Name: Sherise Campbell
Age: 35

Job: Dining services manager

Weight before: 93 kg

Weight after: 64 kg

Working in the kitchen of an aged care residence, Sherise Campbell spent eight hours a day, five days a week surrounded by fries, pizza, pasta and soft drinks. Ten years into her job, this former “skinny girl with no curves” was a size 20. It didn’t help that her chef husband worked late and brought home rich meals at 10pm, which Campbell would share despite having eaten earlier. She ignored her doctor’s advice to lose weight until she hit an

all-time high of 93kg in the summer of 2009.

THE CHANGE

Because her weight gain was so gradual, Campbell didn’t realise just how many kilos she’d packed on. That is, until she flipped through a photo album from her anniversary spent on a cruise ship and spotted a shot of herself in a red halter dress. “Curves are good, but I didn’t like the way those curves looked,” she says.

THE LIFESTYLE

That December Campbell joined a gym and took advantage of a free personal training session that came with her membership. She found it was just the motivation she needed and signed up for 12 more weeks of training. “I wasn’t sure what to do at the gym and my trainer gave me a plan to follow,” she says. “Plus, I had someone to hold me accountable.” Campbell began walking or running on a treadmill at a high incline five days a week and lifting weights three days a week. Her trainer also urged her to pay more attention to what she ate.

Campbell started having breakfast (which she’d always skipped), and at lunch and dinner she filled half her plate with salad, a quarter with chicken or fish, and the other quarter with steamed vegies or healthy carbs. She soon discovered that her body was now rejecting the fatty foods she once loved. “If I snagged some of my sons’ French fries, I’d feel sick later,” Campbell admits.

Three months in, she had dropped 11kg and toned up. “I used to be self-conscious about my chicken-wing arms, but now that I’ve tightened them up, I love my arms!” she says. She even won a gym competition by losing five per cent of her body weight and spent the prize money on smaller workout clothes.

THE REWARD

In October, Campbell set sail with her husband on another cruise, and this time she didn’t dread seeing the holiday happy snaps. At a svelte 63kg, she even sported a singlet top with bikini bottoms. “For the first time, I enjoyed buying clothing for a trip,” she says. “It felt incredible to buy size 10 shorts.” As for that red halter dress from her anniversary? “I can’t wear it now – it falls off me.”