“I wanted to live to be a grandmother”
Rosa Tagliavento, 52, Lyndhurst, Vic
When Rosa was diagnosed with high blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels, it was a worrying glimpse of her past – and future. Rosa’s mother had high blood pressure and died at 38 from a blood clot in the brain.
“When I was diagnosed, I weighed 121kg. I was heading down Mum’s path,” the 52-year-old says. “My three girls were grown up but I wanted to see them get married and I wanted to live to be a grandmother.”
Rosa’s battle with the bulge began when her mother died. “I was 11 and I comfort ate,” she says. Then when she married her husband Maurice and had children Tina, 26, Emily, 23, and Annabel, 20, the weight continued to creep up.
“I tried every diet going, lost a bit then put it back on, plus more,” she recalls.
At only 157cm tall, every extra kilo showed on Rosa’s frame, and being of Italian heritage together with her job as chef at a childcare centre, dieting wasn’t easy.
“I was surrounded by food at work then came home and cooked lasagne and gnocchi for the family,” she says. Rosa’s increasingly large frame made her terribly self-conscious. “I was a size 26,” she says. “My self-esteem plummeted, I even stopped going out.”
After her diagnosis, she cut down portion sizes, ate lean meat and avoided desserts and snacks. Along with nutritional tweaks she shed 15kg!
Then with her daughter Tina’s wedding she decided to up the ante. “Tina was doing the Cambridge Weight Plan to slim down for her big day,” Rosa says. “So I decided to do it, too.” Following the shake-based meal replacement plan with consultants Paul and Carolyn Dimech, the mother of the bride went from 106kg to 68kg.
Now Rosa hovers around a healthy 70kg. “My glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure are normal and I don’t need medication anymore. I’ve got so much energy. I feel like I’m 25 again,” she insists.
To top it off, Rosa has become a weight-loss consultant herself. “A few years ago, I was terrified I’d have the same fate as Mum,” she says. “I’ve not only transformed myself, I’ve saved my life.”
“I feel 10 years younger”
Jennie Demmert, 69, Berwick, Vic
Trapped in the void of depression, Jennie turned to food. “I was a good cook and I loved food,” says the 69-year-old mother of two. “I ate healthily but I ate far too much.”
That was 19 years ago when she was 75kg. Yet while she beat depression, she couldn’t shed the weight. By 2008, Jennie weighed 135kg, had breathlessness related to asthma and needed two knee replacements. “My knees couldn’t support my weight,” she says with a sigh.
Jennie had a walking stick and used a wheelchair while shopping.
“I was only 64 but looked and felt like an old woman,” she says sadly. “If I saw someone I knew in a shopping centre, I’d hurriedly get my husband John to wheel me away to avoid them. I was embarrassed about the way I looked.”
When Jennie was squeezing into size 26 outfits she’d had enough. The most appealing weight-loss plan for the grandmother of four was the Jenny Craig program.
“I liked that there were no public weigh-ins and my weight and measurements would be done during private counselling sessions,” she says. “Plus, the ready-made meals made it easy to follow.”
She stuck to the plan and has slimmed down to a happy 89kg.
“I look better, and I set myself a goal and achieved it,” she says. “I feel 10 years younger. I no longer struggle for breath.”
“My son didn’t recognise me”
Yvonne had always been overweight. “I was one of those chubby kids,” the 72-year-old says.
“When my youngest child was four I got a job as a nurse in a home for the elderly,” she says. “I was always on the go and exercised but my weight kept going up.”
Over the years, Yvonne, who’s now a grandmother of 16 and great-granny to 14, tried many diets. “I could never stick to them,” she says. “I got so heavy I avoided photos, because I looked like a beached whale.”
Two years ago at a health check-up the scales teetered at 130kg and Yvonne’s blood pressure was sky high. “I was on the verge of developing Type 2 diabetes,” she says. It was enough to shock her into losing a few kilos.
When Yvonne’s cousin mentioned the Cambridge Weight Plan, she decided to give it a go on her 71st birthday. To her surprise, she enjoyed the replacement shakes and meal plans. And husband Laurence, 73, did, too, often enjoying the same meals.
Late last year, Yvonne felt fabulous at 95kg. And she knew her diet had been a success when her son Timothy, whom she hadn’t seen for six months, failed to recognise her!
Nowadays Yvonne is a size 14-16 and swims and walks 4km in the morning and afternoon. She proudly says, “I’m so pleased my blood pressure is under control and I’ve dodged diabetes too.”
