Lost 45.1kgs and 34.14% of her body weight

I have always struggled with my weight. I played sport summer and winter and multiple nights a week and weekends but was always heavier. In 2008 I got down to my lowest weight in my adult life, but it was based more around exercise than food and gradually the weight started to come back on. Food was my stress buddy – bad day at work – eat some chips, stressed in life, eat some chocolate – I tried to use food to make me feel better but that just made my weight increase, which then made me continue to be unhappy. 

In 2022 I decided to make a huge work change to try and get myself in a better place – for my mental health and well-being. I had back issues due to my weight and wasn’t able to do a lot of things in life that used to make me happy. After just under a year in my new job I had made significant moves in a positive direction with my mental health, and I thought that my next step was to take control of my weight. A walk and talk with Coach Nola at tennis one day had me opening up about my situation, that I thought I needed help and that Healthy Inspirations was my best choice. I needed to learn to break my reliance on food to try and feel good about myself.

The day I first stepped on those scales I nearly burst into tears – I just didn’t realise how heavy I was. The drive home after my first appointment was a pivotal moment of realising I had a big road ahead and a lot to learn about myself and my future. If I wanted to have a healthy life I had to delve into more than just the food I put into my mouth.

Since I knew I had so much weight to lose, breaking my weight loss into goals was brilliant and setting my first goal of getting under 100kgs, a weight I realise I had not been in over 7years. Having achieved that goal in 6months, something I did not think was going to happen in that timeframe, was not only a huge relief but provided further motivation to reach that next goal – 80kgs. But not just 80kgs – I want to feel healthy, strong and fitter for a better future.

I knew that I had to be in the right head space to start this life challenge and take control of my life for a better future.  If I had attempted this 12 months prior, I would have failed spectacularly and hurt my mental health further. I knew that I had to break my association with food and my emotions, which meant really thinking about my emotions and triggers, which is quite daunting but also very liberating.

I’m very lucky that I have a supportive husband who is an amazing cook. He has adjusted our weekly meals to fit with the plan.  His constant reminders that he is proud of me and can’t believe my weight loss is such a blessing. My husband is also a personal trainer who has helped me rehab through back and knee pain and provide programs to help me on my goal of being stronger and fitter. Exercise had become an extremely anxious activity for me and quite often led to awful pain. So not only was I going to have to overcome anxiety related to exercise but follow a rehab program that would enable me to reach my goals. 

Returning to play singles tennis was a side goal for my weight loss. After years of injuries and pain, I had lost the love of playing and hated the sport. But I knew that I was missing out on the sport I love to play and spending time with my friends from the tennis club which had become a big part of my life.  That first game back in October 2023 had a mountain of emotion to deal with. Anxiety about getting hurt, about performing poorly and letting my team mates down and about being disappointed with my own performance. At the end of the day I was rusty, but I could move more freely and got to so many more balls than I had in over 7 years. While my return to tennis hasn’t been easy (seriously tennis is such a mental game) each week I think that at least I am back and giving it a good crack.

I don’t feel like my weight is holding me back from living life now. I know I am making lifelong changes that will help me lead a better life, and I can’t thank the Healthy Inspirations team enough for all their support and guidance.

My Top 3 Healthy Inspirations tips are:

1. Be honest with yourself – really think about what makes you eat poorly or not exercise. It’s the realisation that this isn’t a diet, this is a lifestyle change that helped drive me to try and achieve my goals. I’m not eating this way for now, this is my new normal.  I don’t feel like I am missing out, and besides the Healthies protein bars are too delicious!
2. Write down your food – I know that sometimes I want to have something “bad” but then I have to write it down and that makes me think “do I actually want that food or am I just falling back into my history of food making me feel better?”
3. Live Life and Enjoy – I don’t want to miss out on enjoying food and drinks with friends and family but I plan out my intake to match what I anticipate I will eat/drink. Don’t feel guilty either because it’s not an everyday thing.