Travette: Mind, Body, and Spirit Transformed

Hi there,

I’m Travette from Auckland, New Zealand. Where to start? I’ve come to realize that I’ve had an issue with my weight for as long as I can remember.

In high school I had a torturous self-belief that I was fat when in reality I was verging on being underweight. In the 20 years since leaving high school I’ve witnessed my weight go up and up. I tried the conventional weight loss advice to eat less and move more with some success but I gained back the 15kg I lost with 10kg in interest. In the past few years I have reached my heaviest weight, 137kg! It’s taken me a while to admit that number publicly!

These last few years have been incredibly stressful and emotionally taxing resulting in my weight increase and health decline. I currently care for my partner full time who is chronically ill and is on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Not his first, not even his second but his THIRD transplant. See what I mean by stress?! It’s not really a huge surprise that I packed on so much weight over this time….. food equated comfort. After his last transplant he was only home 3 days before I wound up in hospital myself with a heart rate over 200, ambulance called…. The whole nine yards. Thankfully, I have avoided any long-term health issues. When it was confirmed he would need another transplant in January 2014 I vowed not to be in this physical state again. I figured there wasn’t much I could do about the stress of our life but if I’m physically healthier that can only help me cope a little better.

The release of The Calorie Myth came at EXACTLY the right time for me. I’d made the commitment to change and I just needed the right information and guidance to implement it in my life. I couldn’t put the book down until I’d finished it and I was surprised at how much sense it made to me. I felt a mix of excitement (and hope) to start a SANE lifestyle but also found myself preparing for the disappointment that something so simple couldn’t actually work. So I took the plunge and embraced eating SANE foods. I guess you could say I went cold turkey to test the waters and see if this SANE business really works – it does! It’s almost been a year since starting a SANE lifestyle and I’ve lost nearly 30kg and gone from a size 22/24 to 14/16. Besides the obvious weight loss the change in me has been transformative. After only a short time of eating SANE food I realized how bad I used to feel all the time – fatigue, aches and pain in my joints, low energy and at times mentally ‘fuzzy’. The difference in how I feel now is like night and day, I have more than enough energy and the aches and pain have disappeared.

There are some key things I have learnt about myself on this journey. Despite going cold turkey and being quite strict with what I ate at the start, I quickly realized this was not something I could maintain long term. I needed to relax into what works for me while still moving towards my goals. In my life this means maintaining the fundamentals of a SANE lifestyle but not beating myself up for imperfection and letting go of those numbers on the scale. Something else I’ve learnt is the realization that being so overweight deeply affected my self-confidence. I can see now that it permeated almost every facet of my life. Losing weight has absolutely improved my confidence in how I look but it’s more than that. Being as big as I was, I felt relegated to the fringe because ideals like ‘normal’, ‘healthy’, ‘beauty’ and arguably, ‘self worth’ equates to thinness. Living a SANE lifestyle has shifted my focus from being thin to fit in to valuing the importance of being strong and healthy. Another shift I’ve embraced is that I enjoy being active and exercising. Boy, did I beat myself up for being lazy and not exercising more. I’m not trying to shift blame at all, I am responsible for my choices but when I felt tired all the time and experienced aching joints it’s now obvious why I wasn’t enthusiastic about exercise. I had to ration out my energy to different tasks in an average week so I could reach that balance of achieving what needed to be done without total exhaustion. Not only did I have to ration out my energy but also the terrible pain I had in my knees meant I would often cringe at a set of stairs and movement in general was difficult and tiring. Now I have the freedom to do what I want, when I want without having to give any of these barriers a second thought.

It’s been interesting to see other people’s reaction to my journey. For the most part these reactions have been positive with family and friends being supportive and encouraging. I’ve even managed to set the example for some family members to make positive changes. A common question or comment people have is how I manage to remain ‘good’ and stay the course? How do I resist that piece of cake or bread or french fries??? Without doubt it takes commitment and hard work but the most important factor that keeps me focused is pretty simple…. My quality of life has vastly improved physically, mentally, and emotionally – I wouldn’t trade that for a piece of cake, bread or french fries. The way I feel now is invaluable.

* Testimonial Disclaimer: All of the testimonials were written by actual members of SANE Solution. Individual Results may vary. Please consult a physician before beginning any exercise or diet program.

– Travette