'Operation Transformation one hundred percent worked for me'

“I retired in October and I wanted to be in my best health, and the time that I felt at my best was in Operation Transformation,” says Noeleen Lynam from Raharney, a former primary school teacher who was a leader on the show in 2016.

Seven years on, Noeleen says Operation Transformation has been “life-changing”, equipping her with the tools she needed to improve her health and fitness long-term.

She has started a new blog called ‘Not Dead, Just Retired’; is in training for the Operation Transformation 5K in the Phoenix Park on February 18; and expands on why every year she still follows the show, its recipes and its advice.

“Like everyone else, lockdown was tough. The first lockdown was the happy one – the weather was good, everyone was in good form, it was a novelty,” Noeleen told Katie Jones for RTÉ’s OT podcast, opening up about the death of her mother, who passed away on the eve of the second lockdown.

“One thing I think Irish people and the church do very well is death, in that there’s usually the wake, the funeral, the month’s mind, so there’s always people around. Whereas with mam – the funeral was lovely, it was small, it was intimate, but then I was back to my house on my own, and that was difficult. I didn’t take to the drink, I took to the food,” Noeleen explained.

“Now I’m back on track,” Noeleen told the Westmeath Examiner last week. “It’s all about the brain, your frame of mind. I could write books on healthy eating and exercise but you have to be in the right headspace to actually go and do it.”

In 2016, Noeleen, who lives alone, went on OT because she wanted to get some structure back in her life.

“People say to me, ‘Are you still following Operation Transformation thing?’, and I say ‘yes’ – I cook the recipes that I like, and I do the exercises that I like. It’s become part of my life now. Operation Transformation one hundred percent worked for me.

“You can get all the ingredients for the recipes in your local supermarket, there’s nothing difficult about it, and it’s lovely food. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, you don’t have to sign up to the gym, you can go out for a walk, a run, a swim. It’s all simple changes to your lifestyle and that’s why it’s sustainable.

“And especially in this economic climate, I’ve actually saved money. Before, because I had no plan of what I’d cook or eat for the week, there was so much food wastage; now that never happens. I buy what I need. The meals are all up online for you to follow for the week ahead, there’s videos online also, so if you’ve never cooked before, it makes it easy. Everything is in place to help you.

“Because it was so doable, I made changes in my life to follow it, I didn’t change life completely. And that’s why it works. Exercise-wise, I found it really helped for headspace. It helped me to go for a walk, a run or a swim.”

Noeleen said she was chosen as a leader because she ‘appeared’ not to have much weight to lose.

“People used to say to me – ‘sure why are you doing it, you don’t have anything to lose’, but Karl Henry really wanted to show someone like me – who had a stone and a half or two to lose. It’s not healthy and it all used to sit around my middle, the danger area. People needed to be aware of that.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re two stone or four, five, six stone overweight – if it’s impacting you and your life, it’s not healthy. It was stopping me from doing things. People don’t want to buy new clothes because they don’t want to go up a size, it doesn’t leave you feeling good about yourself,” said Noeleen, who pointed out that medical ahead of the show showed she had a higher percentage of body fat than some of the ‘heavier’ leaders.”

Noeleen said the tasks she conquered during Operation Transformation, such a fire brigade training, involving abseiling down the docks in Dublin and carrying a body down the steps of Croke Park, gave her confidence again.

“I did things that I did not think I could possibly do. I pushed myself much further – now, if I want to do something and I think I can’t do it, I just say – I pulled a fire truck!”

Noeleen’s new blog is called ‘Not Dead, Just Retired’. “I did research ahead of retirement and I was horrified to find out that the main two things they recommend were chair aerobics and knitting. Now, I love knitting, but I suppose I’m quite young retiring, I’m 58, but I know plenty of people in their 60s and 70s who are fit and able to do lots of activities. So I made a list of everything that I would like to do, and put them in a jar and every now and again I pull something from it.

“There’s lots in there, one was to listen to all of the albums I have in my house and I did that, and it was brilliant. It brought back so many memories from songs I hadn’t heard in a while, I also have travel in there, to start a new course, and piano – I learned to play piano when I was younger but I’d love to do it again.

“I want to be in my optimum health at this stage in my life, and that’s why I was so adamant that I was going to follow Operation Transformation this year, to get back to when I felt my best, which I did after OT. So I write about all this in my blog.”