Stories

Surviving Obesity is something i am incredibly passionate about, as I am an obesity survivor and absolutely thriving in my health & fitness going on 8 years now. I was always overweight as a child, always having quality food but large portions. moving onto young adult years i kept gaining weight, trying every diet, shake, pill and with all of them i lost weight but soon after pile it all back on and some, because the chronic dieting had turned me to binge eating, everything i missed out on for 8 weeks i would consume too much of. At my largest of 127kg and a BMI of 42 i decided to have gastric banding surgery, as i was afraid of having the more permanent option. Gastric banding changed my life completely, loosing 20kgs, it gave me hope and confidence that i could change who i was destined to be, which then gave me the confidence and the fire to search for more for myself. But Banding was a major operation and the flood of emotions that came with the start of this new way of eating was really hard. With the monthly surgeon check ins & the two dietician appts I received, it was really not enough to understand my new stomach, my ever-changing body & the mental strain it took to forcibly break my old habits.

It was then that I met my personal trainer. An incredible man that helped educate me about proper nutrition, gave me an opportunity to try new things that I had deemed impossible, renewed my enjoyment for physical exercise & movement and gave me the self confidence that i needed to lose weight & tone my body. Navigating this weight loss journey became increasingly difficult with the band, as the more weight I lost the tighter the surgeon would make my band. When my band was tight it restricted every food that I could consume, no matter how much I chewed or cooked it down to nothing. I developed different aversions to food and I found myself opting for easier foods to consume ( generally these ended up being unhealthy or full of sauce in order for them to go down ok) The food that I enjoyed couldn’t be consumed anymore even the healthy food, my relationship with food changed negatively and my social interaction around food had once again become embarrassing, no longer because of my size, but because most of the food I would eat would have to come back up.

With the continued help of my personal trainer, I went back to my surgeon, explained to him my grievances and agreed upon having the band remain empty & dormant in my body while I pushed and challenged myself every day to lose 30kgs. After a few years of learning about proper nutrition, strength & conditioning & living an active lifestyle I finally went back into my surgeon and asked to have my band removed. The surgeon was highly reluctant to remove my band explaining that statistics say that without it I would re-gain all the weight I lost and more. It took me a long time to stand up to him and although grateful for his service and the start I needed for weight loss, having the band removed was the only way I could fully control my destiny & my health in a positive way. Much to my surgical teams disappointment I had my band taken out, (with no follow up) I went back to the new life I had created, training consistently, moving everyday and eating nourishing foods without guilt or restriction. Loosing a total of 65kgs and maintaining it for 8 years.

Because of my journey and the incredible impact my trainer had on my life, I went on to study to do the same. I am now a personal trainer & body transformation specialist in Perth Western Australia, offering in person coaching and online programs to guide the others trying to overcome obesity & for those that are undergoing bariatric surgery. By giving them the support & guidance, they need to get the most from their journey.

For me, my coaching is all about educating my clients & the community around obesity and how to overcome it. I want to be able to help others who are struggling, whether just starting out or to support their WLS journey through healthy lifestyle habits, nutritional education & providing comfort & safety from someone who has navigated her way through from surviving to thriving.