Weight loss stories: How I lost 15kg

Nicole's weight loss focused on cardio workouts at the gym six days a week and clean eating.

Home Berkeley Vale, NSW
Age 40
Height 163cm
Job Mum, student and coach

Weight before: 79 kg, weight after: 64 kg

Imagine, at age 38, finding out through a fitness assessment that your biological age is 51. That’s what spurred Nicole Yardley, mum of three, to get in shape. “I was ashamed of how far I’d let my health deteriorate,” she says.

“My waistline was expanding and buttons were popping off my pants; my bone density was poor and I was in the high-risk category for diabetes.”

Yardley lost her once-fit figure after piling weight on during pregnancy with twins Serena and Eva, both now seven, who were born a massive 3.2kg – each! Finding time to exercise while taking care of two newborns was hard enough; then she fell pregnant with Joshua, now six, while still breastfeeding.

In January 2009, Yardley read a story in a mighty fine mag called Women’s Health. “I was blown away by Liz Bickerton’s transformation. I noticed she’d used the services of online program idealbodiesonline.com so I checked it out and signed up.”

Ideal Bodies Online devised a training plan, eating plan and helped track her progress.

Yardley did a mix of weights and cardio workouts six days a week. “It was difficult to make time to train with three young children. But I simply made 40-minute dates with myself. I’d go to the gym and put the children in the crèche. I did my cardio – that is, jogging laps around my big yard – at 6am before the children woke.”

As for her diet, Yardley started the day with stomach-filling sweet potato frittata; for lunch she munched on grilled fish and pumpkin salad with all-she-could-eat greens; dinner was beef and vegie stir-fries; and she snacked on protein-rich stuff like half-avocadoes filled with sweet chilli tuna and lemon juice.

“I dropped fat steadily; I lost centimetres from my waist, hips and thighs – which showed I was burning fat. I lost 15 kilos in 14 weeks.”

Now exercise has become more than just a way to keep excess weight away – it’s Yardley’s new way of life: “I’m in the process of studying to be a certified trainer, I’m coaching my son’s under-six soccer team and I enjoy a weekend game of tennis.”

Nicole's tips

“Eat protein every three hours to prevent sugar cravings.”

“Visualise the body you want, even if it seems ridiculous. I put an old photo of me [looking slim] by my bed at night and imagined fitting into that outfit in the future.”

“Find someone to be accountable to. I had to record my diet for Ideal Bodies Online, and the crew would alert me when I was eating too much of a certain thing, for example.”