It was confronting to buy an outfit for a special occasion or see a photo of myself that someone had managed to snap before I ran away. The reality of what I really looked like in a mirror or photo was like a slap in the face. It would leave me feeling disappointed and disgusted that I had allowed myself to get to that size, and I would declare to myself that I really had to start managing what I ate. However, these commitments were always short lived and I would slip back into the same bad habits of fueling my body with unhealthy food. These habits contributed further to my unhappiness, along with a myriad of ailments including heartburn, gut issues and sleep apnea. But this was my normality – I no longer knew what it felt like to be healthy.

My Kim Beach story

Kim Beach kept popping up on my Facebook feed and it piqued my interest. I was desperately seeking a weight-loss program that was easy to follow but had the structure I needed, that would change my approach to food while still resembling the way you should eat daily, even beyond reaching my weight loss goal. For me, Kim’s program fitted the brief perfectly, so I put my name on a list to receive a ‘Special Offer’ from Kim Beach in January.

My New Year’s resolution was to become healthy and happy once again. My ‘special offer’ to sign up to #noexcuses hit my inbox and I took the plunge and started my KB journey. I think my procrastination was mainly due to the apprehension I felt from the many failed attempts at losing weight previously. However, reading through the ‘Superstar’ stories made it feel real and achievable, and something about this program connected with me. Initially it was 8 weeks … I could commit to 8 weeks. I realised that it was going to take much longer than 8 weeks to undo the damage that had taken years to inflict, but that thought was too overwhelming. I felt that if I could commit to 8 weeks, motivation would hopefully kick in and carry me forward.

As I was carrying quite a few injuries, exacerbated by the weight I was carrying, I decided that I was just going to focus on the nutrition side of this program initially and would attempt the exercise further down the track. I was determined that I was going to nail the nutrition, though, to give myself the best possible chance of success. To avoid another failure, I knew I had to mentally prepare myself for this. I had to ditch all the excuses, take a long and honest look at myself, assess my weaknesses and any potential personal hurdles, then prepare myself with some strategies for success. I identified that my Achilles Heel was my bad habit of snacking late and a few too many regular sneaky wines in the evening. I needed to find ways of distracting myself and find a new healthy substitute until this new habit was ingrained.

We each have our own journey and for some, the thought of giving up certain things may seem unsustainable, so they apply the 80/20 rule. I was acutely aware that there was a long road ahead for me, and there were some pretty bad habits I had to kick, so I chose to embrace the meal plan, sticking to it 100%. Fortunately, I enjoyed nearly all the food, and if I didn’t particularly like something, I would just alter the way I prepared or cooked it. I ensured that I presented the meals in a way that was appealing and appetising to me. To be honest, I have never eaten this well! The initial 8 weeks flew by, and with it so did 11.6kg. Boom! There was my motivation to continue, along with the newfound energy and positivity I was experiencing.