Clarissa's Story

I wasn’t always overweight, though I have been for a long time. When I was in high school, my eating habits were not great but I played a lot of sport and was quite active so I was always a healthy weight. That all stopped however, once I started uni and the active lifestyle came to a screeching halt with my eating habits remaining the same. At first it was only a couple of kilos then it was ten. Within a few years I had gone from my ideal weight of 70kg to about 90kg.

I got married at 22 and moved away from home to a place where there was no fast food at all. I lived and worked in a remote part of the NT as a teacher with my husband Jon. When I first got to the NT, I dropped those 20kg that I had gained, within my first term of teaching (which is 10 weeks). I wasn’t doing anything special - I just wasn’t eating what I used to eat and I walked everywhere. It was a simple case of eat well and less and move more. However, being younger, I was naïve to think that that was all I had to do and once I had lost the weight I did not require any more effort. How wrong I was!

Over the next few years I successfully managed to find that 20kg I lost plus some of its friends! I was going on diet after diet – knowing exactly what I had to do but not being able to stick to it and thus began a cycle of gaining weight, losing a little, gaining some more and becoming increasingly frustrated with myself for not having the will power to just stick to it. Team this with emotional eating – I’m bored, I’m frustrated, I’m tired, I blew it now I may as well eat everything! – and I went from 90kg to 124.5kg in a couple of years and remained there for many. Every time I stood on the scales I was devastated that they had gone up yet again, but never enough to actually do something serious about it. I was always ‘planning ‘ on losing weight for a holiday that we were going on or Christmas or my friend’s wedding. Of course, none of that worked and the pressure of having to lose weight for a particular time added to the pressure of not actually losing weight fast enough for my liking and so…I just ate more and the cycle continued.

At the beginning of last year, my husband and I went overseas and at that stage I weighed 127kg. I had thought to myself at that point, that there was no way I was ever going to hit 130kg so I managed to lose 3kg. That was my big effort! We headed overseas again mid year and I was to be a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding in July. Now you would think that this would have been motivation enough but that old cycle of feeling the pressure and eating more set in, instead of being the boost that I needed to lose the weight.

So, in July, I was in the wedding trying to look happy but feeling disappointed, embarrassed, devastated and not being able to hide anywhere. I was at my lowest point and wondering why I hadn’t done anything about my weight before now. I was absolutely miserable and so was my poor husband. I was heading towards a heart attack before I was out of my 30’s and with a history of heart disease in the family – it was likely to happen.

So when I got home from the wedding, I had decided that I had completely run out of excuses for not doing anything about it and just needed to do it. On the outside I was the same person that people always saw – happy and easy going but on the inside I was so unbelievably unhappy. A friend of mine approached me and asked if I wanted to exercise with her as we both wanted to lose weight and change our lives. So we began. The decision had been made.

I bought a beginner’s program from Ideal Bodies Online and set off on my new journey with my friend. My level of fitness made it very hard to start with but my friend Kim and I were going pretty hard and were very determined. I absolutely hated running and it is still not one of my favourite things to do but I knew it would work so the interval training became a regular part of my program. The nutrition plan was also fantastic because it gave me a far better understanding of what foods actually fuelled my body and helped me to avoid cravings. I read in one of the articles on the Ideal Bodies website that water is the key. I have never drunk so much water per day in my entire life but it has been the one thing that has affected my weight loss so dramatically. Some days it was easy to drink a lot while other days I had to make myself drink but the drinking 2-3 litres of water a day helped with any hunger issues I was having and I had absolutely no cravings at all – which still astounds me! And I know now, that the days I don’t drink enough water are the days I tend to eat more than I usually do.

So, with the nutrition and the fitness plan underway, the weight started to fall away very quickly. Once I got past week three and four, I knew I would be ok. That had always been my stopping point in the past. I had to set small goals for myself. First to get to 120kg. Then to try and make the 10kg goal etc. The thought of having to lose over 50 kg was too much to think about.

The more weight that came off, the more it helped to power me on, the easier the running and exercise got. I was so excited when I got down to 99kg. I can honestly not remember the last time I was below 100kg. Kim and I took ourselves off for a pampering package as a reward for our hard work so far! Each kilo was a new milestone from here on in. It has been many years since I was the weight I am now.

I am currently around 86kg with another 12kg or so to lose. So far I have lost 38kg in the 7 months since I changed my lifestyle. I couldn’t even lift that at the gym when I started and that was what I had been carrying around everyday! I am happier than I have been for many years. I love being able to walk into any store and know that I can pick something off the rack and it will fit. I love being able to wear something different each day instead of the same couple of items of clothing that were the only ones that fit. I have gone from a size 22-24 to a size 12-14. I love seeing people’s reaction when they haven’t seen me for a while!! I love that I enjoy food so much more now. It is not a binge or emotional reaction. It is for energy and enjoyment and I take a lot more pleasure in it than I ever have! I have always been a very social person but I love going out so much more now than I have for many, many years. I love not feeling self conscious or embarrassed when I go out. I love that I have found my self-esteem again! I love feeling healthier and stronger. The other thing that comes as a total surprise and I never thought I would hear myself say it – but…I actually really love the exercise and working out. It has given me a sense of achievement that I have not had before and I always feel better for having done it.

I look back at my before photos and I find it unbelievable that I was actually at that point and I know how miserable I was. Losing the weight has changed my life and my marriage for the better. I will never ever go back to feeling like that again. The thought of it is enough to keep me motivated to keep powering on. That sad, lonely, desperate feeling is gone forever and replaced with a happier, more relaxed feeling. Life is ready to be lived again!

It really is a simple case of eat well and less, (more often to fuel your body) and move more. Not that hard really! If people are looking for the miracle weight loss plan – then there it is! I wonder if I could charge for that advice??!!!!!

Thank you Sue and Ideal Bodies Online for your program. It is totally brilliant and helped in changing my life. Thanks to my friend and workout buddy Kim for her support and encouragement. I couldn’t have done it without her! Thanks to our onsite health and fitness trainer, Mike Lush – he is a legend and thanks to my wonderful husband Jon for waiting patiently for many years while it took me so long to stop complaining about being overweight and finally get off my butt and to do something about it!!!

I am happy. I am healthy. I am free to be me. Yeah!!! Watch this space for the final result!