When Jonno and I got back together in 2012 I had just been on a remarkable weight loss crusade. I had watched some Tim Noakes videos and I had read the Dukan Diet.
I was making up my own rules as I went along, but it was working. I ended up losing 20kg and I thought I had finally cracked my weight issue for good.
Jonno talks about it often – he was so inspired by my transformation that he went on a crazy mission to recruit Tim Noakes and put together the Real Meal Revolution.
My story was part of the reason he was so inspired. He really saw what a positive impact it had made on my life, and he put it to work instantly.
But with Jonno’s passion for weight and health sky-rocketing, I began feeling enormous pressure to be the thin wife of the Banting guy.
And if you’ve read Jonno’s story, you’ll know that the first few years after RMR coming out were far from perfect.
We over-invested all of our money into the RMR, Jonno was getting sued, we had a baby, I did my MBA – our marriage was falling apart. It’s fair to say our life was under enormous pressure.
The weight just piled on. My body didn’t bounce back from having kids like many other women. In fact, I kept putting on weight after having my first, and then again after my second child.
It’s not like I didn’t know what to do. In these testimonials, people usually tell how they heard about RMR. I heard about it before anyone. Before Tim Noakes even got asked to be an author. I remember explaining to Jonno how I had lost the weight, and I remember seeing his eyes light up.
I knew the rules. I knew keto did all the things, but I just couldn’t get my head in the game.
No one wants to be the fat chick married to the healthy eating king. I always had weight issues, but I didn’t choose to have a weight loss guru husband. Until one day I woke up and that was me.
I was the fat wife of an athletic healthy eating author.
I avoided photos (I still hate them, but probably out of habit more than anything), and I didn’t really like going to events or anything where I’d have to be there as ‘Jonno’s wife’. Thinking about it now still makes me cringe.
After a fair amount of therapy and some breakthroughs in areas of my life completely outside of diet, I got insight into my relationship with food and my relationship with myself.
I realised I was rebelling against everyone’s expectations of me, or at least the expectations I thought everyone had of me. I was angry because I thought everyone expected me to be thin, and I was even angrier because I felt like a failure. I felt like I was letting the ‘Healthy Family’ image down.
Realising that that was in my head (along with SOOOOO much other stuff about my childhood and my relationships) really shifted my perspective.
The biggest realisation for me was that my past had everything to do with my future, but didn’t have to dictate my future. It was eye opening to see how my own beliefs had stopped me in so many areas of my life.
Back to eating…
At the point of ‘epiphany’ I had hit 94kg. A personal record for me. I had read that gluten and dairy can aggravate migraines and earlier that year I had been struck by a few migraine clusters. A cluster migraine is when you get a migraine every day for a period. For me it was 10 days in a row.
For those who aren’t sure – A migraine is not a headache. A migraine for me is like a mini stroke. I lose my eyesight, I lose my balance, I vomit and I have to check out for the rest of the day. It is not a matter of taking an extra panado.
I cut out gluten and dairy and since then (two years ago) I have only had two migraines, and they have been super mild.
A wonderful side-effect of cutting out gluten and dairy was my initial weight loss of about 10kg. I wasn’t starving and I didn’t want for much. I devoured the entire gluten free range from Woolies (which is really great by the way).
After a year or so, I decided I wanted to focus on my weight, so I joined Real Meal Revolution, only 7 years after it all started.
Banting without dairy has its challenges, but having dealt with many of the psychological elements of my journey, I find that it isn’t really a matter of willpower, but much more of a desire to eat clean. I want this for myself so it is something I do to treat myself, or be kind to myself, not something I feel I have to do to punish myself or correct some kind of wrong.
It is a totally different experience.
Well, Jonno wanted to show the world my photos. I’m definitely cringing again, although this time I’m cringing because I’m not used to being wow’d at. The resources that RMR provide for someone who needs lasting change are like no other.
Jonno and his team understand and care deeply about their clients. Most of my transformation has happened from information I picked up via osmosis, listening to Jonno and his team discussing mindset concepts and behaviour change.
Obviously I’m the most biased person on earth when it comes to RMR, but it really has changed my life. In the past, I would change the subject, but these days, if friends and family need to change their eating, I send them straight to RMR.
If you want lasting change, like the change that happens on the inside, I recommend doing the Psychology of Eating Program. It really is the most important part of this shift.
If you need accountability, do the Hero Program. I have done three rounds and I have never felt that level of support before. Victoria is my HERO and my Hero Leader (she rand our group) and she is an absolute legend.
If you just want to get your bearings and have a basic foundation, go with the Online Program. That will get you on your way.