It has taken me a number of days to put my story down on paper. When I was asked to share my story, I was stricken with panic on what am I going to say? What is it that makes my story different and special than others? Truth be told, my story is not all that different from anyone else’s and my story is not more special than any of the other testimonials of fellow Sleekgeeks in this community. There are some truly amazing and inspiring member of this community to look up to, to be inspired by and I am truly honoured to be able to share my story with you.

As long as I can remember, I always had a love for food, all food, any food and every food. If I could get my hands on it, I would eat it, if it was sitting right in front of me, I would eat it, even if I wasn’t hungry and knowing full well that I probably didn’t need to eat it either. My love for food became my life, my everything, it became who I was, my entire identity. I then found myself arranging and surrounding everything I did around food: dinners, ice cream dates, movies, tea and cake, picnics, breakfasts. I would even use it to as an excuse when I felt sad, happy and sometimes when I felt in between, any reason possible to eat that slab of chocolate, pie or packet of chips, that came to mind and I would! My diet was extremely poor and I am shameful to even mention it, it consisted of all the Bread, pastas, pancakes, pizza and burgers the list of junk seems so endless. This was the standard thing I was living on. As time went on my diet was getting poorer and poorer and I was getting bigger and bigger. Naturally this way of eating started to have a negative effect on my body, my mind and my self esteem. The vicious circle began… low self esteem… Comfort and binge eating (I once easily binged on a large Debonairs pizza, with cocktail sausages on the side, a Steers burger meal, with Malva pudding and custard and a litre of chocolate milk in one sitting) then came the guilt…. and it was back to the low self esteem… relapsing on the comfort eating… and all over again the guilt… and so it went on. I was ending up in a dark pit of going nowhere slowly other than that of an early heart attack.

In 2011, I developed an ovarian cyst, that was a total weight of 15kgs large, causing me to having to rush into a full abdominal surgery, the surgery was risky as I was severely obese and I had a massive cyst that could have been cancerous. I thankfully pulled through the surgery, luckily the cyst wasn’t cancerous, but I lost the ovary it was growing on. It took me a whole year of recovery from the surgery after various infections problems relating to the surgery, many of which was because I was simply too obese for my wound and it was taking strain. My life was one year of hell and my emotions were all over the place. For me the easiest coping mechanism was that I simply ate my way through the recovery, I ate my way through the emotions, the ups and downs. I was now getting bigger due to eating and no activity, yet I was too blind to see it and after the first surgery I didn’t even think of it as a wakeup call.

In August 2012, I remember as if it was yesterday, my whole life changed. I began to experience some pretty severe stomach pains, went to the doctor for my routine check up and asked him to have it looked at my stomach, many scans and tests later, they discovered that I had an incisional hernia and my stomach and intestine were now pushing through the hernia, this is life threatening, as well as they discovered another cyst on my remaining ovary with was now already the size of a cricket ball… could this get any worse I thought to myself… and so the bad results kept coming in… I was now borderline diabetic- already on the diabetic side, my blood pressure was high, my cholesterol was high, I had sleeping disorder and sometimes would even minutes of no breathing at all while I was a sleep due to being obese. I was a death about to happen. My doctors and my surgeons were now in the position to no longer beat around the bush. I was given the straight up news that if I didn’t do something drastic after the surgery that they were now going to have to perform, the chance of the hernia’s reoccurring were high, more than likely and that I would probably not even make it to 35 years of age. My heart stopped… 35….. This would have been younger than my mother who passed away at the age of 42 from weight issues and a heart problem.

I couldn’t possibly let history repeat itself. After the surgery I was informed that I had lost the remaining ovary and that I would not be able to bear any children, I was beyond devastated. At the age of 25, I was put on hormone replacement and would have menopause like symptoms. All I remember saying was: How did I allow that to happen to myself? Why didn’t I see the wakeup call from the first operation? I was so angry at myself for allowing this to happen.

On the 1st of November 2012, after my recovery period from my surgery. I had made my mind up and I was about to start my new lifestyle. Many were critics from the beginning, most of them were members of my own family and closest friends but I was so decided and determined to live and to change that way I was living for myself and not them, that there was no stopping me. Right then I made drastic changes to my whole life, this journey of health was to become my lifestyle:

1.     I cut out all the junk food, sugars and replaced them with Chicken breasts, Broccoli, Eggs, salad and veggies. Try the Reboot – it’s a great start

2.     I cut out the coffee and alcohol, fizzy cool drinks, and replaced it with water.

3.     I went from doing barely any exercise to training 4 to 5 times a week…. (from only being able to do 15 minutes of cardio at a time, I have now built my way up to be able to train for 2 hours now and having a personal trainer 3 times a week )

4.     I went to looking for motivational stories, saying and picture that would push me and uplift me when I felt like failing.

5.     I went from finding comfort in my food to finding comfort in exercising and feeling better about myself.

6.     I went from finding support in food to finding support in my friends and the Sleekgeek Community. ( Many I am truly thankful for, you know who you are)

7.     I went from always giving up to always picking myself up if I failed or fell- believe me there have been many times

8.     I went from extremes of one diets or the other to find a balance in life between exercise and my eating habits.

9.     I went from a low self esteem to have more confidence I could ever imagine.

Before I knew it, I had made the changes and they were coming to me naturally. I would walk into a restaurant and I would automatically look for the healthy options first instead of a burger and chips like I used to, I become one of those people who changes everything in a meal to suit me. I was looking at trainers and sporting clothes more than other clothes and my emotional eating was becoming under control. The lifestyle was becoming easier to live out and I becoming who I really was, and before I knew it, I was 60kgs lighter and 18 months into my journey. Despite this 18 months of lifestyle becoming easier and naturally to me. I have had many ups and downs, cheats, “falling off the wagons” , feeling uninspired with the plateaus, moments of when I want to throw in the towel completely, and having another surgery last year November, BUT I never gave up and always pick myself up after those moments, reflected on them and learnt from them and for that:

1.     I went from a 56 top to a 44

2.     I went from a 44 pants to a 36

3.     I am now 60kgs lighter with the hopes off still losing 15 to 20kgs more to reach my goal weight

So if you are new to all this and you are wanting to change your lifestyle then my advice to you is:

1.     Eat healthy and start with a reboot (www.sleekgeek.co.za/reboot)

2.     Train dirty and spend time doing exercises you enjoy and that are fun for you even if you can only start with be able to walk for 5 minutes.

3.     Change your mind set to believe you CAN, it is amazing the ability of what our minds can actually do when we make the decision and be determined to do something.

4.     Do this for yourself and no one else.

5.     Be your own competition and look at how far you come.

6.     Be prepared to fail at first, but remember to always pick yourself up and try again.

7.     Join a social event page to make this journey more fun and adventurous.

8.     Make friends with people who have the same and similar goals as you, you honestly don’t have to struggle on your own

9.     When you need support, turn to others for support and encouragement instead of just giving up and throwing in the towel

10. Remember life is about balance, so be happy and enjoy it, we only get to live it once so make the most of it.

This journey by all means is not an easy journey or a smooth sailing one, there will be many highs and many lows. There will be days of feeling inspired and days of needing inspiration. All I know is when in doubt keep on pushing through and you will be living a lifestyle you would never have dreamed off.

Much love and light

Fiona