* Weight loss: Rotorua woman Makuini Warbrick has revealed how she lost 50kg through diet and exercise
* She reveals how she has changed her diet and what exercise she does
* She also gets to eat treats such as hot chips and butter chicken
If losing 50kg in just over a year isn’t amazing enough, Makuini Warbrick is proud to say she’s done it naturally through diet and exercise.
The 32-year-old Rotorua accountant is today a fit and slim woman eyeing her next big fitness event.
But last year, she was in such bad shape that she found it hard to breathe and do everyday tasks.
Her efforts have won praise from her trainer, Kerris Browne, who said it was a “breath of fresh air” to find someone who was “doing it the natural way”.
Warbrick told the Rotorua Daily Post she had always been a “bigger girl” but the weight “ballooned” over the years and last year she found herself at 125kg.
“I got Covid and it really sat me down. I didn’t cope with it very well. I was out for a month and it took me at least two months to come right.”
Her poor physical fitness hit home not long afterwards when she did a whānau event walking around Mt Tarawera.
“I was so short of breath. Then I woke up one morning in August last year and I decided to go to the gym.”
Warbrick had been a member of a gym but rarely went.
“Then I woke up the next morning and thought, ‘I’m going to go again’.”
She was engrossed in a television series at the time and that’s what kept her going at the gym, watching on her phone while on a bike or the treadmill.
Dan Ward from Flex Fitness wrote her a training programme and meal plan.
“I just had it on the app and it was simple to follow. Just normal food and I knew each day what I had to eat.”
Warbrick kept training at the gym and watching what she ate and the weight started to come off.
“That’s when I started to catch a bit of a bug for it. It wasn’t so much working out, it was hanging out with people.”
Before summer, she was invited to join Browne’s swimming group as part of Jogging The Power Poles, a group of people of all fitness levels who train together.
Next thing, she was having conversations about the IronMāori event.
“I remember thinking, I could maybe go for that one day but at that stage, I didn’t bike and there was no way I could run.”
“Then they said, ‘Hey Makuini why don’t you come to a bike spin session?’ and, ‘Makuini why don’t you come to one of our run classes?’ I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll give it a go but I don’t run’. Now it’s morphed into a bit of an addiction.”
On November 4 she found herself on the starting line for the half IronMāori in Napier.
Not only did she finish the 2km swim, 90km bike and 21km run, she did it in six hours and 45 minutes, was the 31st woman home and gained an impressive fifth place in her age group.
The event culminated with hitting another milestone - losing 50kg.
She’s now 75kg and is feeling amazing.
Warbrick said her meals were protein-based and focused on filling foods and portion sizes.
She never ate badly but ate too much of things that were not great.
Instead of toast and jam for breakfast, she swapped it for oats and a spoon of protein powder. She’d have something such as rice cakes for morning tea and made mini pizzas at work for lunch - using muffin split bases, with chicken, tomatoes and cheese on top.
Warbrick might have a piece of fruit in the afternoon and dinner would be meat for protein, and rice or potatoes with either vegetables or salad.
She still ate favourites such as butter chicken on occasion and had sauces and dressing with her meals to make them taste good.
Warbrick said her secret was not really a secret. “It’s just normal simple food”.
“There’s no fasting, no pills, nothing like that.”
Warbrick knew she had to eat the right foods, increase her protein and keep track of the carbohydrates given her training levels.
She trained every day, sometimes twice a day. She did either a long bike, run or swim at weekends.
“If I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent, I’d have rest days but since training, I’ve not really been sick and I was normally the one to catch colds every year. I’m sleeping better and don’t wake up sore all the time.”
Warbrick’s favourite food was hot chips and she made sure to treat herself to some straight after nailing her IronMāori Half goal.
Now she’s eyeing more triathlon events.
“I feel so much better. You don’t realise it until after you’ve lost a lot of weight how much easier things are like doing the basics, tying your shoes, making the bed.”
She said having people make nice comments helped keep her going and she admitted a few people during the year didn’t recognise her.
Her key to success was joining Jogging the Power Poles.
“It’s really cool cause you’re training without thinking you’re training.”
When she joined Browne’s swim group before summer last year, Warbrick was still a “big girl” but had no idea she had already lost a lot of weight.
She had one wetsuit that was large enough for her to wear.
“Surprisingly, she kept showing up to swimming, and before you realised, she was swimming faster than anyone else in the lane - wow.”
Browne said Warbrick kept appearing at other trainings.
“She quietly bought a bike online and showed up with her new bike. Then she appeared at a run or two.”
Browne recalls seeing her at Browne’s beginner triathlons session in autumn and while Warbrick had initially committed to a quarter ironman, she soon noticed she was “smashing” everyone so convinced her to aim higher.
“She just kept showing up to all the trainings, getting stronger and stronger, and thinner and thinner. I am blown away by her quiet determination, without any dramas or selfies, she just gets the mahi done.”
Brown said Warbrick had been able to steadily lose weight the old-fashioned way yet still fuel up for training.
“I have every confidence she will blow the full ironman away, just like she has done to her weight. Oh, and by the way, her wetsuit got too baggy so now she is in another - one that’s four sizes smaller.”
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
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