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How I lost weight – part 5

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Alexa Kirkhoff before and after.
Alexa Kirkhoff before and after.

These women are all ordinary South Africans who made minor changes to their lifestyles and diets, and not only lost weight but transformed their lives.

Read: How I lost weight – part 1

They all had one thing in common – they believed that they could do it, and so can you!

Alexa Kirkoff's story

Alexa Kirkoff lost 35kg in 5 months. This is her story:

I decided it was time lose weight after seeing pictures of myself when I was a bridesmaid. I suddenly realised I was no longer fat, but obese.

When I stepped on the scale and found I was a shocking 131kg, I knew I had to do something about the situation before I got any bigger. So, on 1 May 2014, I changed my life around by deciding to do the SleekGeek 30 Day Reboot. In 30 days I lost 11kg and my life started to change.

Read:How I lost weight – part 3

In three months I managed to lose 28kg, and now 5 and a half months later I am 35kg down. Each kilogram is taking longer to lose, but I’ll get there.

My weight-loss has all been purely through eating "clean", exercising and the support of my family and friends.
 
The hardest part has definitely been sticking to the Paleo-style diet. I’m a qualified chef who had a good relationship with the wrong kinds of food. Now I have a fantastic relationship with all the right foods and I fully believe this new lifestyle is sustainable.

I will never ever go back to the way I was living, and when I look back now, I feel embarrassed. I sometimes just cry with disgust for letting myself go like that.

No one should ever feel like I did.

My advice to others is to get your mind right. When I first decided to lose weight, I found the 50kg goal intimidating. But not anymore, and six months later I’m nearly there.

Be your own biggest supporter and learn to love your body every step of your weight-loss journey. I'm still 15 kg away from my goal, but I’m already loving my new shape, and it’s only going to get better.

For more of our weight-loss series, read Natalie Ford's story in How I lost weight – part 4.

Previous weight-loss successes:

I lost 76 kg on the Adventure Bootcamp programme 
I lost over 100kg on the Weigh-Less programme
Lose weight the Darren Scott way 
Get fit by dancing, Riaan says

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