Megan’s Journey to Losing 31kgs!

A History of Being Overweight

My history with being overweight started from the moment I was born, I weighed 3,3kg (which is very small), however the nurses at the hospital thought it fitting to tell my dad I was the one with the fat thighs. From that moment, people had put a label on me as the fat child in the family. Starting your life being told that you are fat, not by my parents but by relatives eventually takes a toll on you.

From as far back as I can remember I have had an unhealthy relationship with food. At the age of four I sat in front of the television and ate an entire roll of polony in one sitting. I had never wanted to be active, my life consisted of watching movies and enjoying my fantasy life with my polony and ice cream. When I reached the age of 11 I weighed 60kg. I started getting depressed and asked my mom if I could join WeighLess. I remember my mom taking a video of me, asking me why I wanted to go to WeighLess and what would change for me. In the video I broke down crying saying that I was being bullied at school. I had no friends because I wanted to protect myself from being called fat.  One of the questions my mom had asked me has always stuck with me, she asked me “what would change for you if you lost weight?” In the video I started sobbing and said maybe I would have some friends and be invited to birthday parties.

Starting with a Plan

I stuck to WeighLess for about two months and didn’t really see any change. I gave up. This was the start of the yo you dieting. When I was 14 I joined sports, I played badminton, did ice skating, Western Province hip hop dancing and horse riding. I started to feel amazing about my body. At 15 I had my first boyfriend and really started to feel like a proper teenager. I weighed 60kg at 15 and got a lot of attention. That was until I had found alcohol, the love of my life. I quit all sports so that I could go out drinking. I could no longer ice skate because the hangovers made it unbearable. I gained a lot of weight in a very short amount of time. At the age of 17 I was 88kg and super unhappy. I tried every weight loss pill and yo-yo diet. By 19 I weighed in at 100kg.

The Rise & Fall

I will never forget that day. It was the 1st of January and my heart sunk. Going from double digits to triple. My life was out of control, but I just didn’t put in enough effort. I started working out at the age of 22 and slowly got down to 90kg. My downfall? Alcohol, and the corn dogs and McDonald’s I ate while I was drunk. At 22 I was admitted into rehab for full blown alcoholism and drug abuse. 22 years old and I had liver damage. A bottle of tequila a night with a bottle of champagne. In rehab they forced me to become active. We ran 5km every second day and I started to feel my body changing. This was my time to lose weight. I started to eat clean and train. To be honest I didn’t know what the hell I was doing or what eating clean really meant. I ran 5km every morning and got down to 84kg. When I fell pregnant my heart sank, I thought oh goodness, please don’t make me gain weight. I tried to eat as clean as possible for my son and I and at full term I weighed 119kg. After giving birth to my son the weight fell off, I realised that my clean eating during pregnancy had really helped and I then weighed 78kg. After my pregnancy I made sure to workout every single day and make only clean choices. I then found Sleekgeek and joined a challenge and went from 100kg to 69kg.

How Did I Do This?

So the part that everyone wants to know. HOW DO I DO THIS? Simple simple simple! Follow Sleekgeek, they know what they are speaking about, do Reboot, do Paleo, do what ever your body needs to do but you weren’t born to be unhappy and overweight; you have the potential but your mind is the thing that is holding you back. Losing weight I have had many negative comments and many amazing comments “stop losing weight you are looking gaunt”, “You look like you have an eating disorder”. For me there is no magic number on a scale and boom I’d be happy, it doesn’t work like that, darlings. For me its about being healthy! I can run for an hour in the park with my son and I feed my body the correct way to allow myself to do that!

Here are my tips for staying on track:

1. Get an accountability partner or join a group. This has never been more easy with Sleekgeek.
2. Make sure you food prep! This is the most important thing you can do, I don’t make a weeks worth of food on a Sunday night because that doesn’t work for me. But what I do is I make sure that I have made a meal plan and have bought the ingredients. Losing weight doesn’t have to be expensive if you make a weekly plan.
3. Plan your workouts and try to stick to them. Believe me I’m a mother with a full time job, I’m also exhausted. Stop letting that be your excuse because the more fit you are, the less tired you are.
4. If you are looking for excuses you’re going to find them, make sure that every day you look at Sleekgeek. We all have your back, you aren’t the only person struggling to stay on track. If you are struggling speak up!