Sarah Reynolds is a 31-year-old mother of three from Guelph, Ontario, who saw her weight reach 225 lbs. after giving birth to her third child in 2001. Unaware of how she looked, according to Daily Mail Sarah “resigned to carrying the extra weight” and continued to eat any type of sugary food or snack she desired. However, upon returning home and getting tagged in an “unflattering” Facebook photo, she realized it was time for a lifestyle change:
Determined to get fit, Sarah juggled childcare with daily workouts and dropped to a svelte size four (UK six).
Now, a decade after her first child the mother claims she’s a better mum as she has more energy.
She said: ‘When I saw the Facebook photo I was embarrassed.
‘I was also shocked because it didn’t seem to me to be the image I thought I was in my head. It was worse than I had allowed myself to believe.’
Sarah says that she struggled with her constant urge to eat which saw her pile on the pounds.
Adding a 30-minute workout to her everyday routine and swapping out processed carbs for fruits and vegetables, Sarah eventually began losing weight and managed to keep it up for three years, adding in weight training over time in order to help her body tone up. “The first steps were just making that commitment to something” she explains, “to exercise, even if I didn’t know how. To track my intake and be accountable.”
After losing the weight and undergoing what looks like a complete makeover, Sarah says that she now includes her children in her workouts:
She said: ‘Since I started on diet and fitness after kids, I had no choice but to make them part of the journey.
‘They watched me learn how to work out, and finding the information in nutritional labels that I needed.
‘They heard me say words like ‘getting healthy’, ‘good for my body’, ‘strong’ and don’t ever hear words like ‘weight loss’ ‘fat’ or ‘diet.’
‘But it’s hard. There’s no such thing as spare time with kids in your life.
‘You have to decide that it’s a priority. The unpredictable will happen, you’ll be exhausted, you’ll be interrupted, but it doesn’t need to stop you.
‘I’ve worked through the problem with much success and my kids love being a part of it now – some days it’s easier to have kids.
‘Going on long hikes doubles as a workout while entertaining them and spending time together.’(via)
Sarah now says that she has “more energy than I’ve ever hard” and that she’s “so proud” to be the role model she’s always wanted to be for her children. Judging from her progress photos, I’m sure her children are proud of her too:
[H/T Daily Mail]