Lost 16.4kg and 48.5cm – That’s 19.29% of her body weight

I had put on over 20kgs due to a combination of things. I’d had 3 car accidents over the course of a few years, double carpal tunnel surgery and also quit smoking. My energy was terrible plus I had high everything – cholesterol, liver function test issues and blood sugars.  My clothes didn’t fit properly and I didn’t have the confidence to dress up to look good, for myself or anyone else.

After the accidents I was doing a combination of Yoga/Pilates to help build up and keep the strength in my core and back and then had surgery on both wrists for my carpal tunnel. I just was unable to maintain an exercise routine and the kilos piled on.

It was actually one of my clients (I’m a travel agent) who inspired me to lose weight as she encouraged me to participate in this year’s Stadium Stomp event. Her son is affected by HSP (Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia) which is a condition where his muscles don’t have memory, and at my age, should be in a wheelchair. His determination has seen him only rely on a walking stick until this point, so I figure I can easily achieve this by setting my own goal to shift some weight, take some pressure off my knees and give back to a good cause.

I reached my first goal and lost 10kgs in just 15 weeks and felt excited and confident to then re-assess my goal to shift another 5kgs (which I have also achieved). Initially the most challenging part for me was tracking the food in the planner and being held accountable to what I put into my mouth. Once I got a handle on that, I could see where I was “cheating” myself, and what the results of that were. For me these were noticeable immediately in both the numbers on the scales and in measurements.

Before starting the nutrition program I was having more starchy carbohydrates like pasta, rice and potatoes with my meals and ice-cream every night for sweets. These things weren’t putting more weight on but they certainly weren’t letting me lose it either. I have now swapped these out for other choices like zucchini noodles (instead of pasta/rice) and strawberries and cream (instead of icecream for a sweet treat).

Now that I have lost this weight I am more confident in my body and have taken so much pressure off my knees and hips. I now understand what I can eat to both maintain my weight and be really healthy plus I am now out there dating again!

My top 3 Healthy Inspirations tips are:

  1. Record everything you put into your mouth to hold yourself accountable to both yourself and the coaches.
  2. Keep going to Healthies at least twice per week. The team and other members are all welcoming, encouraging and amazingly supportive.
  3. Have fun with it.