< This is Catherine’s before pic and we will feature an updated one in June when she hopefully reaches her weight goal.     

If you would like to help Catherine in her weight loss journey and, at the same time, help to raise crucial funds for the 25% ME Group, please give a donation using our Donate form above and writing Sponsored Weight Loss in the comments section.

We plan to feature Catherine’s journey in the summer 25 newsletter and will also feature Catherine’s achievement on our website.

Hi I am Catherine. My 27 year old son has had ME for the last ten years, only being properly diagnosed in the last two, partly due to COVID delaying things. He is perhaps not within the ‘severe category’, but is definitely at the severe end of moderate and many days he has to choose between showering or crawling downstairs to feed himself. I first came across the 25% ME group late last year and finally felt there was a group of people who could understand and help me help him better. My son had to give up his university course a few years ago and is unable to work. As his main carer, my perception is that his baseline has decreased a little year on year. I’m 60 this year, still working, but I want to be able to support him as long as possible. To do that I need to lose weight and get fitter. While always hoping for the best, nevertheless I feel I need to prepare for the worst, just in case. 

I have known I need to lose weight for several years, hovering in and out of the ‘pre-diabetic’ category. With other caring responsibilities as well, I never seemed to have the headspace to stick to any attempt. Comfort eating, habitual eating, over availability of food to tempt me – all these have meant that any willpower and discipline have declined after only a week or two. The coincidence of the lessening of some of my caring responsibilities and the discovery of the 25%ME group caused a spark in my brain that said if I set up an external and more public form of ‘accountability’, I am more likely to stick to what I want to achieve. So I want to ask people to sponsor me to lose weight in aid of the 25% ME group.

On the 1st January this year I started, weighing 11st 10lb (74.4kg), height 5’2″ (1m 57cm). After a week I was down to 11st 7lb (73kg) and a 39 inch waist (99cm). I am right on the border between ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’. It is the waist measurement I am most interested in – I need to be below 31 inches to know I am not storing huge amounts of visceral fat around my major organs. My target weight is 8st 11lb (around 56kg) and I aim to do it at a slow, safe and sensible pace, averaging 2lb a week which will take me till June 2025.