Shanna had always considered herself a confident, happy and carefree person. Then one day, she began to feel like her continuous weight gain was really impacting her life. She was miserable, and battling low self-esteem and depression, until sitting on a playground swing one day turned everything around.
Working mum Shanna had struggled with her weight of a long time and it was taking its toll on her, emotionally and physically. She tried everything to lose weight but nothing worked.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled to maintain my weight. I’ve tried shake diets, detox diets, restricted calorie diets, gym prescribed meal plans and even doctor prescribed medication and injections.”
She’d also tried multiple forms of exercising.
“I’ve signed up to every fad exercise regime from PT to cross-fit, and strength/weight training to dance classes, spin classes, yoga and Pilates.”
Shanna would manage to lose some weight but she always put it back on, finding the methods unrealistic and unsustainable. In the end, she resorted to wearing her hair differently, dressing differently, getting her nails, eyelashes and eyebrows done regularly…all in the hopes of trying to feel better about herself. But it didn’t work.
“Pretending to be okay and confident and happy all the time was getting exhausting,” Shanna admits. “I was refusing to be in any photos or hiding at the back if I didn’t have another option.”
Her health was also suffering but it was mental health that concerned her most. She reports feeling depressed, stuck and hopeless, resigned to the fact that she’d never be the truly confident, energetic and fun person I used to be.
“This was how my life was going to be and there was nothing I could do to change that. I’d tried it all but I was losing the last bits of what made me me.”
Then one day at the playground with her children Shanna really hit rock bottom.
“I jumped into this swing alongside my kids to join in their fun and instead, it was a very painful reminder of how I’d let years of poor decisions and lack of self-love affect my body & my life. That swing pinched me so badly it left huge purple bruises for days.”
Embarrassed and in extreme pain, Shanna didn’t make a sound, let alone tell anyone how it had made her feel. But that night in the shower when she saw the damage the swing had done to her body, it finally dawned on her just how miserable she was and how exhausted she felt from pretending to feel happy.
“I thought ‘that’s it’. I’m miserable…and I’m tired of feeling numb.”
Shanna’s aunt had lost over 20kgs in less than a year on SuperFastDiet, saying the part-time dieting concept really suited her because she had an active social life and could still have nibbles and wine and all the foods she loved. Shanna said her aunt seemed ‘brighter than normal’ and was ‘radiating with confidence’ and wondered if an intermittent fasting lifestyle might work for her as well. She decided to give it a try.
“The truly genuine joy that I saw and heard in her was so inspiring. I knew that that was something I was aching to feel again too.”
Shanna took the plunge and signed up, still sceptical that it would be another short-lived attempt at losing weight. She knew she wanted her old self back, and felt as though she really didn’t have anything else to lose at that point. But as it turns out, she quickly found it just as easy and maintainable as her aunt had made it sound.
“To say I was beyond thrilled when I was able to gift 2.7kgs in my first week is an understatement.”
As a small business owner and mum to two small boys, Shanna says the biggest difference for her was flexibility, instead of a rigid routine. The program fitted in with her busy life instead of having to change her life to suit the diet.
“It had always been a struggle to follow and stick to strict diets and meal plans without it becoming too overwhelming. Having three different methods to choose from meant I could quickly and easily adapt my diet to suit my life, making allowances for social events.”
She also heavily relied on the SuperFastDiet community.
“To be surrounded by a tribe of genuinely kind, compassionate, strong and supportive women on a daily basis has been an absolute game-changer.”
Shanna has gone on to lose 15kgs and has dropped two dress sizes, and she’s achieved this while dealing with her depression, ongoing health issues and spending three months recovering from surgery for a badly broken leg. So she says if she can do it after all that, anyone can.
“I’m no longer a spectator, watching the world carry on around me. It’s helped me to reclaim my happy, making me a better mum, wife, daughter, sister and friend. And I have no doubt that my family, friends and loved ones would agree.”
And as for that swing? Well, the picture says it all.
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