Mary had been reading my recipes and following my content for 14 years before she ever joined the Naturally Healthy Club. Read on to discover how to eat cake and lose weight like Mary did.
What struck me most wasn’t how long she’d been around — it was how much has shifted for her since she actually joined.
Not just her weight. The whole relationship.
Here’s the bit that stopped me in my tracks.
Mary told me that friends have started noticing she’s lost weight — at the exact same moments they watch her say yes to something tasty instead of turning it down.
That contradiction is the whole story. Keep reading and you’ll see exactly how she got there.
What was your relationship with food and your body like before you joined the Naturally Healthy Club (NHC)?
Mary’s story will sound familiar to a lot of you. Years of Weight Watchers. Trying to be “the perfect bride.”
A hard line drawn between good food (bland, boring, fibrous) and bad food (tasty, crunchy, a treat).
“Food was always a reward,” she told me. “That’s still something that’s a little difficult for me to get my mind around — not using food as a reward, or as the only way to soothe my emotions.”
It wasn’t just food that suffered.
It was how she felt about her own body.
“It felt like my body was kind of the enemy. My body wanted the things I knew I wasn’t supposed to have… I felt like I was battling against real urges, and battling against an idea of myself — that my body just wanted to be out of control.”
Underneath all of it was a simple, painful question: why couldn’t I just be good?
What concerns did you have about your ability to get the most from NHC?
Mary’s biggest fear wasn’t failing a plan. It was that this would turn into just another diet — one more set of external rules, dressed up differently.
“I was concerned that this idea of being on a diet and feeling bad about myself would creep back in.”
What she didn’t expect was how different NHC actually is. Not a 12-week programme.
Not a set of lessons you’re handed and then left to white-knuckle alone. A community.
“I didn’t realise the extent to which Naturally Healthy Club would not just be a set of lessons — but a community. That I would make friends through this community.”
Slowly, the old habits started to loosen their grip.
“It’s really taken me a long time to lose the points calculator in my head… but now I don’t think I could do it anymore. And I’m glad that’s gone.”
How has NHC changed the way you feel about yourself, your body and your future? What are you noticing?
This is the part of the conversation that gave me chills.
Mary talked about one of the mindset lines we use in NHC — I love and accept myself at every weight — and how, over time, she watched herself drop the qualifier.
“It was ‘I love and accept myself at every weight.’ And then you can just drop off the ‘at every weight’ once that got natural. It was, ‘I love and accept myself.'”
Here’s how she knows it’s real, not just a nice idea:
She weighs herself without the shame spiral.
The number is just data now — not a verdict on the rest of her day.
When her weight fluctuates, she’s not catastrophising. “I recognise where it’s coming from… it’s a season, not forever.”
She trusts herself to problem-solve instead of panicking. “I’m not in that catastrophic mindset of, ‘oh no, here it goes, it’s a slippery slope.’ I don’t think like that anymore.”
Healthcare conversations have changed.
“Before, they could just point to my weight… now I feel like they can’t go to that right away. And that’s been a very nice change.”
Maybe the biggest shift of all, in her own words:
“I never thought like that before. I always thought, ‘oh gosh, I can’t be trusted, I don’t know anything about this, I’ve got to listen to the experts.’ …
I am the one that knows the most about me. I’m the expert on myself.”
And then there’s the bit other people have started to notice.
“People have noticed that I’ve lost weight — that’s been noticeable.
Friends and people in my social circles will talk to me about it.
And when they see me at a social situation, having something tasty to eat and not saying no to it, and yet see that I’ve lost weight — that’s a great opening.
I can say, ‘this is how I did it, this is who I went with, this is the programme, and it’s completely changed my attitude towards food and eating and just my everyday life.’
That’s been a really good testimonial, if you will, when people see me in action doing it.”
It’s not just the weight loss people clock.
It’s that she’s not restricting to get there — and that combination is what makes people stop and ask questions.
What surprised you the most about being in the Naturally Healthy Club?
“It didn’t fix my life entirely,” Mary laughed.
No perfect-bride ending, no permanent immunity to emotion.
Life still happens — celebrations, stress, all of it.
But what did change surprised her: how much lighter it feels to not be fighting her own body anymore.
Who would you recommend the Naturally Healthy Club to?
Mary didn’t hesitate on this one.
“I would recommend it to anyone who has any hang-ups at all about food and their body. Whether you want to lose no weight, or five pounds, or 50 pounds, or 100 pounds — Naturally Healthy Club is for all of those people.”
Her parting thought summed it up better than I could:
“It doesn’t end. You can continue on with staying naturally healthy. And the people in the programme are fantastic — great sources of cheerleading, but also constructive feedback and ideas.”
Ready to write your own version of this story?
Mary spent years thinking she just needed more willpower, more rules, more restriction.
What actually changed things was learning to trust herself — with the right framework, the right community, and permission to experiment instead of white-knuckle.
If any part of Mary’s “before” sounds like your today, I’d love to show you what’s possible on the other side.
Find out more about the Naturally Healthy Club
In your corner,
Jules from Stonesoup xx
(Your favourite Australian Food Scientist)
See my bio
ps. Can I ask a favour?
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