Weight loss stories: How I lost 21kg

Name: Janina Resurreccion
Age: 28
Lives: Blacktown, NSW
Job: Superannuation trainer
Height: 162cm

Weight before: 91 kg

Weight after: 70 kg

A move to Australia at nine meant a dramatic change in diet – up until this point, Janina lived in the Philippines and was as “skinny as a stick. There were bigger portions here. I was like, ‘Ooh, there’s more to eat!’” she says. “I ended up eating more than I could handle.”

High school years Janina continued to overeat and didn’t compensate with exercise.

“I didn’t do PE, I was just too lazy,” she says. “With my friends, I was always the biggest, so my self-confidence was lacking. I never thought of myself as the pretty kid; always the ugly duckling.”

Age 27 “I remember looking at a picture of me at a wedding and going, ‘Oh god’. I looked like a balloon.” That spurred Janina to join a V Club gym. “I loved it because of the dance classes: hip-hop, street jazz, zumba.” She replaced her bacon and egg brekkies with oats, banana and honey, the fried lunches with tuna salads and mega dinners with steamed fish and veg.

Three months later Janina signed up for the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), an event that challenges you to walk at least 10,000 steps a day for 16 weeks. “My workmates decided to form a team and I said, ‘I’m in!’ Before that I would’ve never hit 10,000. But I got into the routine of joining my work running group at lunch and the gym at night, so during the GCC my step count was 11,000 to 15,000 a day.”

Age 28 The dancing and stepping and healthier eating paid off – in just eight months Janina managed to leave behind about 20kg.

Now Has she managed to keep up that high step count? “I don’t wear a pedometer anymore, but I’m very active. I have a personal trainer; I dance and run. Last year I ran the City2Surf [a 14km Sydney run] in 90 minutes and plan to do it faster this year. I’m also in the process of getting my Zumba instructing certificate.” And her confidence has soared:

“The best thing is looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘Oh, you look nice today’.”
Interested in forming a GCC team? Register at gettheworldmoving.com – it starts May 19.

JANINA’S GEMS OF ADVICE

FIND AN ACTIVITY YOU LOVE “I went to other gyms and wasn’t motivated, but when I found a gym that had dance classes I loved it.”

TELL YOURSELF “I CAN” “When I start thinking ‘I can’t’ when running, I tell myself ‘Yes I can, I know I can’ and it pumps me up to finish.”

PEP UP DISHES TO SUIT YOUR TASTES “I never used to eat salads, but I now make interesting combos like beetroot, capers and tuna.”