For Katrina Mclennan-Moffat, just being eligible to enter in the 2015 Weight Watchers Healthy Life Awards was a thrill.
''I never thought I would win. I was pretty blown away,'' the Duntroon woman said after winning a national award for staying within a healthy BMI for more than 12 months at the annual New Zealand Weight Watchers conference.
Mrs Mclennan-Moffat's weight loss journey started in 2008, when she injured her back. She had been overweight since she was about 12 and had never tried to lose weight.
Seeing a doctor about her back injury, she was told she needed to do something about her weight - and soon.
So she signed up to Weight Watchers.
''There was no quick fix, nothing was going to be too good to be true. It was just eating real food and portion sizes,'' she said.
In 18 months, she lost 47kg and has maintained her healthy weight for the past five years.
Losing weight was ''relatively easy'', she said, maintaining weight loss had been a challenge.
''It is changing behaviours and thoughts and feeding yourself really good food,'' she said.
''It's not always easy, but it's a hell of a journey. You get to know who you are.''
Now, she is a Weight Watchers coach in Oamaru.
In Oamaru, there are three coaches to assist the 30 local Weight Watchers members, their ages ranging from 25 to 91.
''I've seen a lot of people regain their weight and my passion is to let people know that they can stay at a healthy weight and not regain it.''
She carries a photo of her heavier self in her wallet as a reminder.
Mrs Mclennan-Moffat urged people wanting to lose weight to be selfish.
''In this world, we're really, really busy and we just have to stop looking after everyone else and look after us,'' she said.
