CAKE and chocolate for breakfast, pizza and chips for lunch and takeaways at teatime. Tracey Valentine loved feeding her family - but she was killing them with kindness.
"I really worried about the harm I was causing the children," says Tracey. "I knew that being overweight could set them up for a lifetime of health problems.And this one's not only brand new but also a cheapie. The hotel is also just a few minutes' drive from Terminal 4.WAKE-UP CALL Rooms (which can sleep a family of four at a squeeze) cost pounds 60 (15pp per night). Call 0871 9848 484 or log on to www.travelodge.co.uk"As the weight dropped off it was like I'd found myself again. I felt in control for the first time in years," Tracey says. "We still eat a lot - but with a healthier understanding."It's so nice to feel confident," she says. "Boys were never interested in me, but they are now." Sam adds: "I was surprised at how nice healthy food could be... now I can finally wear designer clothes."KARLEY, 15WHERE AND WHY You never know when you're going to need a hotel if you're planning to fly from Heathrow's Terminal 5.Breakfast: Full English, bacon sandwiches.Lunch: Burger, large fries, extra-large Coke.CRAIG, 36Breakfast: Cereal, fruit and low-fat yoghurt.Dinner: Pizza & chips.Dinner: Vegetable bake, pasta with tomato sauce and veg."For lunch we'd have pizza and chips. And for dinner I would cook pasta with a rich, creamy sauce, or we'd have takeaways.TRACEY, 40"We are very excited to open our 75th BJ's Restaurant in San Antonio," commented Jerry Deitchle, Chairman and CEO. "This new restaurant is our 12th location in the state of Texas, where we have enjoyed some of our strongest comparable restaurant sales comparisons during the past couple of years, and where we continue to do well on that measure. Our opening day sales in San Antonio were stronger than we initially expected. To date, we have opened eight new BJ's restaurants during fiscal 2008. We remain on track to open as many as seven more restaurants before the end of the year and thereby achieve our stated goal to increase our operating weeks by 20% to 25% for the full year."AFTERSnacks: Crisps and chocolate.Just 18 months ago mum, dad and two teenagers were all dangerously overweight.Dinner: Pasta wi th tomato sauce, lasagne.-SLIMMING World: Call 0844 897 8000 or visit www.slimmingworld.comWHILE YOU'RE THERE Enjoy a couple of beers and a bite to eat in the bar before getting your head down for that early flight the next day.The rooms are basic but clean and comfortable, with air-con and flat-screen TVs.Breakfast: Toast, peanut butter, bacon sarnies.Dinner: Veg lasagne, salad, baked potatoes.Lunch: Veggie bake, low-fat quiche, homemade soup.Karley loves her new look.Snacks: Crisps, chocs.Lunch: Cheese sarnies, sausage baguette, KFC.But don't forget your mobile because there's no phone. Short- term car parking costs pounds 5 a night, cheaper than airport car parks.Lunch: Cheese sarnies, omelettes with cheese.Lunch: Cheese sarnies."I kept it to myself for weeks," says Tracy. But she began to lose weight - and when the kids noticed, they wanted to slim down too. And so Tracey started to change the way she cooked for her whole family. Instead of fatty, stodgy food she created healthy dishes, with plenty of vegetables.Lunch: Home-made soup or baked potato, salad.Snacks: Ryvita minis, apples.Snacks: Fruit, cereal bars.Dinner: Curry, burger and chips.The food was always piled high on our plates. In between we would snack on cakes, crisps, chocolate and lots of bread, and then we would settle down in front of the TV in the evening with more chocolate.And thanks to the family's new exercise regime even their dog and cat have slimmed down too!Sadly, Tracey admits that she fed the family too much to excuse her own eating habits. "Looking back, I was trying to justify the way I ate by encouraging the rest of my family to eat the same way.Snacks: Chocolate, crisps."Seeing the kids gain weight and gradually begin to lose their confidence made me feel desperately sad. But I just didn't know what to do about it."Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter, jam.And we exercise too.""We all have big appetites and I used to serve up all the wrong food. At breakfast time there'd be lots of toast with peanut butter, even cakes and chocolate."Basically I would start eating the moment I got up and wouldn't stop until I went to bed." The death three years ago of the children's father made matters worse.Breakfast: Cereal, fruit & low-fat yoghurt.The family's new healthy regime has even led to their cat and dog losing weight. Colliecross Billy goes for runs with Tracey and Roxy no longer munches on treats.Dinner: Pizza & chips, Indian takeaways, KFC.Snacks: Crisps, toast, extra sandwiches.There is a twice-hourly bus service to T5, which costs pounds 4 one-way, or the hotel has a deal with a local cab company for pounds 10 to either T4 or T5.Tracey finally decided she had to take action, so she joined her local Slimming World group in Bournemouth in May 2007.BJ's Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 75 casual dining restaurants under the BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse or BJ's Pizza & Grill brand names. BJ's restaurants offer an innovative and broad menu featuring award-winning, signature deep-dish pizza complemented with generously portioned salads, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, pastas, entrees and desserts. Quality, flavor, value, moderate prices and sincere service remain distinct attributes of the BJ's experience. The Company operates several microbreweries which produce and distribute BJ's critically acclaimed handcrafted beers throughout the chain. The Company's restaurants are located in California (40), Texas (12), Arizona (5), Colorado (3), Oregon (2), Nevada (2), Florida (4), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (2), Kentucky (1), Indiana (1) and Louisiana (1). The Company also has a licensing interest in a BJ's restaurant in Lahaina, Maui. Visit BJ's Restaurants, Inc. on the Web at http://www.bjsrestaurants.com.SAM, 17"They had been through a very traumatic time and I saw feeding them as a way of comforting them," says Tracey. "But I was also aware that I was their only living parent. What I was doing to them was bad enough, but I was in danger of cutting my own life short too."
Dinner: Pasta wi th tomato sauce, lasagne.
Author: TRACY SCHAVERIAN
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