Adam Juniper, a 46-year-old managing editor from London, lost seven stone in seven months by eating up to 10 rice cakes a day. The cheap snack, costing about £2 daily, replaced his previous habit of skipping breakfast and bingeing on cookies, chocolate bars and fast food.
Turning point
At his heaviest, Juniper weighed 19st 6lbs. He struggled to climb stairs and his sex life with his then-girlfriend stopped. Previous attempts at counting calories or eating only fruit failed. “There are so many rice cakes and they just seem so big and filling,” he said. “Mixing rice cakes with a lot of easy-to-eat fruit, like apples, made it possible to eat a lot of volume without taking on too many calories.”
Unhealthy lifestyle
Once a keen cyclist who rode seven miles to work, Juniper gave up cycling after moving to London in 2015 and began taking the Tube. He bought quick, calorific snacks to keep his energy up. “But then my clothes kept getting bigger and bigger,” he said. “My sex life stopped, too.” Friends made subtle comments, calling him the “big lad” or discussing health strategies – hints he now recognises were directed at him.
New diet
Now, Juniper eats a bowl of sugar-free muesli for breakfast, cheese for lunch, and rice cakes for the rest of the day. He varies between sweet and savoury flavours. “These filled me up and I don’t remember feeling in any way ill,” he said. He now weighs 11st 8lbs. “My wife says I’m gorgeous and she’s basically a sex icon; so I’m feeling a lot happier about it.” He advises others to “find something that works for you.”
