A size eight wedding dress, swimming with whale sharks and pole dancing classes has made losing weight worth every bit of the fight for Karen Geary.
The 38-year-old bookkeeper from Western Australia had tried everything – The Lemon Detox Diet, the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, 1-2-3 Detox For Radiance and The Atkins diet, but it was The Biggest Loser Club diary that finally helped her drop three dress sizes.
The crunch came when she needed surgery to her shoulder and was unable to exercise. Combined with lots of comfort eating, she stacked on another 5kg and for the first time in her life, Karen found herself wearing size 14 clothes. “I felt miserable. I looked pregnant and I hated it,” she said. The inspiration to join The Club coincided with the launch of new The Biggest Loser series in early 2009. Karen had heard good things about The Club’s online diary and meal plans so she decided to take the plunge and sign up.
It didn’t take long for Karen to appreciate how good the diary is in assisting weight loss. “I love the diary because it doesn’t just count calories, it calculates energy expenditure which has taught me how to balance activity to get the best weight loss. I also love that the diary doubles as a nutritional guide so I can also make the choices I need for the best nutrition.”
It also taught her about portion control. Karen said, despite eating all the right foods and exercising, she still wasn't losing weight. “Using the diary made it clear – the answer lay in the size of my portions. I continued to eat the foods I love, but I just ate smaller servings.”
Beautiful bride
Seventeen months since Karen first joined The Club, she's full of energy, loving life and newly married. "The wedding was wonderful, absolutely fabulous," she said. "It rained, but fortunately the gods were on my side and it stopped five minutes before the ceremony."
Karen felt "like a princess" in her dress but it didn't come easily. "I found my dress within two days of being engaged, so I spent the next five months making sure I stayed a size 8!"
She's maintained her figure by staying very active and jogs with her dog for half an hour every morning. "I also dance two nights a week and have a one-hour group training session with a personal trainer every Saturday, as well as fitting in a session at the gym a couple times a week."
Click to enlarge photos
Karen before
Karen after
Karen after
Karen after
Karen after
Swimming with sharks
As an active person, even the honeymoon for Karen and Chad was a whirlwind adventure. Having tied the knot in April, the timing was perfect for a post-wedding holiday at Ningaloo Reef in North Western Australia.
"I had the chance to realise a dream of mine – swimming with whale sharks. It was a moving experience, one I'll never forget. We were told that usually people manage to get 10-15 minutes swimming time with a whale shark, but we were lucky enough to swim with four of them, for two hours! Because I was so fit, I was the only one still swimming with them after the first half hour, everyone else on the boat was exhausted, so most of the time I had my very own 7m whale shark to swim alongside."
Help of friends
Karen discovered her love of exercise after connecting with a group of like-minded people in her local area on The Biggest Loser Club forums, some of whom she still keeps in touch with.
“I think that 99% of my success has been down to the forums. When I logged on, I got to know a group of people from Perth who have formed a group affectionately called ‘The BLC Perthites’. We chat, weigh-in and exchange support, advice and motivation. We meet and exercise together and we like to walk or jog around the local lakes at weekends.”
The group began to meet up once a month with a personal trainer, as well as going bowling, rock climbing, to dance classes and other get-togethers. They even spent a whole day ‘castaway’ on Garden Island where their personal trainer coached them in the style of their very own Commando on the beach.
Karen said, “As we got fitter, members of the group entered local community fun runs including the Mother's Day Classic, where we raised money for breast cancer, and the Step Up for MS Challenge, where we climbed 1096 steps to the top of the Central Park tower to raise money for multiple sclerosis. When The Biggest Loser finale aired in April, ‘The BLC Perthites’ watched it together and we shared our own successes. Having the strong support and the friendship of others really made all the difference.”
Pole dancing and Michelle Bridges
Now, fit and fantastic Karen is still super-active. "I recently signed up for the Michelle Bridges 12-week body challenge, partly to support a family member trying to lose weight, and partly as a challenge to myself to get even fitter. I've also signed up for a pole dancing class next month," she said.
The trick for Karen is to keep a very close eye on the scales and nip any weight gains in the bud. "I still weigh in once a week and if my weight starts to creep up more than a kilo I go straight back to a food diary," she said.