The Overshare with Gemma Atkinson - BODIES: Why We Love Them, Why We Loathe Them!

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Welcome to the world of The Overshare with Gemma Atkinson.  In Episode One; Will we ever be happy with our bodies? We hear about some life changing body alterations people have made… for the better and for the worse.  From gastric bands to bad tattoos to a tale of inspirational weight loss, welcome to our safe haven of Oversharing. If any of the issues in our Bodies episode leave you wanting help or advice, here’s where you can get the support you may need Obesity - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

so this is it then it's here welcome to the overshare we've spent so so long working on this from the first thought to the name to the topics we want to discuss and we're really really excited about what we've got coming up and it's a very different project for me which makes it all a bit nerve-wracking as well. I'm hoping you'll like it and hopefully you're going to stick with us for the journey of Series 1. It's called The Overshare and we really hope you find it a little safe haven away from the chaos of life to lose yourself in some hilarious, often upsetting and sometimes very shocking stories from real life.

And there's not a celeb in sight, you'll be pleased to know these are real people. They're school-run mums, they're people who've been cheated on, people who've lost someone, who have just got to get something off their chest or make us laugh ourselves silly. They're basically your neighbours or your sister or your best mate and they're all about to overshare like never before. In this episode, episode one, we're talking about our bodies. Why we sometimes love them, why we loathe them, why are we constantly messing about with them. We asked for your stories on changes you've made for the better or for the worst and we got such a variety of stories back so thank you. We were filtering through them all and we

had loads. It's much appreciated. Now in every episode of the overshare we're going to have an expert on board to help us make sense of it all basically and the one joining us today is the wonderful abby blair she joins us she's a life coach and a dating expert and you'll be able to hear quite a bit from her throughout the series as a warning it's perhaps not for youngies. Coming up in this episode. You could see my boobs come in the room before you could see me come in the room, basically. If I was with a guy, the light had to be off because I didn't want them to see. But obviously to strangers in a bra and top, oh, she's got lovely boobs. But it's how you feel when you're on your own in your own body. What made you think that he wouldn't be interested? Facebook pictures can be deceiving when you see me in person and probably don't look the same. Anyone's

name tattooed it's it's got to be a no-no for me because you can't guarantee even family members you know at some point or other they're going to piss you off do you know what I mean? Before I was 14 I had these 30h boobs that were just absolutely crazy. So our first guest, welcome to The Overshare, is the lovely Amelia. Hello. Hello, how are you? We're good. Thank you for joining us. Now, I believe you're just down the road. Are you in Manchester City Centre? I'm not in the City Centre. I'm about a 12-minute train minute train ride away tell us about your story then take us back to the beginning so i had

a breast reduction when i was 21. um i was a 30h um i'm a 32e now you could see my boobs come in the room before you could see me come in the room basically it was they were huge I was I'm 5'3 so I'm quite a tiny person I kind of I started growing boobs at 11 like everybody everybody does you get excited about it's like yes becoming a woman um I went to MNES with my grandma before high school got fitted for my first bra and then before I was 14 I had these 30H boobs that were just absolutely crazy. But I had back pain, neck pain, and everybody was just like, we can't actually do anything for you because it's your boobs. At the end of the day, we can't do anything.

Do big boobs run in your family? Well, my mum's got a good pair, but they are smaller. She's probably a C, that kind of. My grandma doesn't have any at all. She always says that I skipped two generations and I got just her share as well. Definitely not 30H. Now 30H is a massive, massive size. And it's technically, you always assume,

well, a lot of people assume if someone's got massive breasts, then they're a bigger person. But you being five foot three you're very petite so I suppose yeah and I've never been over nine stone either so I've always been tiny tiny tiny and that's where I think my back pain comes from because well I know that's where it comes from because it's just like a crazy imbalance and it's bizarre the different reasons for boob augmentations I had my boobs done I was like 22 and I'm now 38 so a long time ago I had naturally big breasts but my mum and my sister do

and I my my boobs were always big and then I lost a lot of weight very quickly and obviously everyone knows boobs are primarily just fat aren't they and a little bit of muscle so my boobs and bum disappeared and I ended up with like golf balls in socks so I had I had mine done because I lost confidence in how they were to how so for me I was that I want them back to being big again because it makes me feel like myself again but I'm I've got broad shoulders I'm 5'9 so it was more in proportion but then on the other end there's people like yourself who are in agony with a big bust and I imagine especially as a young woman there was a lot of unwanted attention from from the opposite sex or older guys thinking you're older than what you are it would be say weird weird weird stares on holiday like the people around the pool on the beach like thinking

oh my god this 14 year old's walking around and she's had a boob stone it's like that's not the case at all but you get really just horrible people just going up to you and just thinking that having a touch is fine it's like absolutely not it is i had i've had that twice right it's like people just think and i'm not trying to get mine out. Like I never wore like revealing tops because I always wanted to conceal them, but they were there. You couldn't not tell that they were there. And people would just take it upon themselves.

It's like, no, that is not okay. It's not okay. And I always felt like I was being, as you say, like they make you kind of who you are, but they also come with so much stigma around them because obviously boobs are so sexualised, which I think that's also why it's maybe harder to get a breast reduction on the NHS. And it's kind of like seen more as a cosmetic procedure rather than it needs to happen to help somebody's health.

I imagine, Abi, that's like a psychological pain that's associated, not just a physical back pain. Yeah, and also you don't want to be your boobs, do you? Like you said about it taking over your identity. It's like we're more than boobs. But when, like, obviously when you have something that's different from like maybe like the average, the attention is drawn to it.

And that must have like a huge impact on your mental health yeah because i remember at prom i was in my dress i felt so so good and then there's this guy that i've probably spoken to twice we weren't friends hardly knew each other um but it was at the end of night when everybody was getting pictures taken together and he says oh i need a picture with the girl with the boobs it's like i really tried my best at prom to conceal them. And then for somebody to say that at the end of the night, I was like, oh, is that what I'm going to be known for in high school? Like the girl with the boobs.

I mean, how did you feel the day of your surgery? I'm assuming it's a pivotal moment. You know, it's going to be done. I'm assuming you were excited, a little bit nervous, maybe? I think I'd waited that long and I was so, so excited. Nerves only hit when I was actually walking through the surgery doors. When I was signing all the papers, having conversations with the surgeon, when he was marking up like a drawing on my breast where I was going to make the incisions,

I was just so excited. Like beaming from it where me and my mum were like playing One Direction, having the best time. It was just such a great experience. That was in December last year. Obviously, it won't matter to you because you've had a reduction anyway, but the thing, if anyone's listening, wanting to get bigger breasts, I remember when I went for mine, the surgeon said to me, are you hoping to have children one day?

I said, well, I don't really know. And he said, because they will change. You know, they change month to month anyway, don't really know and he said because they will change you know the breast change they change month to month anyway don't they on with your cycle and I said no no it's fine and he did it and from breastfeeding two babies now and from them going massive in pregnancy to back down to normal they don't look anything like what I paid for anyway do you know what I mean they look back to golf balls in socks out of a bra so I'm glad I got to enjoy them in my in my 20s you know uh when I was more bothered about them but what advice

would you give Amelia because obviously if you went private was it expensive oh my god yeah I'm still paying for it and it's yeah it's a massive massive debt it's not something that we took lightly it was loads of conversations with me and my dad and my mum. But it was one of those where it was, I want to enjoy going forward. I'm only young once, so get it done, be confident. Thank you so much for sharing your story, Amelia. I'm gutted I've not actually seen your mum because I would have loved to seen her boobs. She sounds fabulous. But no, thank you so much and thank you for uh oversharing with us no worries i love to overshare have a fantastic day and you thank you no worries see you

guys our next guest is amy am, welcome to The Overshare. Now, we had a lot of stories through about gastric bands. There was lots of split opinions on them. Some were all for it, some weren't. Tell us why you decided to have one fitted, because I think a lot of people will relate to your reason. Well, eight years ago now um someone from school got in touch via facebook hadn't seen him for many many years and uh he's very very into fitness

whereas i've not been so um i didn't think he'd be interested in me as I was, so decided to take a drastic step and have a gas ship and try and lose weight. And this was all to impress the guy on Facebook? Yeah. Oh, gosh. Is that a common thing, people wanting to physically alter their appearance for someone else? yeah maybe not necessarily for some particular one particular person but a lot of people will like work on themselves in order to you know increase their odds of finding somebody that you know is aligned to them and that might involve you know making little changes um but i'm just wanting to check amy did he contact you first on facebook or did you contact him no he did contact me Which might make you think that

he was quite happy with the way that you were because he made contact with you what made you think that he wouldn't be interested? Facebook pictures can be deceiving when you see me in person I probably don't look the same maybe. Yeah I get I I have I have friends who they'll only take photos from certain angles and because they don't want to be seen like as the full body and this and that and I always say to them yeah but you've got with so much more to offer I know it's easier said and I completely I understand them I mean I've I baby, um, eight weeks ago and with this second pregnancy, I put on three and a half stone. I had so much water retention. Um, everything was inflamed and I, I felt shocking and people would say, oh, you're pregnant. It's normal. But when you're,

I don't, when you're so set on wanting to look a certain way or being used to a certain way I completely know what you mean in that it doesn't matter what anyone says of oh you've got a lovely personality but you've got a pretty face but you're funny you think piss off I don't feel like that I feel like when I look in the mirror I'm not happy and it's the same for so many people. You look at things online constantly. You're constantly bombarded with images of people who look perfect. And they don't even look like their own images. And I'm not criticising anyone for posting different types of pictures and all of that. But the way that the world is now is that we're just bombarded with these images. And it's really, really difficult as a human being to not make a comparison between yourself

and someone else and feel like, oh, I'm not good enough. Was the gastric band a success? No, it's made me quite ill. I can't eat normal foods because I'm sick. So the only foods I tend to eat are what I can get away with eating, which is things like chocolate because it doesn't upset my stomach so obviously I can't get the weight off because I'm constantly eating sugary type things because crunchy type foods which is how it's supposed to work is if you eat crunchy type foods when it goes through the band it should be making your stomach feel like it's full but they just end up I feel like it's stuck in my throat

and I have to be sick. Was this gastric band done privately or on the NHS? No, it was private. Do your family and friends know about it? Did you keep it quiet? Nobody knows, only my mum. Oh, Amy, no wonder that you feel the way you do because it's hard enough going through a surgery

but to do it not have anyone to to speak to do you know what I mean because I'm a shoe well I know there'll be people listening saying oh thank god she said that because the same things happened to me we we had uh you know we had a lady on another lady message us about a gastric band and obviously you're the one who's made it to the pod but she had a lady on another lady messaged us about a gastric band and obviously you're the one who's made it to the pod but she had a similar story in that it worked but only for a short term and then she's back and she's bigger than what she was and she feels awful so I know you will be helping a lot of people by by sharing your your story exactly what I wanted to do because it's not a quick fix. It's not a solution.

I'm on a waiting list on NHS now to get it out so I can do what I wanted to do and diet and exercise properly once it's gone, which is what I should have done in the first place, obviously. But hindsight's a wonderful thing. And with the guy who got in touch on Facebook, have you had any more contact with him? Yeah, we're still in touch, but it's just friends. And I guess feeling like you feel, do you go out a lot? Do you socialise a lot? No.

No, not really. I think it's hard as well because growing up in my teens and early 20s, I was size 8. I was very, you know, I could eat whatever I wanted, never gained weight. And then I was diagnosed with a medical condition. The drugs made me put the weight on. Didn't matter what I ate, I was gaining weight. And so that was outside my control as well. And I think in my head, I know what I used to look like and I felt confident then so I can't seem to regain my confidence in the current body does that make sense yeah it makes a lot of sense it's

a bit like you having your boobs changed again yeah yeah because of you you knew what they were before I hated the way they looked and in a bra they looked fine but it'd be the whole kind of if I've ever I was with a guy the light had to be off because i didn't want them to see um but obviously to strangers in a bra and top oh she's got lovely boobs but it's how you feel when you're on your own in your own body i think it can be a dangerous cycle especially when like you said earlier abby were bombarded with how we're supposed to look and that changes as well. Like, it's nonsense because if you think about it,

it used to be very, well, this is my take on it. When I was growing up, it was very, like, almost like pro-anorexia, like very skin, zero, you know, skinny, you know, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, that kind of type of very, very lean. When they said nothing tastes as good as a skinny feels that's awful yeah and then it went to the whole the kardashians now where they want big boobs big bum yeah and it'll change again and also like now i feel like there's a lot of um this is probably just says a lot about me because it's on my discovery feed on instagram i'm quite into fitness and a lot of my the stuff

i see is very much like this is what I used to look like when I was like not eating enough really lean now I eat loads of protein and lift weights and this is what I look like now and I think that in a way it's positive because we're moving towards you know not being super super skinny but also like we just shouldn't be needing to have these conversations and also there's a lot of stuff on there where people like fat shame or skinny shame, it's like none of this should be going on. We should just be left alone. I just wish that we were all a little bit less judgmental.

How long is the wait for it to be out? I genuinely don't know. So your advice to anyone listening who's thinking of having a gastric band would be to avoid absolutely don't do it it's not what you think it is they sell it to you code it very differently when you go in for your consultations um it's not the right way to go it's not the healthy way to go thanks to you jemma because i follow you on instagram and i see how sensible you are in your approach to exercise and nutrition and everything else. It's really turned my mind around to how I see it. Oh, thank you.

So I'm feeling so much more like it can be achieved now. Oh, no, thank you for coming on. And I was just going to say to you, like, with regards to the band, we always, well, I always think money would be better spent on people getting help with nutrition and with a PT um and I know it's it's extremely daunting for some you know I get messages of women wanting to go to the gym but because of how they look they don't want to go in the gym and I always say but going to the gym everyone's in there for the same reason it's like if you go to the hairdressers everyone's in there getting their hair done do you know what i mean so no one will

be like oh my for anyone to say oh my god look at her trying to better herself trying to make herself healthy like they won't do that no we got this is something called the um spotlight effect which is where we think as human beings that people are more focused on us yeah but it's actually when you're in the gym, but for myself anyway, I don't know how it is for other people. They're focused on themselves in the mirror. I'm focusing on me and I'm thinking about my body.

The guys especially look at their own bodies, don't they, in the gym? Flexing and taking selfies. Before you go, Amy, I just wanted to add something, which I don't know whether it will bring you any comfort or not, but it might make you realise that you're very much not alone. According to the Mental Health Foundation, only 21% of adults are satisfied with their bodies. And according to the British Social

Attitudes Survey, 26% of women have felt disgusted with their bodies in the last year. Oh my God, that's quite a sad start, isn't it? When you think, because no one should feel like that about themselves. That makes me sad, especially I think when you were a mum, the thought of any of my kids feeling disgusted about themselves. That makes me quite sad. Can I ask, we've got producer Matt. From a man's point of view, Matt,

obviously you're happily married with children. Your wife, in your eyes, is always lovely. If she was to change, put weight on, lose weight, does it bother you? I think it would take a while to notice, first of all, but of course it doesn't. And you change as well. I was going to say, I don't know any men,

again, apart from Tom Hardy, who've aged like a fine wine. You guys get droopier and saggier in places too. Yeah, we lose our hair, don't we go grey? We're all a mess. That's the thing. That's why they always say to marry someone whose personality is better than their physicality

because when you're both in your 70s in your armchair, you're going to want to have a laugh, not look at a six-pack. Exactly. And we all want to be loved for our intrinsic qualities, not our external packaging. Yeah, you want them to say, oh, she's a real fun girl, she's a laugh. She's attracting my wife, she's attractive.

I've seen her, she's beautiful. And they've got beautiful offspring as well. But in 20 years, you won't look the same, will you? Imagine Gorka still saltering when he's like 60 odd he might be i can see that no not on my watch you won't oh well no thank you so much for coming on amy and um no i really really hope that you get that you get it sorted but in the meantime yeah just keep keep doing things that you you personally find make you feel good even in morning, looking at direct sunlight

or getting up and having a pint of water, kickstarting metabolism and, you know, little things that make you feel good about yourself and do it for you, no one else. Because no guy's worth it anyway. Unless it's Tom Hardy, I'm not changing for anybody. Yeah, they may be an exception to the role of Bradley Cooper. Oh, thank you so much for joining us.

No, thank you. So we also have lots of WhatsApp videos and voice notes. They go through to producer Matt. He loves them, especially the videos. I can't get enough! One of them was from a lady called Kim. This is Kim's story. Hi Gemma, it's Kim Blake, but I prefer Kim.

So yeah, I met a guy in 2002 2002 it was together a couple of years thought it would be a really nice gesture to have his name tattooed on my lower spine had a love heart put on my back with his name and then in 2016 i found out he was cheating on me he'd been cheating on me for 15 months got another lady pregnant knowing for a while that I couldn't have children myself so we split up I'm now left with a tattoo on my back that I either have been told that I need a rather large tattoo to cover it up or have very painful laser tattoo removal. I'm there with a wonderful guy who is not impressed that I have this tattoo still on my back. Well, do you know, there's a thing I always say, and it's obviously no use to you now, Kim. Anyone's name tattooed, it's got to be a no-no for me because you can't guarantee even family members you know at some point or other they're going to piss you off do you know

what i mean but my advice to kim would be to go for the laser because i've had laser tattoo removal on my lower back i had uh it wasn't a name it was a little angel well it was a fairy from the Britney Spears album cover I was a Britney Spears fan and I thought I want an angel on my back so I had that done which obviously as an adult is horrendous so I had laser tattoo removal on that it wrecked Kim it really wrecked but it's short and sweet do you mean it's it's like laser pain and you literally they can stop start and you have it every like every six weeks gawker when we first met had his own name tattooed on his back it was like he was in a it was like he was wearing a football shirt he had gawker across his shoulder blades which when

i saw it i said that's that's awful and he was like oh i know i hate it so he had it covered and he's got now he's full back tattooed and he said covering over the old ink was really really painful and the tattoo guy said to him well it is because the skin's already damaged. So a tattoo on an old tattoo is going to be painful anyway. So rather than just cover it up and potentially mess it up, just get it lasered because the laser does really work. I had six sessions on mine and it's completely gone. I wanted to get a tattoo of like an infinity symbol or a feather and like my mum's initials or something to like memorialize her

yes after she died and I'm glad that I gave it a bit of time to make that decision because I thought maybe I'm not in the right mind and I'm glad because now I'm just like why would he have done that I don't need that to remember my mum to remember them yeah yeah and I think with with tattoos so I mean I had mine done in Magaluf. It was in a little, like a hut outside BCM. So clearly I wasn't in sound of mind anyway. But a lot of people, they do it as like you say, just on a whim.

And it's long, especially like, I mean, now my, it's not a fear, but because Gorka's covered, I say to him, if there's ever a time when Mia or Tio say, can I have a tattoo? I will say absolutely not because i've had all of mine lasers apart i've got one on my neck that i left just because i can't see it doesn't bother me but i can't say no to them because their daddy's covered

so how as a parent would you like stop your kid from doing something that you've already done when it's a when it's physically there to see they can say well you've done it you did it it's gonna be tough isn't it for anyone who's desperately trying to not have their kids do the same as them yeah i suppose that's the thing is that your kids have to learn from their own mistakes not necessarily your mistakes and also even though you might regret it like nowadays it's more common to have tattoos and like the younger generations are less phased by tattoos anyway so in the past it'd be like a lot more stigma to doing it and like our older generations are much more judgmental so it probably doesn't matter as much yeah that's true i didn't think of it like that now it's just kind of like yeah whatever they've all got them well our next guest is megan thank you for joining us megan um you got your christmas

jumper on i have to point that out megan is dressed for christmas which i love we had quite a lot of tattoo stories through but yours comes with immense complications it's like a roller coaster tell us what happened so I got together with my now husband in 2011 and 2013 I got a tattoo of his name Liam written on my shoulder and we had ups and downs and we were a bit rocky but we ended up having two kids after we had our second kid we broke up for a while so I got it covered and um the only way to get covered was to put this little bird on it um it looks like I think it's a swallow I'm not sure I don't know it's got wings yeah so I got that done and we got married last year and I decided to get the name put back on but not in the same place I've now got on my chest instead

so you had Liam tattooed on your shoulder you split up you've changed it to some breed of bird but then you've got back together has he got any tattoos of your name he has now he didn't at the time of the first tattoo but when I got the second tattoo he did how did he do you know you got back together with him after you split up how did he take the news knowing you'd replaced his original tattoo I don't think he even noticed we never talked about it does he know that you've got his name back yeah so he's not totally unobservant no well when I got it back he got the my name so it was kind of like a mutual thing then not to put a negative on it hopefully you stay together but god forbid if you

ever split up again would you have it covered or would you just think no just put a cross through it no i think because it's the initials now it's la two of my children have the initials la oh so if you split up you could say i just went to america and liked it yeah or you could always just date people with the same name for the rest of your life yes it narrows your search down but it's uh might be a good thing too much choice is never good. I can use it again, so that's fine. I'm not worried this time. And we were saying earlier, my kid's dad, he's full of tattoos.

So if they want tattoos, I can't really say no. Would you be up for, if your kids come home and said, Mum, I want all the tattoos you've got, would you be up for them having tattoos? A hundred percent. My actual, my 15-year-old daughter, we went to Spain and she got her first tattoo in Spain. Oh really what did she get? She got a wee mental health symbol on her hand we've all got it now I've got it my husband's got it she's got it and when my children grow up the other children I think they'll get it too it'll just be like a wee family symbol now. Oh well

thank you Megan for sharing your story I'm glad we've had a like you say a positive tattoo story you've made tattoos sound fun again thank you so up next on the over shares we discuss bodies that we love and loathe we have Heather hello Heather thank you for joining us you've had an amazing weight loss story haven't you but take us back to the start because you've obviously come out the other side but you you really struggled to get the help you needed is that right yeah i was struggling with my mental health i was suffering with depression immediately was put onto antidepressants they did put me for group therapy but that didn't personally work for me i ended up taking myself off the medication cold turkey and i was never asked if why I was never asked why I got completely out of the classic case of getting like lost in the system the amount of

people who say to me I've been to a doctor or a medical professional and said I'm feeling down and they've given them tablets without first saying to them how much exercise are you getting how much fresh air are you getting how much social activity you're getting and what are you eating and i guess with the tablets i mean in some cases a lot of cases the antidepressants are needed and they will they will work but there's always side effects i think to any medication you take even if you know the contraceptive pill or you know anything like that there's always going to be some kind of side effect. Whereas a walk in the fresh air is free.

How long were you on them for and why did you decide to come off them? I think I was on them for the best part of a year. And I came off them because I went to the doctors for a routine check. So she was just running through and she says, like, your blood pressure's a little bit high for your age. And then she says, but you are overweight, and I was I was I knew I was obviously but I was she informed me I was overweight and I said what can I do about it whilst I'm on these tablets I'm overweight what can I do about it and she said to me you can either be fat and happy or skinny and miserable oh my god and I thought okay um and I just thought I'm just gonna be on America around here I'm just gonna be stuck and the thing is I was on okay. And I just thought, I'm just going to be on America around here.

I'm just going to be stuck. And the thing is, I was on these tablets, but I was like a zombie. Yes, they were antidepressants, but I felt nothing. So I didn't cry. You could have had a go at me and I wouldn't have felt nothing because I was just like a zombie. You know, that's not living in my opinion. No, and the whole fat and happy or skinny and

miserable how about just healthy you could just you could just be healthy either or yeah you could just you know 80 80 percent what your body needs 20 percent what you want now and again your pizza your chocolate and and and get out of my ratio yeah i always i always just do to the 80 20 i've never done a diet in my weight loss and so I've lost 11 stone at seven wow that's like another whole human yeah it's crazy thank you and I've just done counting calories and just eating 80 20 just you know what's right you know what I hate it the term bad food good food it's all about balance it's all about balance it's

all about just being healthy and mindful what you put into your body because what you you are what you eat yeah if you eat rubbish yeah that's exactly right what i would say is if you came off the pill the doctors would be attending your messages and they'd be on your back all the time but if you come off antidepressants they don't they don't even notice why is that i guess i mean coming off medication safely has to be at the forefront because i've i've done what you did heather after my birth with mia i wasn't on antidepressants i was on really strong pain medication because i had a hemorrhage in an emergency section and the pain medication i was on made me feel so,

I didn't even feel safe holding her because it made me feel dizzy. I just wasn't myself. And I just stopped taking them because I thought I'd rather have the physical pain in my scar area than the mental whirl of where I'm at, what's happening. I just had a baby, but I can't do anything.

And the doctor actually, I rung them up and said,'m not taking these anymore they're not right for me and they kind of said okay it's up to you but wean yourself off them but I didn't I just stopped as well and I'm assuming that's not great to do but I'd say not I mean in Heather's case it's obviously worked out really really well and she's found you found something that's helped and it's worked out but for some people it would be dangerous to just stop your meds so I think if I was like advising people more generally I'd say speak to your doctor and come off your meds slowly I think it is a bit alarming that they didn't follow you up Heather I feel like you have been let down a little bit there the fact that you took that into your own hands,

your body's the only place you have to live. You've got to look after it. Whether we like it or not, we have to look after it. And the better you treat it, the better it'll treat you back, especially, you know, later in life. Because people always go like, well, I eat what I want, I smoke and drink, and I'm nearly 90. But it's the quality of life.

Like, my granddad, God love him, he was an amazing granddad, the best granddad ever, Granddad Norman. But the last six, seven years of his life, he lost both his legs, he had a stroke, he couldn't communicate. So he was just sat in a chair. And it was because probably, you know, he smoked about 50 a day back then. They did without bothering, didn't they? sat in a chair and it was because probably, you know, he smoked about 50 a day back then. They did without bothering, didn't they?

Whereas now my stepdad, so my kid's granddad, he's 75. He plays football with her. He's on his hands and knees. He's on the trampoline. So it's not necessarily the length of your life. It's the quality. And that comes down to, you know, two fundamental things ahead of everything else and it's nutrition and moving that's all it is and you're on our PT are you a PT so you help other people I guess

the good thing about that if I came to you as a PT the reason why I would believe in you and know that you have my back is because you know what it feels like to be on the other side. When you go to a PT who's been slim all their life, you think you've no idea what it feels like. That's what I'm doing with my clients. You know, I've been there, I've done that, I've got the T-shirt, I know what it's like. It's not easy, but it's a way of life that will change your life for the better, mentally and physically.

I think it's awesome, Heather's whole story, and I'm a real advocate for exercising. But I think there will be some people sat there thinking, oh, I've tried the exercise thing and it didn't work for me. So for those people, I'd say that's pretty normal. And whilst exercise is a great tool for mental wellness, it could be something else that's causing your feelings of depression so it could be you know I mean Heather you've added actually another element that's quite good in terms of you've got work that is significant to you so you have meaningful work so if someone's in a job that they hate no amount of exercise is going to change the fact that they hate the job and it's making them depressed so when you go to the doctors like yeah the first response probably shouldn't be

let's put you on medication it probably should be more and maybe there's just not time for this because there's not the resources but should be more of a let's explore what's actually happened to you in your life because there's a reason for this and it might be coming from the environment or the way that you live in or something that's happened or you don't feel significance you're worrying about the future too much or you know something's happened and maybe exercise would help i find exercise hugely helpful yeah you really saw them hormones that but just maybe other things need to be addressed too yeah so don't give up if the exercise doesn't work

no keep keep trying try out different things and speak to a therapist as well if you can obviously it's one of those things that you know if you can you can get it on the nhs but there might be a long wait list and it is a bit of a luxury to be able to afford therapy thank you so so much heather congrats on your journey i think it's 5 11 stone thank you for having me thank you thank you so so much to our guests today who dared to come on and talk about their bodies i know it's daunting ab Abi, thank you. We'll be seeing you again, no doubt. And don't forget to leave us a review

and store our details. You can WhatsApp us on 07761 039898 or you can email us at theovershare at bowermedia.co.uk. That's theovershare at bowermedia.co.uk. And if there's anything you'd love to hear us talk about let us know we love having your ideas on as well the overshare is produced by matt foister for bower media and this is just the beginning guys there's many many more real

life head-turning stories to come and we'll hopefully see you soon i think that was cracking advice I feel like you've done my job for me I can just sit here and relax