60 weightwatchers.com/nz
HEALTHY FOR LIFE
LIFE IS
Stephanie Ralph didn’t just shed kilos
when she joined Weight Watchers – she also
found a positive new mindset.
S
tephanie Ralph first joined WW
when she was 22. The program
had worked for her older sister
Jacqui, so Stephanie decided to give
it a go herself.
“I was never overweight as a kid and
when I was a teenager I thought I’d be
slim forever. Then, once I hit my 20s,
I started putting on weight and couldn’t
lose it. I weighed 70kg when I joined
WW that first time,” she says.
The sisters both made it to Goal,
but Stephanie found maintaining her
weight loss difficult and it wasn’t long
before all her hard work was derailed.
“Life happened,” she recalls. “I got
married. I got divorced. My dad was
diagnosed with cancer and he passed
away. I was drinking a lot at that time,
which was probably due to all the stress,
and I stopped caring about myself.”
When Stephanie’s dad first became illshe moved back
home to be closer
to him. Growing
up, she had always
suffered from mild
anxiety, but now
she was having
full-blown panic
attacks. “I thought
I was losing my
mind. I thought
this is it, I’ve finally
snapped,” she says.
Then, in the
middle of what seemed like her whole
world falling apart, a wonderful thing
happened. Stephanie found Andrew.LOVE HEALS
“We had gone to the same high school
so we already knew each other, but it
wasn’t until Andrew’s 30th birthday >good
Stephanie and Andrew
(left) welcomed Amelia
(below) followed by son
Edric, and Stephanie’s
weight continued to
climb after the births.