Name: Rima
Weight Lost: 3 Stone (19kg)
Management: 3rd Year of Management
“I Just Wanted to Feel Sexy and Gorgeous.”
When Rima began her journey, her motivation was beautifully simple: she wanted to feel sexy and gorgeous.
Having first joined LighterLife back in 1996 – and even featuring in one of the early magazines in 2002 – she returned in 2023 ready to recommit to herself.
Unlike other addictions, food cannot simply be eliminated forever. For Rima, the structured elimination phase brought enormous relief.
“I didn’t notice much in my first week other than the relief that I didn’t have to deal with food.”
The Power of Support and Accountability
Rima is now in her third year of Management and attends her Wednesday group faithfully.
“The support of my mentor is crucial – but also my lovely, loving Wednesday group. It’s like an AA meeting. A place to feel normal, with loving support.”
As a qualified therapist herself, Rima admits she sometimes has to remind herself that knowing the theory is not the same as doing the work. Regular accountability keeps her grounded and honest.
A New Way of Seeing Herself
Rima speaks with deep emotion about looking back at her ‘before’ photos.
“I like to send love back to the woman in the photo before the weight loss because what she needed more than anything was to know self love, not the derision and castigation that I actually delivered. Which in turn led to comfort eating. I think each one of us started from that point of self disgust and disapproval. I now know what it is to love myself “
“I remember being cruel to myself then. Now I look at that woman with pride. I wish she could have felt then what I feel now.”
She recognises that for much of her life she viewed herself through a distorted lens. Today, she sees herself differently – with warmth, compassion and understanding.
“I’m more loving towards myself. I’m not the awful, weak, self-indulgent hopeless case I thought I was. I’m just human – perfectly imperfect.”
Beyond the Scales
At 80 years old, Rima continues to go to the gym and dance when she can. While she modestly says there’s nothing she can physically do now that she couldn’t before, her greatest transformation has been internal.
Her biggest non-scale victory?
“A new sense of self. That’s the greatest gift of this process.”
She now dresses to impress rather than to disguise – and that shift speaks volumes.
Learning for Life
Even three years into Management, Rima acknowledges she is not ‘cured’ of old habits.
“It’s OK to stumble. It’s just not OK to stay down.”
Her advice to anyone thinking of joining?
“Don’t hesitate. Go to group. Without the group, I would fail regularly.”
The Unfillable Hole – by Rima
Deep inside me there’s a hole
Far, far bigger than I am
So big it could swallow me whole
I hear it crying out to be filled
I’d better try wine, some crisps
Maybe a Yam
But still that hole just grows
It’s taking over the house
I panic – because who knows
How big this thing can get
The nothingness feels weighty, solid
An empty mass that must be controlled
More food! Yes! that’s what’s required
I can fill it in and keep a hold!
But a tiny voice whispers in my ear
“It’s fear that’s growing so big and strong
Listen to me and there’s nothing to fear
Feel that emotion, feelings aren’t ‘wrong’
Out in the open is where they belong”
So, I felt that fear with a sense of relief
And the hole shrank to a manageable size.
Now it’s come to me in the form of belief
‘The Hole’ is just emotion in disguise
