Anjee Busby and Vicki Gotts lost a total of 90kg by tweeting not eating.
When Vicki Gotts saw an unflattering photo of herself at her son’s christening, she knew it was time to lose weight.
“I was horrified,” says the 26-year old. “My nice new top was hidden beneath rolls of flab.”
So, at the beginning of last year, she turned to Twitter to help her shed the kilos. “Whenever I had the urge for a chocolate or a biscuit I sent a tweet,” says Vicki, who tipped the scales at 110kg. “Within a minute I had at least four or five responses, convincing me to step away from the biscuit tin.”
Meanwhile, mum-of-two Anjee Busby, 41, was also attempting to lose weight via Twitter.
“I’d tried all sorts of diets, but couldn’t stick to them,” says Anjee, who weighed 120kg.
“It wasn’t until I lost my mum to cancer that it gave me the shock I needed to give another diet a try. I wanted to be around for my kids.”
Desperate, she joined Twitter in the hope it would be the diet tool she needed. “I started tweeting about my diet,” Anjee says. “Every meal I had, or every time I lost weight, I would tweet, and before long I had loads of followers. Their support really helped me.”
Anjee spotted Vicki’s tweets and realised they were working towards the same goal. The pair became diet buddies, encouraging each other to eat healthily through daily tweets.
Every week after Vicki weighed herself, she would tweet how much weight she’d lost.
“And whether the results were good or bad, Anjee and I would always spur each other on,” she says. “It was great for educating me about what food to eat.” Thanks to their mutual support – and that of all their Twitter followers – each of the women has now lost 45kg. They’ve also forged a firm friendship.
“Vicki was a stranger when we started on Twitter but we’ve supported each other through thick and thin,” Anjee says. “She’s a sweetheart – I couldn’t have done it without her!”
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