I have been overweight ever since I can remember. When I went to primary school it didn’t really bother me too much, it was only in high school when things got really tough for this overweight girl. High school was sort of a nightmare for me. I didn’t want to do anything because I was too fat, I weighed 130kg in Matric and that is what 2 or 3 of my friends would weigh together. I just went to class and at lunch time I would hang out with my friends and for the rest I didn’t do anything. Nobody cares what the fat girl does anyway (that is all that went through my mind the whole day). I had a lot of friends but that didn’t matter because I didn’t look like them. I could put two of my friends in my school uniform. Every day you just hope nobody says anything about your weight.

It was in my Matric year that I decided enough is enough. I had it with everybody’s stares and whispers. I got a waitressing job at a local restaurant on the weekend and with my money I bought the USN transformation pack. I could only afford to do it for two months but I lost my first 10kg before my Matric farewell. That was already a huge step for me.

In 2009 I was done with school and started work. I also decided that I was fat my whole life and I will not stay fat the rest of my life. I started a high protein diet and joined the gym. I hated gym at first but every day got better. I lost 40kg that year but for some reason I couldn’t stand meat and eggs anymore and stopped the diet but kept on gymming, still just doing cardio every day.

The next two years 2010-2012. I was maintaining my weight of 80kg but I wanted to lose more and like we all do I fell for all the crash diets that I can think of. Name it, I have done it and the amount of money that I have spent on pills and shakes I am not even going to tell you. I just ended up losing 5kg gaining back 10kg but I kept on doing it till I ended back on 95kg.

It was only in March 2013 that I decided that pills and crash diets won’t help me at all so I joined my mom at Weigh-less. I also got a new gym program and stopped doing just cardio. I was now doing weight training and cardio. At the end of 2013 I was weighing 79kg and it was so amazing just seeing the seventies.

I decided to leave Weigh-less and continue my journey on my own because I moved out of the house and moved in with my fiancè. I tried calorie counting from around December 2013 till around May 2014. Lost weight and –you guessed it – gained it all back.

It was then that I discovered Sleekgeek and it was amazing reading peoples stories and being in this group of people who just keep inspiring each other. One lady really stood out for me: Celeste Vandewalle was an eye opener for me. I mean wow look at her! I added her to my friends and started talking to her. She was the one that made me realize there is no other way then eating clean and training mean. She taught me about eating clean and eating right. Also she told me to train with heavy weights. I did everything that Celeste told me and today I weigh 69kg.

It was Sleekgeek and Celeste that opened my eyes. I can only thank you guys! Today I am 61kg lighter. I am a new person. I go to the gym with pride and I don’t care what anybody thinks. I have been on diets my whole life and it’s only now that it’s not a diet anymore it’s my way of life.

Never ever let anybody make you feel like you can’t do it because believe me, you can. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. There is no pill or potion that is going to make you lose weight over night. I know because I tried them all. It gets hard, trust me, I know how it feels but you can do this. I still have about 10kg I want to lose but now I am not sad about it anymore I am excited and I know I can do it. I have a whole new group of awesome Sleekgeek friends to support me.

Oh yes and today I don’t care about my High School uniform anymore because now event my primary school dress is too big for me – what a feeling!

See you on the group!
Bianka

SUBMIT YOUR STORY AND WIN R500 Wellness Warehouse Voucher

Bianka wins a R500 voucher courtesy of our sponsor for the “YOU CAN live life well” series Wellness Warehouse to be spent on their online store with free delivery nationally.

I believe very strongly that ordinary every day people like you and I derive great inspiration from the achievements of people who seem similar to us. If they can do it.. damn.. so can I! Right?

So through this program we will continue to tell people’s personal stories.

I want to great an archive of hundreds of stories of people who have changed their lives while others believe they cannot.

Submit your story to dom@sleekgeek.co.za with the Subject line “You can live life well”

We require:

• Your story in your own words covering at least (How you got to a point of change, how you made the change, tips and advise for others)
• A selection of before and after photos
• As many words as you need to tell your story

In advance, we regret that not all stories may be published. Your story is as important as anyone’s story but we can only publish one a week and the editor will make decision on this.

If your story is published you will receive a R500 voucher to the Wellness Warehouse online store with free national delivery.