Teaching and Supporting others.

Now that she's in the maintenance phase of her own journey, Kim is teaching and supporting others to achieve their weight loss goals.

What's great about this for Kim is that not only can she can take great pride and a sense of satisfaction watching her new friends achieve the same great weight loss results that she did, but in setting an example and passing on her knowledge and support she is dramatically increasing her chances of maintaining her goal weight of under 60kgs.

So that we could share her weight loss story with you, we asked Kim some questions about her journey so far.

Following are Kim's answers to those questions.

How much did you weigh prior to your weight loss?

Approximately 85kgs.

What do you weigh now?

59kgs.

What was your motivation for losing weight?

I began to feel very unhealthy in many ways.  Also seeing the height, weight charts glaring at me everywhere telling me I was obese. 

But the real kicker for me was photos.  I could never figure out who the fat person was in photos taken of me and I became so upset by them that I eventually stopped having any photos taken if I could help it.

What did you do to lose weight?

I began on Lite n' Easy and continued on their 1200 plan for close to 5 months. 

I then used the eating habits learned from that to create my own plan.  I always knew that the key to truly keeping the weight off once I had lost it was to be able to maintain my new healthy eating habits.

The most important habits I learned were the types of food to eat and more importantly how much to eat. 

As I progressed I continually refined my diet and am now interested in the nutrition my body gets from the food I eat.

The other major factor was exercise. 

I started exercising 3 days a week walking for 30 minutes and progressed from there.  I now absolutely love exercising, have joined a gym and also have my own exercise equipment at home.

Over what period did you lose your weight?

It took me 34 weeks to lose 26kgs.

How has losing weight changed your life?

My life has changed a great deal. 

I have a lot more confidence and I like myself again. 

I don't mind seeing photos of myself which is a pretty big deal for me. 

I am healthier, fitter and don't shy away from physical activities.  I seem to be able to get a lot more done in a day than I used to. 

Oh, and I no longer have catnaps on the weekends!

What were the greatest challenges you faced losing weight?

When I came off the Lite n' Easy program I had to plan and prepare my own food and it felt like a make or break situation.

It was very important to me to be able to do it on my own so I would know I had learned a better, healthier way to live my life.

What has been the greatest part about losing the weight?

Being able to go into any standard clothes shop and fitting into something straight off the rack rather than just looking at the accessories because I knew I wouldn't fit into any of the clothes. 

Also being able to fit into ladies fitted motorcycle gear rather than the men's gear is great.  It's surprising how much these things really get you down when you can't buy what you like.

What support did you get/need from others?

My husband has been my biggest support as all the changes I have been through not only affect me but him as well.  The other support I needed and took time to seek out was an online community which I found at this site.

The people here are wonderfully supportive and encouraging and all have been through or are going through what you are.  I don't know how far I would have gotten without these fantastic people.

How do you plan to keep the weight off?

I plan to continue eating healthy, well balanced meals and exercising most days.

I will slowly adjust my food intake and/or exercise as required to get to a balance where I am maintaining my weight. 

As I have just begun the maintenance phase of my weight loss journey I am expecting an adjusting period till I get it right so to speak.

Just for a bit of background info, how old are you?

I am 38 years old.

Conclusion

Kim Waring's weight loss story is one of our favourites.

When she began her weight loss journey, Kim was smart enough to seek help and then she applied the principles she's learnt about healthy eating and exercise to complete her weight loss journey which saw her lose over 25kgs in less than 1 year.

But it's not her impressive weight loss results that we admire most about Kim.

We'd like to publicly thank Kim for sharing her weight loss story with us and for the ongoing support that she provides all the members and visitors of our Weight loss Forum.

Thanks heaps Kim!

And thank you for visiting weightloss.com.au.