At 99.7kg Miriam McKenzie’s doctor told her she was pre-diabetic so she decided to make a change.
Weighing about 115kg her husband, Chris McKenzie, decided how he owed it to Miriam and their kids Clementine and Matilda to do the same.
The couple, who live in Somerfield, signed up to WW - the new Weight Watchers - and their hard work and persistence paid off.
In less than 11 months, Miriam lost 37.7kg and is no longer pre-diabetic, while Chris has lost 32kg over a slightly longer period.
Miriam said the secret to her weight loss was nothing special.
“It was just introducing a lot more fruit and veg into the diet, being more mindful about portion control. That was a big thing for me and a lot less snacking," said Miriam.
“And it was less takeaways. We would have probably had takeaways at least once a week, whereas now definitely that’s an occasional, like hardly ever, kind of thing.”
Miriam said she started walking about 13,000 to 15,000 steps a day with her best friend Lucy Arnold.
“We went from me having to constantly ask her [Lucy] to slow down to her now having to keep up with me,” Miriam said.
For every 5kg to 10kg Miriam lost, she rewarded herself by buying something nice like charms for her Pandora bracelet or new shoes.
Said Chris: “I was seeing the kids grow up and thinking I really want to be able to have the energy, have the health to keep up with them, and of course, seeing how well Miriam was doing it was like just a bit of an inspiration to follow in her footsteps.”
“I’m a bit of techno-geek, I just kind of got the Weight Watchers app and said, I will follow your directions, Mr app sir, and it worked," he said.
Miriam says what drove her to lose the weight was being able to fit into the clothes she loved and inspiring her children to be healthy.
“That was actually a big motivator for me. It was to be able to wear nice clothes again and to be able to just walk into any shop and be able to fit clothes. That really does feel amazing,’’ said Miriam.
“Obviously, we want to be healthy for our kids and good role models for them.”
Miriam has some key tips for others wanting to lose weight.
“It’s about just digging deep and finding out your reasons why you want to do it and letting that drive you and just doing it for yourself, eating well, moving more, and breaking it down into those little mini goals. That was really good for me.”
Said Chris: “She [Miriam] is just an inspiration and she’s just amazing.”
