Keeping slim the Holly’s way

A NEW venture for one Clare family and for an Irish company is already making waves as Lifeslim Ireland’s first meal replacement weight-loss programme branches out into 30 pharmacies nationwide.
Lifeslim is the brainchild of Holly’s Pharmacy and was conceived when Frank, Tom and John Holly noticed a gap in the market for an Irish weight-loss management programme.
While losing the pounds for some might be easy, maintaining the loss can be a difficult challenge.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, Frank Holly, founder of Lifeslim, explains how the Holly’s developed this product and what the benefits of the Clare programme are in comparison to other “shake” diets.
“When I was working in my father’s pharmacy, we have a pharmacy together in Ennis and in Ballinasloe, we had been working with a similar type weight-loss programme for about four or five years. In that time, we got very interested in it as we had some good success with it, so we decided to start looking into it ourselves. Over a three-year period, we started developing the product and with support from Enterprise Ireland and the Clare Enterprise Board, we ended up getting a machine we needed. We manufacture everything ourselves and everthing is manufactured in Clare,” Mr Holly outlined.
There are two programmes, the complete programme and the lifestyle programme. The difference between Lifeslim and other shake diets is that it is a professionally supervised weight-loss programme.
“There are two programmes, there’s a more supervised one, which is a total food replacement programme that is quite a dramatic programme, and this is generally aimed at people who are obese and who would have a BMI over 30. Anyone who goes for that programme would fill out a medical screening form with the pharmacist and in some cases, they would need doctor referrals. The typical cases where someone would need doctor approval would be a type two diabetic or someone with high blood pressure and so in those cases, we would bring the doctor into the process,” he added.
According to Mr Holly, the benefits of the total food replacement programme is that it can in cases lead to rapid weight loss in a short space of time.
“With Lifeslim, you’re taking part in a programme where you have support and weekly weigh-ins. If there are issues with medication or other issues, the pharmacy is there for support. It’s very hard to just go home and do it yourself. I would never advise people to go on it unless they have a maintenance plan as part of their long-term strategy. That’s the difference with our programme. The most important thing for us is that weight loss is more sustainable with the aid of Lifeslim. It is not a quick-fix solution, rather, it is a lifestyle choice. Each of the pharmacies have fully trained Lifeslim advisors, giving great support to patients which is a hugely important factor in the success of the programme,” he said.
There are restrictions and guidelines, which the pharmacies will follow, Mr Holly advises. For instance the complete meal replacement programme would only be available to someone with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 and over, while the lifestyle programme would be available to those with a BMI of 24 and over. 
“You do judge it on a case-by-case basis and that’s why it’s important that it’s run through a professional place like a pharmacy. I’ve been working with programmes like this for five years and I’ve found the BMI chart as a good guide but it is only a guide, it’s not the be all and end all. You would stop people from using the programme once they get to a healthy BMI of between 19 and 24, which would generally be considered as a healthy weight,” Mr Holly stressed.
He added that it would not be open to abuse by those with eating disorders as weekly weigh-ins and follow-ups in the pharmacy setting would put people with those issues off and would also raise a red flag with the pharmacy staff.
On the same token, Mr Holly said it was not reasonable to expect that someone who is five stone overweight for 20 years to lose that weight and be able to maintain it.
“We would insist that anyone who goes on the replacement programme would then go on the lifestyle programme, where they would replace one or two of their meals per day and as long as they follow that programme properly and take the advice of the pharmacist, then they will have no problem maintaining that weight afterwards. I would say if the person isn’t serious about weight loss, this is not the programme for them. It’s not for everyone. It is very difficult,” he advised.
Speaking about the product itself, Mr Holly acknowledged that the shakes “taste as good as they can taste for this type of a product”.
“They do taste very good and we feel we’ve made an improvement on what’s out there at the moment. We have two types of meal replacement bars and there’s 11 shake flavours. The shakes are all compliant with EU directives on low-calorie diets and there’s everything in it that people need to stay healthy while they’re on the diet. Formulated with Omega 3, prebiotic fibre and all the required vitamins and minerals, our formulation is different from what is out in the market. We didn’t want to copy what was already there so, for instance, we have reduced the lactose levels in our product so it’s not as hard on your stomach,” he concluded.
Lifeslim is available locally at Holly’s Pharmacy in Ennis, Seán Hillery Pharmacy in Shannon, Malone’s Pharmacy in Kilrush and Daly’s Pharmacy, Gort and further information is available on www.lifeslim.ie.