Ange lost an incredible 61kg with the Lady Shake!

39 year old Ange from Newcastle NSW lost 61kgs with The Lady Shake!

Growing up I was never one to idolise movie stars or celebrities and want to look like them so being a size or two bigger than my friends and not a movie star size 8 was never an issue for me and I really didn't give it much thought, I was just bigger and that was who I was. I met my now ex-husband when I was 17 and was married at 22 and again my size never made much of a difference to my life, I was content and that was who I was, I always just had the mindset that some people are skinny and some people are larger and that's just what made us all different.

After trying to fall pregnant for 7 years it finally happened naturally so after that my life was just about being a good Mum and a good wife and as it's always the way with us Mums, we tend to put ourselves last which looking back is what I did. I endured a very rough pregnancy and, in the end, ended up having to have my gall bladder removed 2 weeks after giving birth and topped it off with post-natal depression, which I believe is when I started to put more and more weight on as I comfort ate while battling the depression.

In the years following that I slowly became more and more unhappy in my marriage and after a breakdown in the marriage we separated which was the beginning of what I like to call my journey, in weight loss and discovering who I am as a woman. I decided to finally put myself first for the first time in my life and do things that I actually enjoyed and not just what others wanted.

There was never a light bulb moment for me that I thought, yes now is the time to lose weight, for me it was just actively being conscious of wanting to be happy again, and the weight loss was an added bonus.

For me starting out on The Lady Shake was something of a convenience as at the time of my marriage breakdown I transferred offices within my job for a fresh start but it meant that I started very early each morning so didn't have time to have breakfast before I left for the day. My new office was not near any food outlets that were open at that time of the morning to even be able to grab something quick on my way so somebody suggested making a shake each morning as that's what they did and swore by them. However, I tried a different brand of shake and found by 9:30am each morning I was hungry again. Suffice to say my start to shakes didn't last to long.

Being from Newcastle though, I have always been a football fan and knew of The Man Shake because of Adam MacDougall so looked into them and discovered the company also made a Lady Shake, so thought why not. Not only did I find that these shakes actually kept me full until lunch time but because I had had my gall bladder removed previously, they didn't cause any problems with my digestion like the other brand did. Having one each morning I started to see myself dropping some weight for the first time in my life so thought I would increase the shakes and have one for breakfast and one for lunch each day. I still ate whatever I liked for dinner so never felt I was depriving myself or starving myself.

After losing the initial weight I committed to a year of making myself step out of my comfort zone and do things I would have never done in the past either because of what other people thought, being scared, or I guess subconsciously because my weight was holding me back. I took myself to Europe for 2 months and travelled to 10 different countries by myself, signed up and began dance classes and joined a women's soccer team and even began to date again after being out of the “game” for almost 18 years.

But the biggest lifestyle change that I am the proudest of is the way I can enjoy my time and have the absolute best fun with my son. I know it's a cliché but since losing the weight I am no longer the Mum who sits on the side of the pool and watches her kids swim, I'm now the first one in with him, or the first one to hit the waves with him at the beach and the first one to book holidays where we can go on adventures together and make memories like ziplining over the rainforest in Singapore together or racing down waterslides in Malaysia together. Things that in the past I would never consider doing. I have learnt over the past few years that even though kids want the latest gadget or latest game, it's the memories that they hold onto. I never hear my son say remember that game you bought me in 2018, but I do hear, remember when we swam with the dolphins in Singapore and to me that is priceless.

To anyone that believes that losing weight is too hard or it's too much effort, believe me I completely understand because that's exactly how I felt, but all I would say is start small, don't try and lose 10kgs in one week, aim to achieve small goals like replacing a chocolate bar for a Lady Shake bar or replacing your breakfast for a shake each day and you'll see results and add on from there. There is definitely no quick fix secret but multiple small goals reached will in turn result in big rewards in the long run. Finally just make sure you are doing it for you, not for a man, not for what other people think, and not for what magazines and society tells you what they think, but for you!