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People profiles: The Hairy Bikers
TV chefs Si King & Dave Myers
You’ve created a Hairy Bikers Dieters Club – why?
We both used to be fairly overweight and we knew we needed to do something about it, so we embarked on a complete overhaul of our diets and activity regimes in 2012 – and we lost over 6 stone between us!
After losing weight ourselves, we wanted to share what we had learnt and we decided that setting up our own Diet Club would be the best way to do it.
What’s special about it?
It’s a diet that doesn’t feel like a diet. We’ve included the sort of classic, hearty meals you’d expect from the Hairy Bikers, but we reduce the amount of sugar and fat.
We find the best way to resist temptation is to not let anything be off limits. Once you start banning foods, you’re more likely to crave them. We also understand that now and again, everyone falls off the healthy eating wagon.
It’s more about understanding the amount and type of food you should put into your body, and about striking a balance. If you reduce the amount of calories you put into your body and increase the amount of energy you expend, that’s the perfect equation for weight loss.
We’ve had thousands of members join since it launched at the start of 2014 – people who have reached their goals, kept it off and improved their health in the process.
How does your diet club work?
When members sign up to the club, they receive all the tools they need to help them lose weight. Included are over 200 menu plans and 400 exercise programmes, plus a whole range of exercise videos – there’s something for everyone. There’s also an online leaderboard where you can monitor how well you’re doing.
Everything you need is online, but we also have a dedicated customer support team who you can contact over the phone should you wish to speak to someone. There’s also an online community forum, which allows you to message other members in a supportive group setting and ask any questions you might have. Everyone in the forum is going through a similar journey and people are generally very happy to share tips and guidance.
In fact, we actively encourage people to sign up together for a special buddy bundle, where they compare weight loss with each other through the leaderboard and motivate each other to keep going. Members also receive a video message from us every month as further motivation and a way of saying thanks for all their effort.
How important is exercise in your diet club?
We recognise that weight loss is most successful when you combine good nutrition with an increase in activity. Not everyone is a fan of going to the gym, but there are many ways you can move more to help with weight loss – which is why we’ve included a whole range of exercise videos on our Dieters Club website.
When we were losing weight, we both bought bikes; we look a bit daft in shorts, but we soon got over it as it’s a great way to keep fit. Dance classes such as Zumba – as we know from Dave’s Strictly Come Dancing days! – are also great forms of exercise. For those who prefer something a little gentler, how about going for a walk around town, doing some gardening or housework?
What are your plans for the club going forward?
We’re keen to grow the member base even further in 2016 and, with our fourth cook book just launched, hope to provide our diet club members with even more recipes. We’d also love to partner with a health club operator who shares our approach to health and weight loss.
