![\"Before](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/\/b82e62a6-4f98-4e25-bcdc-6b6720f64ee3.jpg\")
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Cork aged 57 (left) and 61 \u2014 before and after her health transformation<\/p>\n
SNH FOTO<\/p>\n
Like many people, Cork found that excess pounds crept on during the successive lockdowns of the pandemic until the scales revealed that, at 13st 7lb and with a BMI of 29.7, she was just shy of being classed as obese. A lot of her weight had settled dangerously around her middle, typically a consequence of the hormonal shifts that come with the menopause, and her waistline measured 39in (99.6cm), a circumference the NHS considers high risk for developing obesity-related health problems such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. \u201cI genuinely felt terrified that I had left it too late to reverse my physical decline,\u201d Cork says. \u201cBut my mother was in her eighties \u2014 she\u2019s 92 now \u2014 so I knew I had longevity on my side and felt I had to try something.\u201d<\/p>\n
It marked the turning point for what was to become a dramatic transformation, the results of which are documented in a self-published book, Fit and Fabulous over 50. Cork announced to her somewhat bemused sons, now aged 21 and 24, and her husband of 25 years that she intended to start working out with a personal trainer. Her goal? To look good in gym kit by the time she turned 60. All three family members were sceptical that, as a life-long foodie \u2014 she reviewed restaurants for LBC Radio and had presented cooking items on ITV\u2019s Home in the Country in the Nineties \u2014 she would see it through. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband did say he liked the way I looked anyway, but if I was unhappy he said I probably needed to address nutrition as well as exercise,\u201d she says. \u201cHe knew enough to realise food was a big part of my problem, although that hadn\u2019t occurred to me.\u201d After researching which local gym best fitted her requirements, she was first in the queue to sign up for membership when pandemic restrictions were lifted. \u201cOn the day lockdown finished I was at the door at 6am hammering on it,\u201d Cork says. \u201cI do remember having a panic before starting at the gym and doing some crazy \u2018shake\u2019 diet to desperately shed a few pounds before I started \u2014 a bit like cleaning the house before the cleaner arrives because you are so ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 The man who is going to live to 180 (or die trying)<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n On day one of her new programme, the gym trainers dealt her a reality blow. \u201cI had kept a food diary and when they read it, they said that I was eating 80 to 90 per cent carbs most days,\u201d Cork says. \u201cThey told me that no amount of exercise would shift the pounds unless I also changed my diet.\u201d Cue a drastic change in her daily eating patterns. \u201cI realised I had to drastically rethink everything I knew and loved about food,\u201d she says. Out went the unhealthy snacks \u2014 \u201cI did love a Snickers bar\u201d \u2014 and the alcohol which, although within healthy weekly limits, was simply adding empty calories and sugar. <\/p>\n She was told to enter every item of food and drink she consumed each 24 hours on an app and to focus her meals around a protein source \u2014 chicken, fish or dairy \u2014 with some healthy carbs and fats, along with plenty of leafy greens and vegetables every day. Her target was to eat no more than 1,500 calories a day. \u201cHaving to record every morsel I consumed was an eye-opener and made me realise I was eating much more than I thought,\u201d Cork says. \u201cIt\u2019s the little extras that you think don\u2019t count that make a big difference to your daily calorie intake.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t just look better, I have more energy, more confidence and new-found optimism\u201d<\/p>\n SNH FOTO<\/p>\n In conjunction with her new diet plan, Cork was prescribed a workout programme that dramatically increased her activity levels. She tripled her step count to 15,000-20,000 steps a day and started seeing a trainer three times a week for intense weight training at the gym. Initially, she found it tough. \u201cThey really pushed me hard, with the weights getting progressively heavier and, in the early stages, I also had to weigh myself every day, which was a mental challenge,\u201d she says. \u201cYet within months I noticed changes to my shape and my energy levels and just the way I was feeling about my body.\u201d It wasn\u2019t always plain sailing and there were many blips along the way. But a defining moment came when she invested in a form-fitting Lycra gym kit after months of concealing her frame in baggy clothing. \u201cI had felt totally out of place in the gym when I started,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I started to feel that change.\u201d <\/p>\n Within 18 months, her weight had dropped by five stone to 8st 7lb and her waistline had shrunk to a petite 26in. So stark was the change in her appearance that Cork was barely recognisable to people she had known for decades. Changes in her lean muscle mass meant her posture improved and a new wardrobe was required to complete the makeover. \u201cFriends and colleagues I\u2019d known for many years would walk straight past me in the street or told me I was ageing backwards,\u201d Cork says. \u201cEverything about my body and shape had changed.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/\/1c12dd21-7ae1-4d11-bce8-8ba355c5bd7b.jpg\")
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