Yesterday I got all the images from my transformation shoot done with Fitness Magazine a couple of week’s ago for the Fat Loss edition which goes on sale next week and you can buy a copy and read my story there.

I’m just going to go back a step here in my story to give you the full picture. I chose this journey, in January this year when I committed to the Get Slim #fat2fab challenge and it has been a very private journey that I’ve chosen to do in a very public way. There are a few reasons for this:

1. I wanted to use all of you to help hold me accountable
2. All the people who made fun of me when I said I was banting, who laughed at me, who thought I couldn’t do it, who subtweeted and made snide remarks, I wanted to show you a big fat proverbial middle finger – and I think I have, so, IN YOUR FACES! 🙂
3. I wanted to inspire others who are struggling, just the way I was. Who are trapped inside unhealthy, sick bodies they hate because they’ve been following the wrong dietary advice for so long.

Ok, so back to the transformation photo’s. In the interests of remaining authentic as I believe I have been throughout my journey, I won’t lie now. I didn’t love the photo’s. Not because they aren’t beautifully taken and by a very talented photographer or because I’m not grateful to Fitness mag for sharing my story, but because my mind has yet to catch up with my body. Because when I looked at the photo’s, all I saw were my flaws. I have a lot of loose skin on my neck and my knees and my arms are not as toned as I’d like them to be. I also, very unrealistically I now realize, thought that when I unwrapped the layers of fat, I’d go back to the slim version of the real me, the girl I remember from my early 20’s and now in my 40’s that’s was never going to be. So I look at the photo’s of my face and I see all the loose skin, wrinkles and expression lines and it’s with a jolt I realize, time has marched all over my face.  I’ll come back to this point shortly, but without further ado, here are some of the images from the shoot:

I created a collage so that I could do a direct comparison of my before and after photo’s and then shared it on all the LCHF Face Book groups and  people’s responses really really encouraged me!

I realized that I was being ridiculous! I realized that my transformation is truly amazing. I realized that I was having an unrealistic expectation of myself. And Walter reminded me that even though I see all my flaws, I still looked a lot younger than a lot of my friends who are also in their 40’s and this really encouraged me and I managed to find my way back to being just plain elated with the results I’ve experienced so far.

I have just short of 7kg’s to go to get to my goal weight, I’m looking better than I have in a decade and best of all, my health has drastically improved.

A lot of of people had questions on the FB groups about my journey and how I did it and it’s just not possible for me to answer all of them individually so I’ve bulleted some of them below:

• How old am I because age does play a part? I’m 42
• How much exercise do I do? I only started exercising after I’d lost the first 15kg’s and the only exercise I do is running as I can’t afford a gym membership and also lack the time for gym training.
• How much wine/alcohol do I drink? I drink at least one wine spritzer everyday.
• How long did it take me to lose the 32kg’s? 10 months, I started on the 6th January this year.
• Do I have loose skin? Yes, on my knees, neck and arms.
• What is my eating plan? I don’t have one. I follow the basic principles of banting and eat predominantly off the green list from the Real Meal Revolution. If yo are interested in seeing what I eat, follow me on Instagram here: http://instagram.com/blessedbarrenness I also don’t follow units or ratios or any of that. While I understand that is of benefit to some, I don’t believe it’s necessary to be a successful banter. Eat simply, eat clean and eat of the green list, eat until you’ve had enough and don’t eat when you’re not hungry, it really is just that simple and I don’t understand why so many people try to complicate it.
• How often do I exercise? I try to run 5km’s 3/4 times a week and then put in one longer run over the weekend.
• How did I give up sugar? I stopped using ALL sweetners, even Xylitol and Stevia. Just stop. You’ll get used to drinking your tea and coffee like this, it only takes a couple of days. I also don’t eat banting baked goods at all because I find they stimulate my sugar/sweet cravings.

If I haven’t covered your question above, please leave a comment below and I’ll answer you from my own experience.

Yes, I feel wonderful, yes I have more energy and life than I ‘ve had in more than a decade. Yes, I am proud. Yes I’m loving it and YES, if I can do it, you can too!

Here are a few more images from the shoot!