Hi, my name is Samoné Coetzee. I am 25 years old and I was born in Vereeniging. We then moved to a small town close to Mossel bay called Albertinia. We run a family cosmetic business and I am honoured to be part of it.
I work 5 days a week, and weekends I love to spend with family, friends and my “kerel”. We are busy nearly every weekend, always doing some other random mission, date day, or having a lovely braai.
I am a proud ‘animal momma’ of 3 dogs and 3 cats, they keep me on my toes! I am a huge boerboel enthusiast as well, and attend boerboel shows with my boy on a regular basis. We also have a few sheep which we manage, and oh my, is that fun! It’s a workout on it’s own. (Especially if the rams decides he hates you out of the blue, and chases you around – Yes, it happens.)
There is a afrikaans saying that says :”My lewe begin daar waar die teerpad eindig” (Life begins at the end of your comfort zone) , and that really sums me up quite well. I love meeting new people, and I am quite social. I always try to be the best version of myself, and be nice to all. I love helping people around me, and even those more far away.
The turning point – August 2016
It’s my 24th birthday. Looking forward to a fun night of partying, enjoying myself and having a few glasses of brandy and coke (I mean come on, who drinks anything else??). So then it starts, photos are being taken by friends…
And that’s where my journey started. The following day I received the photos from friends and I couldn’t believe that I have let myself go this much. Looking at the photos, my face puffy and eyes dull, I struggled to find even one where I looked semi – decent. I was shocked and sad at the same time.
In 3 years I gained a whopping 20kgs. I can say it’s due to stress at work, due to not being able to gym as I did while I studied, but that would be a lie. I gained weight because I was lazy and lost all self-respect. I kept telling myself “You only gained weight due to maturing, due to living, due to being happy”, but who was I fooling? Not even myself.
That Monday I contacted an incredible person I always admired over facebook, and she helped me with a eating and exercising plan.
My weight loss journey begins – September 2016
Before photos taken, Prepped, ready, excited. All I started with was just changing my eating habits. My brother was such a huge help. He told me to only start with getting my eating habits to change, only focus on one thing at a time as trying to change your entire life at once can be very overwhelming and I was so afraid of losing hope, giving up, going back to where I was.
Unhealthy. Unhappy. At my heaviest I was 77.4kgs, and being 1.61m tall, that is quite a lot. Within 2 weeks, I saw a big difference. It took me 4 months to lose 15kgs. Slow and steady. I struggled with the next 5kgs, and that took another 2 months, so within 6 months I lost 20kgs.
I was happy. But not there where I wanted to be. At the end of March I met my boyfriend. He is the biggest motivation and helps when I don’t know what to do to reach my goals. He stops me when I am too ambitious and always has a plan to keep us busy. And man o man has that been good for my last part of my weight loss journey. Within 4 months I lost another 6.2kgs. I have gained a bit of muscle, but am still quite weak. (Working on it though)
My training
We jog in the mornings, 4-5 times a week, and gym after work, also 4-5 times a week. But when we are tired, we rest. Listen to your body, nobody knows it as well as you do.
Don’t break yourself just to prove a point, be HEALTHY. Don’t go about this route by being unhealthy or too hard on yourself. Push yourself, but don’t hurt yourself. Do what is best for YOU. Nobody else.
My eating:
Well firstly, I LOVE to eat. BUT since my lifestyle change, I have learned that eating and making the healthy choice is so much more fun than binge eating and feeling horrible afterwards. So in the morning I will have my eggs and oats, some morning as is, or I will make banana pancakes with the eggs and have the oats on the side.
My first snack for the day will be my Nutritech shake (Oh my I love their variety box, you can’t get bored with it). So for lunch I will have protein and veggies, or protein and a salad OR protein and Couscous (YUMMMMMM). Next Snack will be something like biltong and pineapple, or just fruit, or cracker bread with some other nut butter or cream cheese. Dinner will mostly be protein and veggies or salad.
A new life
I haven’t only lost weight, I have gained a life. I have been on hikes, been boating, swimming, jogging, gyming, running on the beach playing with the dogs, dancing, being happy. Truly happy. I have met so many new incredible people on this journey, that continue to be my motivation, or who I can motivate.
Believe you me, this is NOT an easy journey, but you want to know what? You CAN do it. Stop making excuses, stop saying it’s to hard, to expensive, to anything. It’s only what YOU make of it. I am proud, as this journey I made my own. No one could become healthy and happy for me, I had to do it for myself.
Be your own Hero.
When you do something for yourself, you mindset changes dramatically, and you strive to be the best you. If it is by losing weight, gaining muscle, or only getting your mind healthy, do it for YOU. Love yourself. Be proud of yourself. But never be happy with being mediocre, because you are strong, beautiful, magnificent and worthy.
My top tips for getting healthy:
- Do it for yourself. ALWAYS
- No journey is quick, slow and steady wins the race. (And maintains it as well)
- Move. You don’t need to run your lungs out, just move. Go for a walk, play with your dogs (or cats), swim, do whatever you enjoy.
- Find people with the same interests as you.
- You do not need to constantly “diet”, just make the healthier option with your meals.
- Push yourself, but don’t break yourself.
- ALWAYS prep. I prepare my meals 2 weeks in advance and freeze. Well, my main meals like lunch and dinner. Since I eat protein with every meal, I prep, weigh and freeze. Snacks I do day to day as it goes quickly.
- Listen to your body. All of us differ, what works for one, doesn’t always for the other.
Good luck on your journey!
Samoné
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