Centre: Midland, WA
Weight Loss: 30kg
Time: 14 Months
I used to tell myself I looked fine, and that I was happy with what I saw in the mirror. Yet deep down I hated how I looked, I hated clothes shopping, I hated going out. I would buy something new to wear and think to myself how nice I looked – until I saw a photo, I would cringe and think do I really look that big.
I struggled to go walking with the dogs, I had to wear shorts under dresses and skirts to prevent chaffing, and I used to get terrible cracked heels. All those “little” things became big things with me.
I was at my youngest sons 21st in January 2015 and I thought to myself “I don’t want to be that Mother/Grandmother, I want to be able to run around with my Grandies (when they come lol). I want my kids to be proud of me and how I look – time for a change”.
That set the wheels in motion and I really started to think about my life. I’d suffered depression for nearly 20 years and had been on some pretty serious medication. Although I hadn’t had any attacks as such for a number of years, I was still taking daily medication and I just wanted to be off it and fit and healthy. I was turning 50 in 2019 and had 4 years to get off my meds, be fit and be at a healthy weight. The first step was shedding the weight I’d gained over the last 20 years.
The day I decided to go to Jenny Craig I looked up the closest centre and just rocked up and met my fabulous Consultant, Lara, who was amazing.
My journey was a slow one, it took nearly 14 months to lose the 30kgs. I had a couple of breaks along the way (3 weeks on holiday with my hubby and parents, and nearly a month when I went back to NZ – I maintained during these times as I was aware of what I should be eating, and stayed on track).
I enjoyed the food and really learnt how to read “labels” and could understand kilojoules, a valuable lesson now I have been on maintenance for 3 months. Our fridge changed from having junk food in it to being really healthy, full of fruit and vegetables (I’ve even learnt how to cook eggplant)!
I started walking every day, come rain, hail or shine and before long was managing a 7km daily walk quite effortlessly. I downloaded the Pokémon Go app onto my phone and that was what kept me walking each day – we used to discuss how many eggs I’d hatched and how many kilometres I’d walked to catch them each week at weigh in, it was great!
I set small goals along the way and whenever I lost my motivation Lara would remind me of my goals and how far I’d come. My husband was amazingly supportive and used to be more excited than me on my weigh in days, if I didn’t have a loss one week he would console me and tell me how well I was doing and to keep up the good work.
Clothes shopping became fun again and I still remember going into shops and grabbing L/XL out of habit. It was an awesome feeling to ask for a smaller size and I can still remember the first time I actually got into a small or a size 10.
Then on June 3 I stood on my scales and had finally lost 30kg. Thank you Jenny Craig you are awesome. I FEEL FABULOUS!
I feel fit, I feel healthy, I have no chaffing, I love clothes shopping, I love going out, I have energy, I feel confident.
And best of all I am down to taking my medication every second night and the dosage has also halved – this is huge for me.
My overall goal was to hit 30kg weight loss, which I did and I have now maintained this within 1kg coming up 4 months. I let myself have little treats in the weekends knowing that I can still maintain. I love my monthly visits to the Jenny Craig Centre and try to inspire others that are at the centre, telling them they can do it!
My husband is an ex-jockey and works with horses daily. I’ve always had a bit of a phobia around horses and he promised to take me riding. We rocked up with our kids to a riding centre one day and were disappointed to find it was closed. As we left the building I saw a sign saying weight limit of 90kg – I was absolutely horrified and quietly relieved that I hadn’t been embarrassed in front of my children as I weighed just on 100kg at the time.
I really wanted to ride a horse so we made it my final goal “reward” – something to look forward to after all the hard work.
On 23 April this year (I was only a couple of kilo’s off my goal) my husband surprised me with a weekend away and WE WENT ON A HORSE TRAIL RIDE!!.
So awesome and so much fun I did it!
