I’d been grossly overweight for 11 years, since the birth of my first of four children in 1994. I’m now proud to say that I’m 70 kilograms – half the person that I was.
1. Why I chose to lose the weight.
I was 145 kgs when my husband and I separated in January 2003 – I was flabbergasted at how much I weighed. Then I started walking and eating less and dropped 20 kgs, but over that winter I put 16kgs back on.
In August 2004 I started the Ultra Lite program, however given it was winter, I only gave it a week to work!! I would’ve been one of the world’s worst dieters. I’ve tried nearly every diet imaginable. However, in November 2004 I decided that it was finally time to lose the weight and went back on the Ultra Lite program. I had 3 weeks off teaching and thought that I should exercise over the summer period.
2. What inspired me to lose weight?
I stayed on it until Christmas, and then over the holiday period I went off the program, but stuck to their diet menu and walked my 2 boys all over Sunbury. My friend was also dieting at the same time, and this was a huge incentive to stick to the diet – her encouragement was great. I had also set a goal to get under 100 kgs when dancing started back at the end of January. This I achieved through many hours of walking and sticking to the diet.
When I got down to 100 kgs (end January 2005) I decided to increase the exercise, go back on the diet for two weeks at a time, with a week or two break (still keeping to their diet plan in between) and continued to lose weight. May 14th was my birthday target date to get to 80 kgs – which I am now under. I’m very happy at a healthy 70 kgs. I never imagined I’d ever be this size again.
3. The difficulties I encountered.
Dieting is a hard thing to do, especially if you have so much weight to lose – you feel as through you’ll never get there. I’m proof that it can happen, but you need to find your own motivation, whatever that may be and stick to it. I was lucky to be able to exercise as much as I have and constantly lose weight each week. Only a few times did I “have enough” but then changed the “routine” to keep myself interested to continue. I also became disappointed at times when my body would plateau for a week, but then results came quickly after that. I bought a pair of surg shop Rusty jeans as an incentive to get into and when I was feeling a little flat about “dieting” I’d get them out and hang them on the wardrobe door. I know wear them.
4. How I lost the weight.
Simply – I kept to the Ultra Lite program. I bought 15 weeks and for 10 of them I alternated being on the program and doing it myself and then 5 straight weeks on it. I walked every day, increasing the exercise to circuit, and now I run a couple of kilometres each day. There is no secret to what I’ve done – I just became one very determined person to lose weight and now I’m just as determined to keep it off. The Ultra Lite people at Terry White Chemist Sunbury advertised my weight loss half way through, and this has encouraged others to become motivated. I’m happy if I’ve helped others try to achieve any goals they have as I understand how hard the journey is.
5. How losing weight has changed my life.
I’m now able to wear size 12 jeans – something I never dreamed I could do again, I have size 10 skirts in my wardrobe and my top half is also a comfortable size 10. I now feel more energetic, which is a good thing, as I’m a single mum of four wonderful children and can do much more with them now as I have more enthusiasm and energy. There’s also a history of heart disease in my family, and I hope that I may have reduced future medical problems. I also teach dancing and the energy level has improved dramatically and I have even returned to full time office work, something that I would never have had the confidence to do while being so large.
Apart from my family and friends, I have the girls at Terry White Chemist Sunbury to thank enormously for their encouragement, the wonderful circuit instructor for making classes interesting and challenging to keep on returning and all the people who’ve commented on my loss throughout the journey, which has given me incentive to achieve my goals. |
