Thank you for visiting Slimmer Secrets.

My name is Ian Brackenridge and I began Slimmer Secrets back in late 2008 as a new concept in slimming, based on my own experiences of weight loss; I was a failed dieter, but eventually became a successful slimmer and moved on to become a successful maintainer for the last five years.

[That's me back in 2001 when I was putting on weight (left) and my much slimmer (if somewhat older!) face of today (right) eight years on from that and still much slimmer.]

Having gained weight from around 1999, by following a typical British male lifestyle of too many ready meals and takeaways, too much alcohol with the boys, little activity and a stressful job, I decided that it was time to address the increasing weight problem in 2001.

A sorry attempt at dieting with the low carb diet approach coupled with the diet pills and shopping channel gym equipment (too embarrassed to go to the gym!) left me disillusioned and frustrated at my failings.

I had not been used to failure up to this point.

My background as a researcher in academia, followed by a career in industry had given me the necessary experience in reading scientific literature and so I decided to start researching for myself how to go about succeeding in this now difficult challenge.

I studied the primary literature and followed the ongoing battle of the day between the low carb vs low calorie diets which was raging in the media, but I knew there was something missing from all of this argument.

I tried the gym equipment because I had trained with weights back in my late teens and early twenties, but I simply could not find the motivation to persist with this approach.

I eventually started to find successful strategies I could implement around late summer 2002 and decided to carry on studying while my weight dropped from around the 180lb mark down to just over 150lb (~80Kg to 68.5Kg).

I realised at this point how big an issue maintenance was to those who had lost weight. I had read about the problem and had seen the problems in others with my own eyes, but I had never had to confront this problem before.

Fortunately and I confess rather accidentally, I had implemented strategies in a way that allowed me to defeat the rebounding weight problem that gets the better of so many dieters.

At this point, after my success, I stopped reading the primary literature and turned my attention to studies elsewhere.

After a few years of meeting the challenging threat of weight rebound, I began to realise that the techniques that had worked so successfully for me could be of use to other wannabe slimmers, so I returned to look at the field only to find the online weight loss arena absolutely flooded with marketing rubbish and what I can only describe as an angry community littering the forums with rather bitter postings!

[If you are trying to lose weight today you have my deepest sympathy. Surfing the web, trying to separate the wheat from the vast amount of chaff, the rubbish and the bitter ravings from the decent and genuine assistance is almost impossible].

I admit freely that at this point I did see this as an opportunity.

I decided that my skills could serve the area well, so I had to put together a site to offer up my knowledge and more importantly, my experience of weight loss and maintenance.

It is that experience that became the foundation for Slimmer Secrets (a silly title I know, but you would be surprised at what turned out to be the cornerstones of my success).

I discovered some rather surprising facts. The medical profession may publically still promote losing weight as a necessary evil if you like, but if you read their ‘trade magazines’, you will see that there is little belief in weight loss programs (see for example: here ... this is an article written by medics for medics, not really for the likes of you and me, quote: 'When defined as sustained weight loss over a 5-year follow-up period, the success of even the best medical weight-loss programs is next to nil'). Even the medical profession have no faith!

Admittedly, I am a failed dieter too. I agree that it doesn’t work, but amending your own diet does work. Slimmer Secrets can show you how to do this and a lot more besides.

The strategies I have developed for Slimmer Secrets are all based upon my own success. You will see this for yourself as you study what I have studied. Learn what I have learned over the years. Put into practice the methods I put in place in 2002 and still use today.

The best thing from your perspective is that you can short-cut this process, if you choose to stay with Slimmer Secrets.

However, that choice is entirely your own.

Once again, thank you - for taking the time to read this. Your patience in reading my biog will serve you well in your future success.

I hope you will stay with us and learn the strategies of success used by so many successful slimmers. But no matter what you do, I wish you Good Luck in your weight loss campaign.

Best Wishes

Sources

A brief look at a few personal references to give an idea of my background:

Approaches to the synthesis of biotin and 2'-deoxysugars.  PhD Thesis. University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1991.

My thesis was based on looking at the ways of making Biotin (originally designated vitamin H; generally regarded as one of the B group vitamins) and 2-deoxysugars (used in anti-viral agents).

Process for the production of R-(+)-6-carboxamido-3-N-methylamino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrocarbazole. Brackenridge; Ian (Abingdon, GB), McGee; Caroline (Abingdon, GB), McIntyre; Steven (Basel, CH), Knight; John (Oxon, GB), Hartley; David (Knebworth Hertfordshire, GB). United States Patent No. 6,359,146. March 19, 2002.

Fluva is a migraine drug with a longer half life than many of the other 5-HT analogues. The process is still in use for the production today.

Oxidation of methyl p-tolyl sulfide with bakers' yeast: preparation of a synthon of the mevinic acid-type hypocholestemic agents. Jean Beecher, Ian Brackenridge, Stanley M. Roberts, Jenny Tang and Andrew J. Willetts. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1, 1995, 1641 - 1643, DOI: 10.1039/P19950001641. Article available here.

'Mevinic acid' is the critical fragment (synthon) of the cholesterol lowering statin drugs (hypocholestemic agents). The route used was not commercially viable.