Katie’s 53kg Weight Loss Journey

There’s always something that triggers a will to change.

For me, I felt like I wasn’t normal and I wasn’t good enough.
I had been hurting for a long time, and had been rejected by someone I really liked. Plus, coming out to my Mum was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. This was all a big part of my desire to change.

Fats. That was my nickname throughout my childhood.

I woke up on the 1st of October 2014 and decided that I wanted to be good enough. I just wanted to be normal. I wanted to be better.

I put my sneakers on that I hadn’t worn since the previous year and went for a run to the shop. I bought salmon and some broccoli for my dinner and ran back home. This must have been the most exercise I had done in a few years!

I weighed myself at the doctors the day after and I read on the scales 127kgs. My GP told me that I was on the verge of diabetes. I had high blood pressure and a popped jelly disk in my spine. If I didn’t do anything soon I would end up with permanent back damage. I was HUGE!

I bought myself a home gym and started weight training, as well as going on my daily runs around the block and to the shops. I lost 11kgs in my first 2 weeks!!
When I started seeing the numbers decreasing I started going harder. I trained morning and evening every single day.
I found sticking to clean eating was quite hard in the first couple of weeks. My family still ate their pizza and McDonalds; I stuck to my guns and ate clean.

It was Christmas and I had lost 22kgs in 3 months. I was 105kgs. I hadn’t been under 110 since my first year of High School. That made me very happy.

I started the new year 2015 weighing 105kgs. I kept at my clean eating and exercising. A few months went past and I was still losing weight just not as fast.

I had started seeing this girl. I had known her my whole life, but didn’t think she’d be interested in me one bit, as I’ve never seen her anymore than a friend. Then she asked me out. We started seeing each other and I grew real fond of her. She’s a gym bunny and she really helped me when it came to nutrition. I lost another 8kgs.

I joined Nfinite Fitness and Health in October 2015 and that’s where I met Naomi my Personal Trainer.
I was really scared to be measured and weighed, as I felt so ashamed of being so big. And I certainly wasn’t looking forward to training around other people, but Naomi and the Nfinite team made me feel welcome and were congratulating me on how far I had come on my own. I thought about that, and yeah I had come a long way already. A year before that I had been 127kgs, I was now weighing in at 97kgs. I had lost 30kgs in a year.

I went to my first Body Pump class. It was so hard my body felt broken an hour later. I had never felt so much pain. I kept at the class for the next 3 months and I had PT sessions with Naomi every week and I signed up to my first boot camp.

I had a goal for myself, 80kgs before Christmas. I had three months to get there.
I kept up my clean eating and I trained everyday. Christmas came and I had not only reached my goal, but smashed it out of the water by weighing in at 78kgs!
I had never felt so accomplished in my life…….I had done it!

I signed up for another boot camp in the New Year and I lost another 4kgs. I was down to 74kgs. I couldn’t remember the last time I was 74kgs, probably primary school hehe.

Now I sit between 74-77kgs and wear a size ‘small’ (I haven’t been a size small since I was 7 years old). I’m dedicated to my healthy lifestyle and continue to train regularly and make the food choices that support my health and well-being. Though I do let myself have a cheat meal nearly every fortnight but struggle not to fell guilty about it.

The other day I put on one of my tops I used to wear when I was 127kgs. I sat on the couch and just grabbed at all the extra shirt. Some days I wonder how I did it. It seems so long ago I put on my sneakers and took my first run to the shop. I still remember the feeling of not being good enough. I still remember wanting to prove that I could be better, normal.

I’ve lost a total of 53kgs. I’ve signed up for my first Iron Maori triathlon in November, and I’ve been training for months.

I go to work everyday and get compliments around every corner. People I haven’t seen in a while don’t even recognise me. We recently had a family get together and my own cousins walked past me. I get told daily how great I look.

I want my whanau to also feel this good about themselves daily.

I want to inspire others to get out there and give it a go.

It’s not about being skinny, that’s the last thing I wanted. I wanted to feel good about myself.
Now I have gained so much confidence and feel I can do anything.

I’ve been at Nfinite for nearly a year now. I still enjoy Pump class when I’m not at work and I exercise either at the gym or outdoors most days, except Sundays when I go to church and rest. I’m still dedicated to being healthy and fit.
And I even secretly enjoy going clothes shopping now, I hated going in the past, because I could never find clothes big enough for me. Now I’m looking at clothes I never thought I’d fit into. I haven’t been on any diets or meal plans, I’ve just eaten whole food and stayed away from take-aways. I never thought I’d come as far as I have.
Now my sister has joined Nfinite Fitness and Health as she was getting sick of hearing how great her sister looked, and my Mums threatening to out do us both on the treadmills. She wants to quit smoking after more than 30 years, and start getting fit so she’s here for her mokos.

I never thought I’d come as far as I have. I didn’t think I could look and feel as good about myself as I do. It’s definitely a lifestyle for me now.

Eat healthy, exercise, work, play and most of all I get to be here with my whanau for a long time yet.

I’m healthy and fit, I still get called Fats but I’m happy with that. That’s all that matters.