Gaining Weight
Hayley Westoby was born in Sydney, Australia. Growing up, she had an average weight and never even thought about changing the way she looked, but when she started college, everything changed.
She wasn't overweight in high school but when she started college, her body began to change. Before she knew it, she had gained almost 100 pounds.
Bad Habits
Her body changed because her habits changed. In high school, she was very active and followed a healthy diet, but that was not the case anymore.
Hayley began drinking alcohol every single night. She was not getting enough sleep because she had classes in the morning and partied at night, and she also didn't have any time to cook healthy food.
Getting Worse
As time went by, Hayley's habits got worse and worse. She constantly ate junk food because she was too tired or too lazy to cook, and she drank alcohol every single night.
Even though she didn't realize what was going on, it was very clear to those around her: she was gaining a lot of weight. She ended up gaining around 150 pounds while in college!
More Problems
Another reason why she fell into this lifestyle was that she injured her knee. She used to play sports and stay active all the time, but when she injured her knee, she stopped completely.
According to Hayley, socializing and partying was her main focus, and she did not care for her health at all, not even a little bit. Some time later, however, something happened that made her realize what was going on.
An Addictive Lifestyle
In an interview, she said: “Going from 100 per cent to doing absolutely nothing meant I put on weight quickly. By the time I started uni a few months later, I’d gained 10kg and weighed 65kg.”
She added: “After that, it was really easy to relax into the student lifestyle. I forgot all about exercise and instead spent my spare time socialising in pubs and clubs."
New Relationship
During her time in college, she met a guy and fell in love. The two were very happy together for a while, until things started to change.
After the honeymoon phase was over, the fighting started. They would argue more and more often, until it became unbearable.
The Fight That Changed Everything
One day, Hayley and her boyfriend had a fight that changed everything forever. In the heat of the moment, her boyfriend said something that deeply hurt her, but also inspired her to change her life.
In an interview, Hayley explained the situation: “We were arguing about something silly, when at the end he told me to ‘lose some weight.’
A Wake-Up Call
The fight Hayley had with her boyfriend was definitely a wake-up call. She was hurt, but she understood where her boyfriend was coming from. After all, he wasn't lying!
“Initially, I remember feeling horrified, but deep down I knew he wasn’t being nasty. It was a slip of the tongue that had revealed he had genuine concerns about my size," she said.
Not Malicious
Hayley knew that her boyfriend's comment wasn't mean-spirited. He said it in the heat of the moment and instantly apologized but it was too late, because the seed had already been planted in Hayley's brain.
“Later, I weighed myself and I was 119kg. It was the heaviest I’d ever been,” she said. She did not want to live that life anymore, so she set a small goal for herself that same night.
Deciding To Change
That same day, Hayley decided to change. She set a small goal for herself and did not pressure herself to achieve it. This strategy ended up making a huge difference in her journey.
A lot of people get frustrated and give up on their weight-loss journey because they set unrealistic goals for themselves. Losing weight is not easy and sometimes takes months and even years, so patience is important. Luckily, Hayley was extremely realistic when it came to her goals.
Just 5kg
Her goal was to lose 5kg. This goal was realistic and it kept her motivated. To her surprise, she achieved her goal in no time by only making a small but significant change in her life.
“After taking junk food and alcohol out of my diet, I was amazed at how quickly I started to lose weight," she said. Who knew that eliminating those two things could make such a difference?
Motivation
The fact that she achieved her goal so quickly just motivated her to work harder and set more challenging goals for herself. Now that she wasn't partying every night, she had more time to do other things.
“Once the 5kg came off, I aimed for another five, then another.” After that, it became very easy for her to slim down and get fit.
Exercising
But eating healthy food wasn't the only thing Hayley did to get fit. It is no secret that, in order to lose weight, one must maintain a healthy diet and do regular exercise, so that's exactly what she did.
She had always loved sports, but she stopped doing them when she hurt her knee. During her journey, she had to accept that she was just using her knee injury as an excuse and that there were certain sports that she could easily do.
Having Fun
“Fitness has been a huge part of my journey. Once I started adding it back into my life, I fell in love with it all over again," she explained.
“I’d vary up what exercises I was doing. I loved spin classes and began learning how to lift weights." By doing things that she enjoyed, her workouts became easy.
Drastic Changes
Hayley weighed 119kg at her highest, but after only a few months of dieting and exercising, she could barely recognize herself in the mirror.
“Soon my body was becoming leaner and more toned than it had ever been.” She now weights 54kg!
It's Not Over
But just because she lost a lot of weight it doesn't mean she is done with her fitness journey. On the contrary, she is more into it than ever before.
She is fully committed to a healthy lifestyle and starts her day at 5:30 am. Only by waking up super early can she have enough time to exercise and get to work on time.
Discipline
"Most days I wake up at 5.30am to make sure I can train before work. After, I’ll eat a bowl of homemade oats and for lunch, I’ll have 200 grams of lean meat with vegies and something similar for lunch."
The key to staying fit, in Hayley's opinion, is to be disciplined. She will try her hardest to stick to her regimen and never skip a day, because that can snowball into letting herself go again.
The Hardest Part
For Hayley, the hardest part was to quit drinking. At the same time, however, she believes that quitting alcohol had the biggest impact in her rapid weight loss.
“People don’t realise how many calories and how much sugar is in that glass of wine or beer that they love," she explained. Most people wouldn't even think about quitting alcohol to lose weight, so it takes a lot of determination to do so!
Getting Used To It
After all this time, Hayley has just gotten used to her healthy lifestyle, so it is not even a challenge anymore. In fact, she doesn't even notice it when her friends are drinking alcohol and she isn't.
“Most of the time, people don’t even notice I’m not drinking as my soda water and lime looks no different to what everyone else has in their hands.”
Helping Others
Now that Hayley is more confident and healthy, she spends a lot of her time helping and motivating others in their fitness journeys.
“I just want to help as many people achieve their goals, so they can feel as good in their own skin, as I do," she said. She truly is an inspiration!