Until the age of 23 I was always slightly overweight. Then I discovered gym and managed to slim down. But off course, as all young people, I was never satisfied and my weight went up and down for the next 15 years… mostly manageable. Then, at 35 I met the love of my life, and was diagnosed with epilepsy. I stopped going to gym, because my boyfriend was jealous…and it was easier than dealing with his jealousy. The epilepsy medication also caused weight gain but it was still fairly manageable. I picked up about 10kg in the next year. Then I got pregnant and when my daughter was born I was the heaviest I have ever been… 105kg. I went back to gym but after going back to work, this really became almost impossible and I ballooned to 111kg. I refer to it as my 111 day. It was the absolute worst. By this time I was insulin resistant and no matter what I tried I could not lose weight. As every woman knows, being in a very unhappy relationship by that time, I was just not winning. I was also seeing a Physio for all kinds of pains in my back and my joints. The worst was wrist pains and the tips of my fingers would go numb at times…. And these episode were becoming more and more frequent. Then I started hearing little bits about banting… its awesome… its terrible… you all know the opinions out there. I was shopping, absolutely miserable, trying to cheer myself up by finding something that fit me, and obviously failing miserably. I walked into the CNA and got myself The real meal revolution. I read the first two chapters and I was sold. In my first month on banting I lost 7,5kg. This was an absolute miracle to me. I had more energy, My pains and aches went away and I was ecstatic. After a year I had lost about 13kg. I then moved into a temporary home with my daughter until the process of buying a place was finalised. There was no oven and no way of cooking and during these 3 months I picked up 5 kg. The best day of my life was the day we moved into our own home. That was the end of July 2015, and since then I have lost the 5 I picked up and another 5. I follow the banting lifestyle 90% of the time. I have the occasional drink and every now and then I fall off the bus and have a bad week. The correlation between falling off the bus and joint and body pains became very obvious especially when I ate crisps. I assume the MSG makes it even worse. I also suffer from severe kidney pain when I do cheat…. Again, my assumption is that my body is working overtime to deal with the stress that carbs puts on ones body. I remember hearing that there will always be something or someone in your life ready to sabotage your progress. I have realized who the people are and have also realized that my biggest enemy is the scale. I removed the batteries from my scale a month ago and the cm loss is so obvious when I look at the pictures. When the scale told me I had lost weight, it was almost as if I felt I could relax a bit and when the scale did not show a difference for weeks, I became despondent and would cheat as well, so either way, I was screwed. Since packing away my scale and relying on my clothes to feel the change, I have seen such a massive difference and have set my next weigh-in date to December. I will rely on photos and clothes to assess the change until then. At this stage my weight loss in kg’s is 16kg and 3 dress sizes smaller and I am almost the happy person I was before all this started. I have added a few photo’s to illustrate the difference this lifestyle has made to me. I also want to remind everyone that they are human and CARBS are evil… it is human to cheat, but just get back up there and continue. You don’t need to beat yourself up all the time. Yes, it has taken me more than two years to lose 16kg but the point here is that I am 16kg lighter than I was 2 years ago….and that’s what’s important. I am sure I could have lost double or more had I followed all the banting principles 100% however real life is out there and one has to live life as well. I am happy with my progress and that I have found what works for my body.

I started banting in February 2015 after putting it off for months, having one excuse after another. I got a tummy bug and decided since I had not eaten for 3 days I may as well start banting and have not looked back since. I still have my days where I eat something I should not but I just get back on the banting wagon right away. Nobody is perfect so we will all have mishaps now and then. Getting my head around the fact that fat is good for u was hard. It took me about two months to get my fat intake correct. I have become conscious of everything I eat, I read labels and ingredients, who ever thought I would be doing something like that. I do not count calories but I do count my carb intake I keep it to 25g and below, I eat only when hungry and I stop if I am full. I have lost 27kgs in so far still got about 10kgs to go.

...continued... My weight loss has been slow due to my underactive thyroid. I have tried many different ways of eating over the years but because of my thyroid nothing helped until i started banting... Thank you Tim Noakes. Before banting i suffered with very low blood sugar, I was always light headed and shaky but now my sugar is normal before I had to eat 6 times a day now only when hungry and no passing out. Everyone can do it just put your mind to it and be strong... Good luck to everyone I am rooting for you.

I have battled for many years with my weight, seeing Dieticians, being put on medication to help with weight loss, but nothing was successful. I started Banting in November 2015 weighing 92kgs and found it very easy to adapt to the new lifestyles except giving up alcohol as we socialise a lot with family and friends. However I did manage to loose 11.3 kgs. However my weight stalled from middle March 2016 to 30 May, so I decided to stop alcohol altogether after reading that your body will not burn fat if drinking. Within 1 day of stopping Alcohol my weight started dropping again and lost 1.3 in the first day. This is the most weight I have ever lost by changing my eating lifestyle. I sleep better, have more energy and my restless leg syndrome has stopped altogether. This is definitely the lifestyle and will never stop.