A 55-year-old woman who was using a wheelchair before undergoing major back surgery says she can now do full press-ups after recentring exercise into her lifestyle. Nicola Whitmore, from Buckinghamshire, discovered the walking trend through Simple, a weight loss and wellness app that creates personalised plans to help users build healthier habits through nutrition, movement and intermittent fasting.
From wheelchair to walking
The 55-year-old started using the app after undergoing major back surgery in August last year, which left her with a titanium disc and rods holding two vertebrae together. “Prior to that operation, I was in a wheelchair for some of the time, which meant that I had put weight on,” Nicola said.
“Obviously being 55, menopausal and not being able to do much physically, it got to the point where I was really struggling to do yoga and things like that. There were things that I just couldn't do. I was still swimming and I was still trying to be active, but the weight did go on. Also, when you're in a lot of pain all of the time, it's easy to comfort eat and I found that chocolate and treats and all those sorts of things just helped to make me feel better.”
After undergoing surgery, Nicola decided it was her chance to make a change. Physiotherapy helped her gradually regain her mobility and start walking again, but she remained unable to do high-impact exercise. “I'd lost half a stone by sort of January time and I tried everything I could do to lose a bit more weight, but I just stubbornly sat around 140 pounds,” she said.
Discovering Tai Chi walking
It was while scrolling online that Nicola came across Tai Chi walking - a meditative form of walking where you move slowly and intentionally, learning how to transfer your weight fully from one leg to the other - which led her to weight loss and exercise app Simple. “Little did I know that this would be a real amazing life-transforming moment for me,” she said.
“I can't do high-impact stuff because of my surgery, but the Tai Chi walking that's in it, the walking every day, is ideal for me. Life's busy. I don't have time to go to the gym and I've done that, tried that, but it didn't really work. I'm not really a gym bunny, so I wanted to do something that I could fit around my lifestyle.”
“I started off doing the 10 minutes a day, just doing the little gentle walking and things like this and didn't really think much of it. I thought, ‘How's this going to make a difference?' But I thought, ‘No, I'm going to trust the process and see where it takes me.’”
Reaching goals and building strength
Nicola started using Simple on May 1 at 140lbs and also began following its intermittent fasting guidance, having previously described herself as a “grazer”. She said: “For the first few days or so, I really struggled with the fasting because I was a grazer before. I used to eat little and often and I'd be constantly snacking.”
“I really found it helpful in the early days, all the little tips and the mindfulness. It talks about just taking it a day at a time, because it's rewiring your brain to think about food in a different way. I really enjoy my meals. I only have two meals a day, I have healthy snacks in mid-afternoon and I tend to fast for 16 to 18 hours a day. It works for me.”
By June 18, Nicola says she had reached her initial goal of 130lbs. “I thought, ‘Yay, excellent', but I thought, ‘No, this is now easy and I'm enjoying it', and I was noticing changes in my body,” she said.
“I felt stronger. I was getting more definition in my arms and my legs were becoming toned, my tummy was becoming toned. I was incorporating other exercises after my Tai Chi walking, my daily power walks and things. I was doing some sit-ups, crunchy-type things and planks.”
Press-ups and dress sizes
Nicola says she can now do five or six full press-ups – something she never thought would be possible following her health struggles. She said: “I've literally gone from no muscle tone, having been, as I say, in a wheelchair, to now being able to do all of these exercises.”
Nicola now weighs 123lbs and says she has dropped around two dress sizes. Simple is designed around changing everyday habits rather than calorie counting, cutting out essential food groups or weighing every bite. Users start by completing a quiz before receiving a personalised plan, with tools including food logging through text, voice or photos, an intermittent fasting tracker and daily workout plans.
