She said looking back at old photos she sees a woman 10 years older than how she looks and feels today. Macy, 3, Hank, 4, and Hugo, 6. Photo / Supplied
She said looking back at old photos she sees a woman 10 years older than how she looks and feels today. Macy, 3, Hank, 4, and Hugo, 6. Photo / Supplied
Nothing in life comes easy, just ask Sunshine Coast mum Stephanie Marriott.
She was overweight most her adult life and never exercised but after years of fad diets, the mum-of-three found a way to not only shed the kilos — but look and feel 10 years younger in after losing19kgs.
"I don't really ever remember a time where I was happy with my weight or the way I looked or felt," Ms Marriott said.
"But I definitely didn't think I looked as bad as I did, not until I looked back at pictures and saw just how unhealthy I was at the time, reports news.com.au.
"I remember thinking the clothes sizes must have been wrong because in my head I was a size 12 but I was struggling to fit into a size 16-18."
After having tried "every diet under the sun" from cabbage soup diets to pre-packaged expensive calorie restricted meals, the 32-year-old was ready to give up.
"When I was breastfeeding my first child I was actually told I could eat whatever I wanted so I would have blocks of Cadbury chocolate, about 10 tacos for most dinners with 400 grams of mince meat and breakfast was three toasts with lots of peanut butter."
"Snacks was whatever I could get my hands on — rarely was I eating fruit and vegetables."
She was lethargic, had no energy for a social life and felt extremely unhappy — "I basically just stayed at home with my one year old son at the time."
After having her second child she tried an at-home exercise program.
She has maintained her fitness transformation for two years. She now weighs 60kgs. Photo / Supplied
"But being the heaviest I'd ever been (I stopped weighing myself at 80kg), even doing a simple squat was an enormous effort. I didn't change my diet at all, so the little amount of exercise I tried to do had no effect whatsoever."
She stopped the program as it was too costly, and as a result the weight piled back on.
Any hopes of lifestyle change were quickly deteriorating, until a friend introduced her to another weight loss program.
"I told my husband that if I didn't see any results in the first three months that I would stop and try something else."
After just one week of giving birth to her third child, Ms Marriott joined The Healthy Mummy.
Whenever she's waiting for food to heat or making a smoothie, she will do her daily squats and lunges. Photo / Supplied
By this stage she had three children under the age of four and weighed in at 77kgs.
"The winter of 2016 was difficult for me, my mum was very unwell, being a mum to three was harder than I imagined, we bought a house in a new town and moved," Ms Marriott, now a Healthy Mummy consultant, explained.
"My weight loss slowed during this time, but with the tools from the app and the support of The Healthy Mummy community, I never felt like 'giving up'."
By October 2016 she had lost 16kg without any exercise other than walking, squatting at home and doing some of the exercises from the program.
"I was eating over 2200 calories a day, breastfeeding and in my first 10 weeks, I had lost an astonishing 10kg and was nearly at my 'goal weight' of 60-61kgs"
She shed the first 19kgs by just going for long walks, squatting and doing other basic at-home exercises through The Healthy Mummy program. Photo / Supplied
For the past two years, the 32-year-old has maintained her incredible fit figure at 60kgs.
"I lost the bulk of my weight by pushing the kids in the pram, going for walks and doing challenge exercises."
She aims to get to the gym four times a week, but when that doesn't happen, she will try fit in a half and hour workout whenever or wherever she can.
"If I'm in kitchen waiting for rice to cook in the microwave or blending a smoothie and I've got a few minutes, I'll do squats or lunges."
When looking back at her photos, Ms Marriott said she definitely looks at least 10 years older than how she looks and feels now.
"Whenever I put up a wedding photo of my husband and I compared to a family photo from now, everyone always comments on how much younger we look.
She says now she's learned how to cook delicious family meals that don't restrict calories. Photo / Supplied
"Both my husband and I were overweight at the time of our wedding."
She said it all comes down to consistency.
"No one is never always motivated, that's just human nature, but if you create good habit and you're consistent, then even when you do wake up and can't be bothered exercising, it becomes part of your routine," Ms Marriott said.
"If you just move your body and eat well, you will feel so much better — I just remind myself of that feeling when I want to give up."
Ms Marriott has come a long way from her chocolate days — and while she doesn't eat it daily, sweet treats and tasty foods still form a part of her daily diet.
She was one of The Healthy Mummy annual Weight Loss Mums of the Year 2018, voted by 3500 Aussie mums. Photo / Supplied
"I would either have poached eggs on avocado toast or a healthy Mummy smoothie for breakfast — then pappadums with curried eggs for lunch and my favourite, prosciutto pizza for dinner," she said.
"I just feel amazing. My whole life has changed; I am happy and confident all the time and I'm doing things I've never done before like photo shoots and mountain climbing with friends.
"If somebody had told me I'd be a size 6-8 and would maintain that size for years — I'd never had believed them."
The Healthy Mummy 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge is $30 per month. The app is for busy mums of all fitness levels and comes with a virtual personal trainer, dietitian, meal planner and motivational coach. Programs take 30 minutes a day. Available on both iOS and Android.
