Bernie

Meet the Team Workplace Wellbeing Community Wellbeing Partner Information

0800 840 1628 • Monday - Friday 9am - 6:30pm Contact Us

Bernie age 55 Lost over 5 stone and stopped drinking

Bernie had a lightbulb moment

In January 2017 whilst spending time with his 13-month old grandson, Bernie realised it was time to change. At a weight of 19 stone, with high blood pressure and borderline diabetes, Bernie decided to lose weight, stop drinking alcohol and get healthy. At the age of 55, he now weighs 13 stone 13lbs, his previous 52-inch waist is now 38 inches, he drinks no alcohol and says he feels great.

My story

Bernie used to be in the army and part of a culture of drinking alcohol, often without consideration for the impacts on his health and weight. Since leaving the army Bernie has maintained a good social life and alcohol was a big part of Bernie’s life. It was not unusual for him to drink 8-9 pints of beer on a Friday night out. He realised that alcohol contributed to an increase in the amount of food he was eating, as drinking was making him hungry and eat unhealthily when out socialising.

It's all about preparing yourself mentally to change

As part of his lightbulb moment Bernie decided to stop drinking and has not had a drop of alcohol for over a year. Upon deciding not to drink, Bernie found it helpful to tell his friends and family about his decision and the reasons why. He stood up in front of his group of friends and told them that he was making this choice to “get his health in order”. He asked them not to buy him any alcoholic drinks or try to encourage him to drink, telling them it would be a waste of time as he had made his decision and would be standing by it. Bernie still gets to go out and socialise as normal with his friends in a pub and he still has a pint – but now the pint it contains soda water, ice and a slice! Bernie has now become the designated driver and he likes that he can be assured his friends get home safely.

Bernie finds that not drinking gives him the strength to manage his food consumption and has been really helpful as part of his weight loss journey. He likes the fact that he can get up in the morning with no hangover and can play golf or take his granddaughter swimming and generally make the most of the day; which he couldn’t do before. His son has told him how proud he is of all the changes Bernie has made. He put his progress and successful weight loss down to being ready to make the change and making the decisions for himself. Following several lifestyle changes, some with support from LiveWell Dorset, Bernie knows he won’t go back to the weight he was and won't drink alcohol again in the future.

I'm going to get my health in order

How does this work?

The tailored approach LiveWell Dorset uses to come up with solutions to the things that are stopping us achieving our goals, is based upon work done by University College London developing the COM-B model of behaviour change. In this model, all behaviour is influenced by understanding a person’s capability to change, their opportunity to change and their motivation to change. By understanding which of these is the biggest barrier to change, we can tailor support accordingly. This model of behaviour change is at the centre of the support we offer, online and in person.

Your Favourites?

Welcome!

Is this the first time that you've used our services, or have you already registered with us? To allow us to best serve you, please confirm whether you're new to LiveWell Dorset, or if you've spoken to us before and may have an existing account.

Welcome back, it's good to hear from you again!

To speak to one of our dedicated team and get the help you require please request a call back. All call backs from this service are free of charge to both landlines and mobile.

Request a Call Back

Do you provide your consent to share your information with the LiveWell Dorset team – part of Public Health Dorset ?

When you register with LiveWell Dorset, we ask you some questions about you and your health (how much you smoke, how active you are, how much you drink and how much you weigh). We store that information and use it to shape our service offer to you – such as the advice we give or the extra services we connect you to. The only people who will see this information will be those involved in the delivery of the service and management of the data. If you would like to use extra services (such as slimming clubs and pharmacies) we have to share this information with them. For us to be able to put you in touch with these services, we must have your consent to share that information with the service (we’ll ask for that later, when if you sign up for extra services).

Before we can sign you up any further, we need to know:

You're happy for your personal information to be shared with LiveWell Dorset.
You understand what information may be shared and why, and that at times, our contact to you may be supported by technology partners, who have the same data protection standards and safeguards as we do
You acknowledge that you can withdraw your consent at any time by informing LiveWell Dorset.
You understand that if you do not give consent or withdraw consent then it could be difficult for us to connect you some of the services we offer.

If you require any more information to help you make your choice then please contact the LiveWell Dorset team on 0800 840 1628. All telephone conversations at LiveWell Dorset are recorded for quality and training purposes, and stored whilst you are registered as active within the service.

Yes I consent

Sorry we can't continue at the moment

Unfortunately we need your permission to store your personal information to help us to assess the best support we could provide or signpost you to. If at any stage you change your mind and are happy to provide your personal information please come back and visit us again.