the world.

Body image is hugely impactful on your people’s lives. This manifests itself in two ways: How they see themselves and what they think of themselves when they see themselves in their world.

You are not alone.

The culture in which adolescents are growing up is a pressurised and instantaneous one. So, pretty much everything that see thy can get their hands on pretty quickly. There is a keen competitiveness attached to that – FOMO.

Parents have inadvertently added to this. If you’re like me, you are coming from a generation that grew up knowing what it’s like to have to do without. We naturally want the best for our kids – there is a genuine goodness and kindness behind it but as a consequence, we are adding to the pressure.

Also, incorrectly, we used to think that body image was exclusively a female issue but it’s very different now and body image is a significant issue for boys. The pressures of what they look like or should look like is incredibly difficult to deal with and manage.

As parents, rather than managing or criticising that culture, we need to understand it.

‘Culture’ is used to encapsulate the world of the adolescent. Their world. Culture today is ever-on, it has no down time. From a generational aspect, say 30 years ago, you had to go out of your way (that is, get off your backside) to find information on any given subject, be it to your library, newsagent or to borrow a book or magazine from a friend.

Today, that search and discover cycle is shortened to an on-demand model with an over-supply of near perfect bodies and superstar lives.

Mobile phone usage is not an adolescent issue – it is a household issue. There are various levels of addiction but a basic level, many teenagers are addicted to their phones. Protracted absence from the phone, in most instances, leads to an inability to think straight other than to get the device back.

As parents, we have to role-model this. So, the big question for parents – when and how often do you use your mobile phone at home in front of the family?

You are not alone.

This leads on to the concept of the numbing effect. Th numbing effect originally came from watching TV. You simply zoned out or got engaged in something that was showing on the TV, resulting in a numbing effect. Remember, 30/40 years ago, many households had one TV with only 1 or 2 channels).

But with mobile phones, the numbing effect has an impact on the central nervous system. This is due to the back light on the mobile or tablet device screen. This back light leads to an over production of cortisone which leads to increased stress levels. Our serotonin levels also drop and to counteract the stress and the lowered serotonin levels, we look to paths of least resistance which leads to coping strategies, and one of them is……..eating.

For adolescents this is a problem. As mentioned previously, the adolescent brain is still developing and it does not have the ability to rationalise what is happening. Your response is purely an emotional one. This response, given what we know is correct and proper and this needs to be understood by both parent and adolescent. Therefore, having a grasp of the mobile phone issue by both parent and adolescent will go some way to discovering and understanding why adolescents are overeating.

I’ve already told you that you will continue to develop your central nervous system until the age of 25 (and beyond in some instances.) The rational part of the brain is a slow developer – that’s human biology at play.

Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational part. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences. Adolescents process information with the amygdala. This is the emotional part.

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As I close, and I hope you take this on board, the Connecting the Dots refrain:

You are not alone.

It is so important to remind both parent and adolescent that your journey is shared by many other families – both Motivation and Zest Life are here to provide support and assistance.

The post Why Adolescents Are Overeating – Body Image, Self Esteem, Social Media appeared first on Motivation Weight Management.

Was it something on the field of play?

Was it a red card?

No, at a post-match press conference, he ‘moved’ two bottles of Coca-Cola from the press table at which he was seated to one side. Then, he held up a bottle of water, underlining his preference by declaring: “Agua”.

Important to note that Coca-Cola is one of the main sponsors of UEFA’s Euro 2020 tournament, but a tournament spokesperson defended Ronaldo, saying that everyone “is entitled to their drink preferences.”

Also causing a stir was Paul Pogba, the French star. Pogba is a practicing Muslim and doesn’t drink alcohol, so that explains why he wanted the Heineken removed prior to his post-match press conference.

The UEFA machine went into overdrive trying to placate both camps – the sponsors and the ‘preferences’ of the players.

There was a marked (over) reaction to Ronaldo’s actions and nervous investors divested themselves of Coca Cola stock thereby knocking over €4 billion off the value of Coca Cola.

Remember last week when I wrote about mimetic behaviour – ‘Once the first stone is thrown, the second stone becomes easier to throw.’

Will other sports stars follow Ronaldo’s lead?

Can government’s follow Ronaldo’s lead?

Can parents follow Ronaldo’s lead?

This is my cue to introduce a three-part podcast series called Connecting the Dots. This series covers a range of issues facing both teenagers and their parents. Part 1 is in the can and you can listen to it here.

This podcast series will challenge you and will ask some big questions but on the flip side, it also offers compassion and a warm embrace. My co-host on the series is Stuart Wilson of ZestLife, a behavioural psychotherapist specialising in youth and adolescents and family therapy, and he too is a parent and as we both readily admit, we are not perfect and we too are always learning. Our children don’t live in a bubble and they too are exposed to many of the challenges that your children face.

Don’t cancel out of this email just because your kids have grown and flown the nest, it’s doubly important to note that the adolescent stage can extend beyond 24 years of age.

In addition, the manner of our open and frank discussion on the podcast stands in stark contrast to Ireland of the 1980s and 1990s when much of what we talk about in the podcast was off limits and not for public discourse. Why do I mention this? Off air, Stuart told me he has a client who is 80 and is attending Stuart’s clinic so as to bridge a faltering relationship with his 60-year-old son.

Trust me, there is invaluable insights from Stuart no matter what age you are; be it the teenager, the parent, the grandparent, the aunt or the uncle, the takeaways from this podcast series are life enhancing and life enriching. The influence of social media on teenagers is the first step and I look forward to sharing the second podcast early next week.

And a big shout out to teenager, Eoghan Brennan who’s 6 stone weight loss played a key role in helping me to ‘Connect the Dots’ and put this particular podcast series together. You can listen to Eoghan’s weight loss story here. 

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The following podcast was unplanned and as it so happened, we ended up with a cracker. A really big shout out to Rosin Redmond for telling her story.

To give some context to Roisin’s podcast, ‘My Son’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey.’ Eoghan, Roisin’s son, lost 6 stone on the Adolescent Weight Loss programme at the Motivation Weight Management clinic in Swords. Eoghan took pen to paper and wrote to our clinics director, Aisling Connolly. Eoghan wanted to help other teenagers that are struggling with their weight just like he had for many years. A podcast was a natural outcome and you can check our Eoghan’s podcast, ‘A Teenager’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey’ here.

Roisin had accompanied Eoghan for the podcast recording and as she was present, it seemed like a great idea to afford her the opportunity to tell the story from her perspective.

Roisin’s story is all too familiar: a general health system that is not equipped to deal with teenage overweight and obesity, and as a result fails her and most importantly, her son. The purpose of this blog post is not to address the underlying conditions that lead to overweight and obesity. What’s the point? You’re probably reading this because you’ve passed that stage and your son / daughter has a BMI that places them in the obese / morbidly obese category. You need solutions to the problem, not the causes.

There is no doubt that the successive lockdowns have played havoc with the general metabolism of teenagers. Deprived of many of their sporting and social outlets, it stands to reason that they are less active. For many, the overweight was probably there prior to lockdown but now it’s something that has to be addressed.

As we pointed out in the blog post that accompanies Eoghan’s podcast, you are not alone. There are many other parents in Ireland that are stressed over the same issue. If weight gain is addressed in a controlled and safe environment, such as the one we provide, then weight loss is facilitated in a fast and efficient manner. Eoghan lost 6 stone with Motivation.

Both Roisin and Eoghan realise that significance of the 6 stone weight loss and it’s not lost on either of them. For Rosin, a mother and a loving one at that, she’s very proud of her son’s achievement but reminds us that the reason Eoghan succeeded is because he wanted to. A mother’s love and determination counts for little if your child is not committed.  Sometimes a lack of commitment can be misconstrued because the teenager is unable to fully articulate their feelings.

At Motivation, we provide an adolescent / teenager weight loss programme that has helped many young people such as Eoghan to lose weight and to reengage with society on their terms.

The post My Son’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey appeared first on Motivation Weight Management.

This is the remarkable story of Eoghan Brennan who lost 6 stone with Motivation Weight Management. Eoghan, who just recently turned 16, was topping the scales at just over 19 stone / 120 kg in 2021. Over the course of his weight loss programme in our Swords clinic, Eoghan shed an amazing 6 stone / 38 kg.

Eoghan tells his story in the podcast below and it’s aptly titled, ‘A Teenager’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey’.

There are two audiences that this podcast is aimed at.

First of all, and the most important is other teenagers who are struggling with their weight. For you, this is an important reference point as there is hope and there is a way out of your current situation. One thing to note – where you are now is only temporary. Fix that in your mind. It’s temporary and we can help you lose that weight and move on to where you want to be. Listen to Eoghan’s story and you’ll find it parts of it should resonate with your own situation.

Secondly, the parents of the teenager that probably has had several false starts in trying to lose weight. It’s a story that’s played out over and over so you and your child are not alone in this. It’s not easy and the traps are many but with the right guidance and framework it is manageable, and your son / daughter can lose that excess weight in a controlled and safe environment. You too should listen to Eoghan’s story and hear what the story sounds like from a teenager’s perspective. As adults we’ve forgotten what those teenage years were like so it’s important to listen to Eoghan. At just over 10 minutes, his podcast, ‘A Teenager’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey’ is short but it’s well worth the listen.

In addition to the podcast, please feel free to download our short eBook, ‘Teenage Weight Gain: What You Can Do?’

On the day that we recorded Eoghan’s podcast, his mother Roisin was in attendance. Aisling Connolly, our clinics director and chief podcaster-in-arms, asked if Roisin, as she was in the clinic, would she like to tell how she viewed Eoghan’s 6 stone weight loss from the mother’s side. Roisin agreed and what followed is another great podcast. A parent’s perspective is also a critical consideration for any other parent in a similar situation and we are very grateful to Rosin for donning the microphone and telling her story.

The post A Teenager’s 6 Stone Weight Loss Journey appeared first on Motivation Weight Management.

The Laura Grant story is a story for the ages.

There is something in this story for everyone, small and big nuggets of advice that will help you in so many aspects of your life – weight loss, physical and mental health, and being able to face up to and overcome issues of confidence and self-belief.

Laura Grant joined Motivation in 2019, just after the birth of her third child. As Laura herself noted, it is a very stressful, busy and full life being a mother of a baby (x3). Her immediate experience of Motivation was the me-time, that time and space she now had to herself. For the first time, she realised how manic your life can be, as she herself says, “how busy, not only your head, but how life itself is.”

Through her weekly consultations, it was evident that stress was a significant contributor to Laura’s overeating. Motivation helped Laura to identify her stress triggers and to take on board new coping mechanisms to deal with stress. This transformed Laura so much so that when I describe the stressed individual I first me, she replied by saying that she didn’t recognise that woman any more.

As Laura remarked, “It’s as if you are talking about someone else.”

Laura quite rightly points out that she still gets stressed but she doesn’t let it implode on her anymore. She’s now able to identify her stress triggers and is able to manage them very well.

It’s important to note that stress occurs naturally in all humans. It’s how we cope with it that is crucial to our physical; and mental wellbeing.

I mentioned triggers above and this leads me quite nicely into the next part of Laura’s story. Laura was aware of issues in her life – she was overweight so there was obviously something amiss but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

With our help, Laura identified four key triggers that were at the root of her overeating:

Laura is one of eight children and she’d describes herself as a socially orientated kind of person so she was astonished when loneliness was identified as an issue.

Laura’s Mental Weight report identified loneliness as an issue and when she saw it in ‘black and white’ it made her, for the first time, question what was happening and going on in her life.

Words can sometimes not do the justice that such a revelation deserves. For over 25 years, I’ve sat with thousands of clients who’ve had those light bulb moments, when like a flash of intense bright light, they are startled and awakened to a whole new world, a world in which they are now in control.

When I asked Laura about negative and positive motivation, she agreed that when she started with Motivation, she was engaged mainly with negative motivation, that is thoughts and behaviours associated with failure and lack of self-belief.

Laura has tried any number of weight loss programmes – she’d tried everything and nothing worked for her. Her next thoughts were noticeably negative – am I setting myself up for failure, again? or will I be able to do this?

Laura’s fears are not unique to her and fear of failure is normal. As humans, we are predisposed to being influenced by how good or bad events or experiences went for us in the past so it should come as no surprise that fear of failure with weight loss is so common.

The tools we use and share with our clients are the tools that equip you for life. Weight maintenance is a journey and our programme enables you to embrace milestones (weddings, special events, holidays), not fear them.

Laura now feels empowered as she no longer has that fear of not having achieved what she set out to do. What she now has is a sense of purpose and positivity that sees her through and beyond those significant milestones, whatever they may be.

Laura’s Covid-19 Experience

Laura, her husband and three children, all contracted Covid-19. Laura tells how she was unprepared for what Covid-19 did to her; it stripped her of energy, so much so, the even the simplest of tasks like putting one of her children to bed, became an exhaustive ordeal.

Laura was not one of those fortunate enough to only present and suffer from a mild Covid-19 infection. Laura went through three very difficult and unforgettable weeks.

It was at this stage of thee podcast that Laura repeated that by losing weight, that she’d given herself a gift. In relation to Codivd-19, that gift was that she’d removed a burden from her body (the weight) and inadvertently had given herself a much better chance of dealing with Covid-19.

Breast Cancer

There is a history of breast cancer in Laura’s family so when she discovered a lump, she went to her GP who immediately referred Laura for a mammogram, the results of which were of no immediate cause for concern.

A message from Laura:

“For anyone listening, please go to your GP. Don’t put it off. They are open and are referring if needs be.”

At the follow-on meeting in the hospital to review the results of her mammogram, Laura met two doctors independently of each other and she says she “experienced something remarkable.” Previously, doctors had congratulated her at the birth of each of her three children but here were two doctors congratulating her on her 4 stone weight loss.

The importance of these positive comments reconfirmed what Laura already knew; that losing weight is such a great thing for your body. Laura believes she would not have found the lump had she not lost the weight.

For more information on breast cancer awareness, please check out this HSE resource.

Laura’s New Business

Laura’s journey, her weight loss, her Covid-19 and health experiences, all had a significant impact on her confidence to set-up her own business.

Laura is passionate about reusing and recycling. With three young children, she often remarked to herself on the amount of new clothes that she was buying or was getting as gifts. She further remarked, this time to her husband on one of their regular walks, what if she was to stop buying new clothes and perhaps look to purchase some beautifully pre-owned and pre-loved children’s clothes.

Off she went and began to research all the options online and in her wider community. As she found out, there was no shortage of options and by buying clothes this way, Laura was comforted by the fact that she was not contributing to the manufacturing of new textiles.

At the heart of her mission was protecting the environment: she was now not contributing to what is called ‘fast fashion’ or ‘micro fashion’, where retailers stock new lines on a regualr basis so there is a lot of pressure to turn over stock which equates into aggressive pricing. This is the nub of recreational shopping – buying products, children’s clothes in this instance, because it’s an affordable and pleasurable experience. There is no emotion invested into thinking about the environment.

Laura felt the stir of a drive to do something more rather than just dip in and out of various websites to purchase pre-loved clothes. She knew she was doing something positive in her small way but she wanted to do more but just wasn’t exactly sure what that something was.

On another walk with her husband, Laura broached this subject again and she told him that she wished there was just one place where she could buy those pre-loved clothes for their kids. She was jumping from site to site and it was time consuming. Her husband let the conversation hang and Laura filled that vacuum by suggesting she set up a business and a website that would do just that – provide a one stop shop for pre-loved clothes for all you kids.

Laura reflects on how her husband let her make that significant suggestion as he felt it was obvious what the solution was but if had to come from Laura so she could take ownership of it.

As Laura said, it was a light bulb moment but she couldn’t just go on a hunch as much as she believed in it. Laura has already crossed paths with the amazing and helpful Samantha Kelly, aka the Tweeting Goddess and founder of the Women’s Inspire Network.

With Samantha’s advice and extensive network reach, this proved crucial to the primary market research.

Laura generated over 500 detailed market research responses. To put this in perspective, Samantha remarked in advance of sending out the market research request, that they normally generate around 100 responses. This demonstrated there was genuine interest out there and the feedback was instrumental in guiding Laura to the next stage – setting up a new business.

Laura registered her new company, LovelyThings.ie and when I asked her why she called it Lovely Things, her reply was succinctly beautiful, “because that’s what we sell.”

LovelyThings.ie will officially launch on March 18th which is also Global Recycling Day.

While Laura acknowledges the support of her husband and the all the contacts and learnings through the Women’s Inspire Network, she places her confidence to follow her dream down to doing the Motivation programme. She saw the new-found confidence as a gift and that came about by using the Motivation tools and 1-1 private sessions with her weight loss advisors.

Let’s not forget that, in the process, Laura also lost over 4 stone.

To round off this post, I want to say how grateful I am to Laura for sharing her story with me. Like all of our other clients who have come on our podcast series, it takes courage to do so, but in so doing, they demonstrate how you can change your life in so many positive and rewarding ways.

I simply titled the podcast ‘The Laura Grant Story’ but it is so much more. Listen to it and you’ll find out why.

Laura Grant started her life-changing journey by clicking a link just like this one.

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