Eat to live, don't live to eat

After a nasty fall left both her feet badly injured, Christy's weight ballooned to the heaviest she had ever been.  Through a full year of surgery, she was immobile and in and out of different casts and moon boots - so she comforted herself with unhealthy food.

She had struggled with her weight before the accident too. A stressful and sometimes toxic work environment led her to overeat to manage emotions.

"Luckily I don't work there any more - I would reward myself with chocolate for going to work," she says.

Crying from pain

The penny dropped during a trip to Disneyland with her family. After a day of walking and waiting in line for rides, her feet hurt so much she wanted to cry.

"When we got back to the hotel in the evening the pain in my foot was unbearable," she says.

"I was in so much pain that I was holding back tears as I didn’t want my family to see. I didn’t want to spoil the day for them and I didn’t want them to think I couldn’t cope."

Learned to enjoy exercise

Christy joined the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet to finally get rid of the weight. She had a great goal in mind too: her daughter's graduation was coming up.

She trialled the Total Wellbeing Exercise Plans while they were being developed and gave invaluable feedback. She freely admits she would never have described herself as a sporty person prior to starting the diet.

"My view has changed on resistance training," she says. "When I first started, I was doing a lot of cardio and now that I've lost a lot of weight I need to be toning my body," she says.

"I'm really enjoying the resistance exercise - it's challenging, it's rewarding and you can see a definite change in my body shape."

With the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet Christy lost an impressive 22 kg*. Her fitness improved so much that she ended up completing City to Surf in Sydney and she went back to Disneyland - and had no foot pain this time. 

Finally, Christy did go to her daughter's graduation and she looked stunning!

*In 5 months. Individual results may vary.

More energy, no more pain

By being organised and following the principles of the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, Christy completely turned her life around.

"I can’t believe how losing the weight has helped with the pain in my foot so much," she says. "I have so much more energy and I look at food differently. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a treat here and there, but I don’t reward myself with food.

"I read a great quote: 'Eat to live, don't live to eat', and this is how I’m looking at my future."