JACQUELINE HODGETTS - 'I'VE TRIED NUMEROUS DIETS BUT FITBUG IS DIFFERENT'

Everyone has their reasons for wanting to live a healthy active lifestyle, but Jacqueline Hodgetts' are particularly poignant.

In August 2004, she underwent surgery for cancer in her nose. The tumour was successfully removed, but she is determined that she will not let anything increase her chances of suffering a relapse.

“It wasn't a small tumour,” she explains. “They had to cut from the corner of my eye right down to the tip of my nose and I even had to have some bone removed.

“The plastic surgeon did a fantastic job on my face and you can hardly tell, but I never want to go through that again.

“The risks of the cancer returning are greater if you are overweight and I want to do everything I can to stop it from returning.

“I was also involved in a bus crash back in 2002 and I suffered a serious back injury, but it has all made me even more determined to look after myself and get fit and healthy enough to go back to work.

“Fitbug has made my back stronger. I just feel so much better all over. It is like I feel alive again.

After years of trying one diet or another, Jacqueline came across Fitbug on Channel Five's Diet Doctors and she hasn't looked back.

“I've tried all sorts of diets and I always do fine until it gets to tea— time, when all my good work goes to pot. As soon as I saw Fitbug I really liked the idea,” she says.

“I've found it has given me the freedom to eat what I want (within reason) and get away with it.

“So far I have lost 11 pounds — and that's without cutting out the chocolate biscuits!”

While some people baulk at their daily targets and wonder how they are going to cram enough steps into their day, Jacqueline has found it easy: it just takes a little focus.

She adds: “I've paid money to achieve my goals and if I fail to reach my targets then I am wasting my time and money.

“When I was first set a target I misjudged how difficult it would be to achieve and I failed to hit it. That day I promised myself I would not miss another target.

“I try to get my steps total to about 9000 before my husband comes home and then we go for a walk to cover the additional steps.

“Sometimes it will get to 10 o'clock at night and I will still have another thousand, or so, steps to do so I will go out for a late night walk. Other days I will do 14 or 15000 without even thinking about it.

“It's been good for my husband too because it encourages him to stretch his legs after a day behind the wheel.

“Sometimes he comes home and says he is too tired to go for a walk but when we get back he is always pleased that he did it.”