42 weightwatchers.com/nz
time to shine.’”
Within just
a month, as Fiona
started to feel
more in control
of her food and
her life, and as
the kilos fell
away, she was
feeling better,
brighter and
truly bubbly.
Three to
four months
after starting,
a colleague
at the daycare
centre where
she worked
remarked that she seemed so
much happier.
“And I just said, ‘I have my
life back. I like who I am, I like
that I can put clothes on, I like
going out again. I’m going to be
40 and I’m going to be fit and
I’m going to be fabulous.’ And
here I am, I’m below Goal, I’m
40 and I haven’t looked back.”Life on the land
Growing up on a farm in NSW,
Fiona was raised on plenty of
good country cooking, with
trademark hearty portions and
an ethos of finishing what was
on your plate. Her mum was
a baker too, so there were
always scones, pavlova and
cakes on offer.
“I guess I just didn’t have
a limit. I didn’t know when
I was full, I didn’t know
when to stop,” she says.
Fiona says although she
wasn’t huge, she was “short
and chubby”, and happy to
hide under a farm look of big
shirts, jeans and jackets.
She remembers being on
a group trip to New Zealand
where she needed to be
weighed for a bungee-jumping
experience. At 18, her weight
was marked on her hand with
a texta: ‘76’.
“I just wanted to hide my
hand. All the other girls werelike 61 and 58. They were tall
sporty types and I was the
farm type,” she says.
As bridesmaid for her sister,
while proud to stand alongside
her sibling on the big day,
she also felt gutted being a
size 22 when the others were
“beautiful and glamorous”.
“I was always the happy,
jokey one, and I didn’t show
that I cared, but you do. You
don’t want to be the fat one. But
I always got on with it, I lived
life, I travelled and all of that.”
Fiona lived and worked in
the UK for four years, then
returned to Australia, at first
just for a holiday, and thenfor good when she realised
this was where she belonged.
While overseas she had put
on weight, and with the scales
nudging triple figures at 96kg,
she says she was concerned,
but also in denial.
“I had tried to lose weight.
I’d tried Jenny Craig, I’d tried
shakes, and I had tried pills,
but nothing seemed to work,”
she says.Bridesmaid inspo
In 2006, about a year after she
got back from the UK, Fiona
was asked to be her friend
Claire’s bridesmaid.
This would be her third turn
at being bridesmaid, and she
was determined that this time
she wouldn’t be overweight.
“Claire was like, ‘Come on,
let’s go to Weight Watchers
together.’ I’d already been
a bridesmaid for my sister
and my best friend, and I was
the biggest.“I was happy and proud to
stand next to them on their
wedding days, but this time
I thought, ‘Okay, let’s do
this. No more being the fat
bridesmaid, I’ve done that!’”
As soon as she started, she
knew Weight Watchers was
the right path for her. She
liked having a Points allowance,
which helped her stay within
set limits.
Fiona lost 20kg in eight
months, ending up happy at
around 70kg, and in 2012, she
returned to Weight Watchers
to lose her baby weight after
giving birth to Kody.
But then began the cycle of
hope and heartache, as Fiona
tried to become a mother for
a second time.
Going back to Weight
Watchers and working with
Marie transformed her life and
has helped her gain a healthy
approach to food, exercise
and her frame of mind. She’s
become a WW Coach, and loves
living on her farm with partner
Nathan and four-year-old Kody.
“I learned that if I want to be
a better person on the outside,
I need to take care of the person
on the inside,” she says. “It’s
okay to take time for yourself
to make yourself the best
version of you that you can.
“I’m now a Coach and I’m
just so grateful that every day
I get to be mum to a gorgeous
four-year-old boy and partner
to a hardworking super dad.
“I am so pleased that I
walked through the Weight
Watchers doors and changed
my life so that I can be the best
person for them both, but also
the best person for myself.
“I like who I have become
and all the amazing things
I have done in my life, and
losing weight and keeping it
off is a dream come true.
“I spent my whole life
wanting to be a mum and
to be a normal weight – and
now I am both!” #“
It’s okay to
take time
for yourself.
Fiona celebrates her milestone
birthday with WW Members
Robyn Duffield (left) and
Tanya Baker.