When Annie Bristol — a 36-year-old registered nurse and mother-of-three from Springfield, near Brisbane, Qld — tipped the scales at 89kg, she knew she had to do something about it.
“I remember thinking that the only time I’d been this heavy was when I was pregnant with my twins, who are now four, Thomas and Sarah,” she recalls. “I stacked on weight during that pregnancy and found it very difficult to lose afterwards.
“Then when I was pregnant with my third child, Matthew, now one, my husband and I separated, so I ate lots of comfort food — things like cheese, creamy pastas, garlic bread, or nachos with sour cream.
“Anyway, when I realised I was up to 89kg, I started exercising but didn’t really change anything regarding food. Then I read about Betalife, and started with them in January this year.
“My whole mind-set has changed. Now I’m eating to live, not living to eat. I try to eat foods still in their natural state, rather than processed. I never liked salads, but now I eat heaps. So it’s been a big change of eating habits.
“I’ve also started walking a lot more — to kindy to pick-up the kids, to the shops to get milk. And I’ve bought a treadmill, so when the kids go to bed at 8pm, I’ll go onto the treadmill for 40 minutes. And I’m playing netball twice a week too.
“Now, I feel fabulous and it’s good to go shopping for size 12 jeans … I was getting really close to those 18s at one stage!”
Annie’s vital statistics
Weight before: 89kg.
Weight after: 71kg.
Total weight loss: 18kg.
Clothing size was: 16.
Clothing size is now: 12.
Annie’s hot diet tip
“I cut down on processed foods and ate salads, vegetables and fruit as much as possible. I guess my motto is: if it’s white (things like bread, potato, pasta), avoid it or eat it occasionally.”