16 LOSE IT! VOLUME 31BY SIMAMKELE MBANGA
INSPIRATION
hen she
was diagnosed
with Polycystic
Ovarian
Syndrome
(PCOS) 10
years ago,
Andrea Hendrick (47) says it was
like receiving a death sentence. She
learned that this hormonal disorder
would affect the way her body
reacted to insulin and cause her
to gain weight if she wasn’t
careful. If she lost control of her
weight, the doctor warned, her
organs would shut down and she
would die before she turned 55.
‘Afraid is an understatement. I
crumbled, and cried for days. I was
eating everything in sight because
I felt I couldn’t control any of this,’
she recalls. Within a year, Andrea
had packed on the kilos, going from
a size 34 to a size 46, the biggest she
had ever been. The number on her
dress label, however, gave her the
wake-up call she needed.
In a desperate effort to lose
weight, Andrea tried a variety of
diets and weight-loss plans – fromAndrea ignored the
warnings about her
weight gain until her
dress size reached an
all-time high of 46. This
was her wake-up call and
the ‘aha’ moment that
changed her life.40kg
I LOST
AND
Weigh-Less and Herbalife to
Duromine tablets and Thinz. But
none gave her the results she was
after. ‘In the beginning, you don’t
mind the shakes and all the side
effects, but those diets are just a
quick fix and you end up putting
all the weight back on – plus
more. What stood out for me
with Banting was that it was the
first time I’d actually look forward
to my food. You can make really
yummy, divine dishes. With other
eating plans you can’t do that.’
Her low-carb journey officially
began four years ago when a
friend recommended The Real
Meal Revolution to her. Changing
her lifestyle wasn’t easy in the
beginning. As a result, Andrea
cheated every now and then,
which complicated things. She
became ill, her insulin took a
knock and after losing 19kg she
gained back 34kg.
‘One day we had hot dogs with
Portuguese rolls and I thought oh,
one little day of rebelling won’t
kill me – not fully understanding
how Banting works. Oh my‘
’
If she lost control
of her weight, the
doctor warned,
her organs would
shut down and she
would die before
she reached
the age of 55.ANDREA
BEFORE134kg