Lost the baby weight

"It was my weight holding me back, not my age"

Stressing about turning 40 inspired Debbie Griffiths to lose 26kg and start living the life she’d always dreamed about.

Debbie's weight loss story

Name: Debbie Griffiths
Weight loss: 25.6 kg
Was: 80.1 kg
Now: 54.5 kg
Height: 1.59 m
Age: 41
How long it took: 38 weeks
How she did it: Group Coaching at Bellfield Community Centre in Heidelberg, Vic with Coach Kathryn Cross

Then & Now

“ As my 40th birthday approached, I began to dread becoming ‘fat and 40’. I wasn’t living the active, healthy life I really wanted to live.  ”

I didn't want to be fat and 40

During my teens and twenties I was slim, but when I fell pregnant in my early thirties, I gained weight and it stuck. I kept making poor food choices and, as my 40th birthday approached, I began to dread becoming ‘fat and 40’. I wasn’t living the active, healthy life I really wanted to live. I’m a pharmacist, so I know all about the importance of preventative healthcare and I was reaching the age where chronic illnesses can develop. I knew I couldn’t do anything to alter my genetics, but I could promote positive outcomes by taking control of lifestyle factors, such as eating well and exercising.

Discovering the perfect Plan

I love to cook and taste new flavours so Weight Watchers appealed to me because it didn’t involve a set meal plan. I also knew I needed accountability and that going to a meeting every week would help me stick to the Program. I joined Weight Watchers six months before my 40th birthday. Initially, I set my goal at 63kg, which was at the upper end of my healthy weight range. I got there a month after my birthday, but kept losing weight for five more months. I was really worried about turning 40, but I realised it was my weight holding me back, not my age. Once I lost 10kg, I felt so much more energetic – I knew I’d found a lifestyle I wanted to stick to. And now I actually feel younger than I did in my thirties.

Deanna Griffiths

A new-found lust for life

Since losing weight I’ve been wakeboarding, rock climbing and surfing – things I never would have attempted before. I’m also running for the first time since high school and I feel happier too – my smile is so wide it reaches my eyes! You’re always told that it’s important to have a balanced diet and be a healthy weight, but until you do it day in day out, you don’t realise how much energy it gives you. I feel like I’m living the life I was supposed to live, rather than just surviving.