This week, we bring you part two of our ‘Perthite’-inspired success story. In part one, we celebrated the weight-loss success of 37 year-old mother-of-three, Allison Laughton, who lost 20.4 from her 92.5kg frame.
This week we speak to one of Allison’s best buddies, Jodie Knight, who has shared her weight-loss journey and is over the moon after shedding more than 32kg with The Club.
Their stories are remarkably similar. The two mums met via The Club’s online forums, both desperate to try and lose weight as they faced the reality of being a size 18.
Jodie says, “I wanted to lose weight for me. I was making excuses about the size of the clothes I was wearing – they must be a small fit or the size was inaccurate. There was no way I really was a size 18, was there?”
Flicking through some photos of herself after a friend’s birthday, Jodie was shocked to see that she looked as though she had three or four chins. “Surely it was just a bad angle” she found herself saying. It was a serious wake-up call as every photo told the same story.
Her two young boys also motivated her to get healthy; her 5-year-old is developmentally and physically disabled and her 3-year-old has autism. “I just realised that to be around for my boys for the longest time possible, I needed to be the fittest and healthiest person I could possibly be.”
Like Allison, Jodie caught an advertisement for The Club during The Biggest Loser show and signed up straight away. She also had to kick some seriously unhealthy eating habits.
Before joining The Club all her meals were cooked in oil. “Dinner whether steak, chicken or sausages were fried; nothing was grilled. I never ate any fruit and I used to eat way too much bread. In fact, I just ate far too much of everything. My dinner plate was always full and I would always polish it all off. Plus I had frequent treats such as pizza, potato chips and chocolate.”
Experimenting with the diary taught Jodie that things had to change and fast. She says, “As the day went on, I could easily see how many calories I had left so I could manage each meal within my calorie allowance. The diary taught me about calorie control and most importantly, about portion control. Wow, what an eye opener that was. It was clear that I was really overindulging; no wonder I was fat!”
Click to enlarge photos
Jodie before
Jodie at 93kg
Jodie with the Perthites
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Jodie after
Jodie and Allison
Introducing the Perthites
Of course, Jodie’s other not-so-secret-weapon was the forums. She says, “At first I thought that chatting to complete strangers on the forum wasn’t for me until one day I made my first post in the Newbies section. People actually replied to me. Not only did people respond but two or three lovely ladies also noticed I was from Perth and invited me to come and join in with an amazing bunch of local people called the Perthites.”
Jodie was welcomed to the club within The Club and they all shared their day-to-day stories online. Perthites would also post their own individual weight-loss results each week which really inspired her to stick to the program.
The Perthites met up once a month for a training session with a personal trainer. Jodie was hooked. “I knew that The Biggest Loser Club was for me and I knew that if I dedicated myself to it, that I would get the results I so desperately needed and wanted. The Perthite forum became invaluable to me.”
Jodie became close friends with several fellow Perthites and they have been central to Jodie’s incredible success. She has become particularly close to Ally, having shared similar experiences, “Not only are we the same age but we both have similar lifestyles, we both have young children and husbands who work away from home. We also discovered later that we have both endured some pretty tough moments in our lives.
“Ally and I starting chatting outside of the forums and before we knew it, we were meeting up with each other to exercise weekly as well. We would make sure each other stayed on track with the program and would offer support every day. A bit of healthy competition didn’t hurt either – we would always try and outdo each other on weigh in days and see who could lose more!”
Petite Jodie weighed 93kg at the start of her Biggest Loser Club/Perthite journey. Just 8 months later, she is a svelte 60.8kg which equates to a massive loss of 32.2kg – just 800g away from her goal weight of 60kg.
Jodie has three simple steps to weight loss success that really work:
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Use your diary every meal every day and if you do and you stick to your calorie allowance, you will succeed!
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Use the forums: you’re not alone and there are so many people out there in the same situation ready to encourage you and inspire you more than you can imagine.
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Get up and do something.
Get moving. Exercise is your friend! I have a whole different lifestyle now. I love to exercise and I definitely have more energy to run around after the kids.
Jodie says she feels great and looks a whole lot healthier and is delighted that she has found a wonderful friend in Allison and in all the Perthites. She says, “Ally was my biggest support by far and I’m so glad I met her. Getting to know the Club and the Perthites really has been an invaluable experience!”