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Often in life, predominantly after a letdown, people tend to believe that the cards they’ve been dealt are what they are stuck with.
The excuse, ‘I should be happy with what I’ve got.’ This is often a defence mechanism to avoid setting yourself up for disappointment once
again. Taking on a challenge may not turn out as hoped and further reiterates that you aren’t the person you want or thought you could be.
It’s not as simple as ‘you win some you lose some.’ 
Failure is a very disheartening and disappointing thing and it isn’t always easy to simply
jump back on the horse and keep going. Not for our strikingly radiant Lucy though!
Not only did Lucy resent herself but this began being overlaid toward her family too. “I was upset with my Dad because I thought I took after him. It went as far as thinking “why did I have to be born into this family?” I totally believed he was to blame – fat Daddy, fat kids. He was huge, his nickname was Fat Albert. My two sisters and I always battled with weight problems; they weren’t as heavy as I am though. It was always easier to blame it on my dad’s genes than accepting our problem.
Since a toddler I have always been bigger than the average child. I was even worse in primary and high school where only the strong and skinny survived. I was always Isidudla (fat one in Zulu), Fatso, Bumba and it used to kill me inside. I couldn’t bear looking in the mirror because all saw was a chubby face with so much deceit to the outside world,
so I went on with my life as if nothing bothered me, as if that chunk of fat was acceptable to me.
I tried drops, tablets and went to a doctor in the area known to be a weight loss guru.
He gave me injections and pills and told me to eat ham and cabbage for breakfast, cheese for lunch and nothing for supper. Each time I did these absurd things I became moody, nauseas, agitated and experienced heart palpitations but I wanted to lose weight so I did it. I lost but each time I stopped, I gained the weight with a vengeance, the last time I gained I put on about 20kgs.
Lucy’s turning point came in the midst of her battle with fad diets. All hope was gone, I’d gained 20kgs. I tried fitting into a size 38 only to realize 42 was a perfect fit. I thought ‘I need to do something, why can’t I be beautiful, feel beautiful, look beautiful? I’d started my new job and had the urge to look good, I was tired of being the fat one, the one that can’t do sport etc.
Lucy heard about a previous boss who’d had drastic results through Weigh-less. She logged onto the website and became very curious. I thought trying the last time wouldn’t kill me. Very sceptically I called Weigh-Less, got details for the local group and dragged myself to Group that Saturday with a friend Tsametse.
Thinking back, my first Group meeting was strange, I was the only male, surrounded by ladies, and when my Group Leader told me what I had to lose 25.6kg, I was shocked when I weighed 112.6kg! I thought that combined with what I already had lost with gym, it would only be another five or six kilos! My weight loss was quick and steady, and within three short weeks I had sense of accomplishment that was grand. However, more importantly I was full of energy and less fatigued!
Stopping my binge eating, and letting go of chocolate were my biggest challenges. The binge eating was associated to my sugar-level fluctuation, and by just eating the correct food at the correct times, that was solved. However, the chocolate craving was a lot harder! I decided to not let go of the chocolate, but to allow myself a block a night (of the best available chocolate) and that solved that problem, I no longer finish a slab in a sitting, but take two weeks to finish it.
I thought to myself ‘what would people think of me? I have so much to lose, will they relate? Will they laugh at me too? What if I don’t lose the weight? What if it is a gimmick like everything else? What if I’m setting myself up for failure AGAIN? Adri, my Group Leader, was a Godsend, a dynamic woman, empathetic, compassionate, one that loves helping others. She literally held my hand right through this journey and was available 24/7! Most reactions were ‘whatever, try but we know it is not going to work, Lucy you have been fat all your life, get over it and accept yourself the way you are,’ but that didn’t derail my focus at all, for some reason I had faith that it would work. I remember my friend Buyi, who I’d met when I started my job that year, saying that the kind of fat I had would be impossible to lose, implying there was too much hard fat on me. I wanted to prove her wrong. The ironic side to this is that she was the first to see my weight
loss and was constantly looking at my lunch and wanting to eat the kind of food I prepared. As I write this she follows Weigh-Less.
I lost 0.8kg in the first week, another 0.8 the next and it felt awesome, I just felt I could go on and on. My friends and family started complimenting me when they started seeing ‘less of me,’ they applauded my discipline and catered for me during parties and family gatherings. I eat red meat as part of my medium fat protein, beans as my low fat protein, pap as my carbs and subtract a serving of fat from my formulae just in case I might have exceeded. I then have the rest of my formulae in the evening when I get home. The compliments motivated me more. My son always reminded me not to cheat, especially when I’d try to eat his leftovers. He’d say ‘Mamma asi Weigh-Less’ meaning ‘it’s not Weigh-Less’ in Sotho. Before going out I work out what I’ll have at a restaurant and plan my meal, obviously calculating my formula. I eat wisely; if I go to McDonalds I order the wrap and ask them to lose the mayo. I have KFC’s grilled option over the deep-fried. I never compromise, neither do I over indulge.
The turn around in Lucy is fantastic! 25kg’s lighter she is a totally new person! Sitting here thinking back, all I can say is prior to joining Weigh-Less I was filled with so much sadness, emptiness and self-hatred. Since Weigh-Less and I got to know each other, I would most certainly describe myself as an extrovert, a strong willed, determined, loving, confident person. In terms of my career life, I used to be satisfied in my comfort zone, no ambition, no zeal to reach the stars; I was just ok where I was because according to me, I couldn’t do better. My weight was always a hindrance to climb up the corporate ladder.
Lucy has since received a promotion and developed the ability to be vocal and expressive, also the ability to mingle at different levels socially. She has a far closer relationship with friends, family and especially her son. I have become a happier, bubbly talkative person. I have come out of my shell completely. God has used Weigh-Less to put me at a place where the peace within me surpasses human understanding.
