By Zinhlezonke Zikalala 

“The most important thing I learnt is self-belief,” says Palesa.

Wise words, because self-belief is the key to achieving your dreams and it helped Palesa Motsoane shed her baby weight.

Palesa Motsoane

Occupation: Student and a Fitness Coach
Age: 24
Height: 1.74m
Weight before: 81.5kg
Weight after: 60 kg
Time taken to lose weight: 9 months
Secret weapon: Exercise and determination

The Gain

Pregnancy weight gain is normal… but your body can bounce back into shape. It only gets troubling when you gain even more weight after your pregnancy. That’s what happened with Palesa. “After I gave birth I carried on eating because I was told I needed to eat a lot in order to produce enough milk for my newborn,” she said. That said, what she was eating was mainly junk food – and she wasn’t getting any exercise, either. “I was never active in my life, I used to hate sports in primary and high school,” she admits.

The Change

“I just love food in general,”  says Palesa. When she was a kid, she’d eat whatever she wanted. Her parents had a spaza shop and she could pick whatever she wanted to eat. “I used to eat braaied meat, pap, kota’s (a quarter loaf of bread stuffed with meat, fried chips and cheese) and vetkoek everyday after school,” she explains. Over the years, she’d tried losing weight before with different diets, but it never stuck. After she’d given birth, Palesa felt things were out of hand. “I didn’t like the way I looked at all, I had no shape and my body was all over the place; it was depressing” she confesses. With a baby to take care of, changes had to be made. “In November 2015 I decided enough was enough. I went and bought a treadmill and took my weight loss very seriously from then,” she says.

The Lifestyle

Sowing is not always as fun as it is reaping the rewards, but it’s always worth it. Having tried many fad diets as a short cut in the past, Palesa knew her weight loss would be tougher than it was before. “It was hard in the beginning, but as time went by it got easier and I started to enjoy it. The weight just melted away without me paying close attention to it,” she admits. She started eating cleaner meals (think vegetables and lean meat) and dedicated 90 minutes of her day to work out. “I saw a change and that motivated me to push even more,” says Palesa.

The Reward

“I’m the slimmest I’ve ever been in my life, and in the healthiest state ever!” she exclaims. Palesa dropped four dress sizes and is 20 kilos lighter. “I rewarded myself with a healthier, sexy strong body and a new closet,” she says. In between all the sweating, she had also fallen in love with fitness and now, she’s an online weight loss coach, doing what she loves most. Way to go!

Palesa’s Tips

Don’t listen to the negatives
There’s a nasty little voice in your head that will whisper that you can’t do it. Tune it out because you can do it!

Have a goal
It makes it easier to keep moving forward when you are working towards something.

You’re more than the number on the scale. 
Don’t let the scale, your jean size or other number define your happiness.

Looking for more weight-loss inspiration? Check out Sisanda’s inspirational story on how she she the kilos.