Through discovering her love of exercise, Celeste Vanderwalle decided to embark on a new career as a personal trainer.
“Training is my life. I work out every morning without fail. I am highly conscious of my health and what I put in my body,” says Celeste. But 50kg ago, this wasn’t at all the case.
Celeste Vanderwalle
Height: 1.58m
Time taken to lose weight: 14 months
Lesson learnt: “To value myself”
Secret weapon: “Getting my mind in the right place”
The Gain
Celeste never exercised. In fact, she’d moan about parking too far away at a shopping centre because she didn’t like the idea of walking. Her diet was no better. “I would start the day with a fizzy cooldrink, then go to a drive-through for breakfast. I’d snack on toast with cheese, chips, doughnuts and chocolate biscuits all morning. For lunch, I usually ate pies (plural),” admits Celeste. Carbs were always a staple: hot chips with fried chicken, roast potatoes, beans on toast. To finish off – she’d gulp more cooldrink, a tally of three litres a day.
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The Change
“My husband was on a journey to health and had already lost 70kg. He weighed himself and suggested I check. In denial about how big I was, I got on the scale,” she says. To her horror, she weighed 105kg; her husband weighed 100kg. “I was mortified. How did I allow myself to weigh more than him?” It was the wake-up call that got her to the gym.
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The Lifestyle
Instead of repeating the same pattern of failed fad diets, Celeste ditched processed food and made healthier choices. “I cut out carbs and sugar and followed a Paleo way of eating,” she says. She upped her intake of veggies, fruit and nuts, added a whey protein shake at snack time and ditched the fizz in favour of three litres of water a day. Fitness naturally followed: Celeste joined a gym where she trained six days a week, doing a combination of weight training and high-intensity interval cardio. She was hooked.
READ MORE: “I Stopped Eating McDonald’s Burgers Every Day And Lost 12 Kilos”
The Reward
“My life could not be more different. I discovered a new passion and gained the confidence to study to become a personal trainer,” says Celeste. Her new job motivates her to stay healthy and she now encourages others to do the same.
Celeste’S Tips
Start slowly. “Take it one meal at a time; make each choice healthier than it previously would have been.”
Enlist help. “Without my husband’s support, I’d never have been able to do it. He kept me motivated and put up with my moods.”
Set short-term goals. “I celebrated every five kilos I lost. This kept me motivated.”
