10kg Down And More Confident Than Ever!

After losing the weight she had been battling with since her teens, Debra Maritz has managed to keep it off for nearly a decade.

- Jana Greyling

Debra Maritz’s life-changing weight-loss journey started in January 2010 when her sister tagged her in a photo on Facebook. The pic showed Debra and her husband flanking their Grade 1 son in his brand-new school uniform. Although she’s beaming proudly at the camera, Debra (45) was so shocked by her appearance that she removed the tag immediately.

She had been struggling with her weight and body image since her teenage years, and despite desperate yo-yo dieting and trying every eating plan she could find, her weight had climbed to 73kg. Nothing seemed to work for her long-term, and her self-confidence had hit an all-time low.

She just couldn’t understand why she kept getting bigger – she was eating the same food as the rest of her family, and they weren’t picking up weight. ‘I was unhappy with my body but I didn’t know why I looked the way I did, or how to change it. ’

Debra’s diet consisted of toast or granola for breakfast, a toasted sandwich or pasta salad for lunch, and veg, meat, and potatoes for dinner.

On weekends, the family was active. Her husband likes to surf, so she and the kids would often go along to the beach with him. ‘We were never really couched potatoes… I didn’t smoke or drink excessively either. But being active didn’t make a difference because I was eating the wrong things, which I didn’t know at the time.’

Tired of feeling ashamed, Debra knew she had to get out of the dark place she was in. ‘Thankfully, that was exactly when Tim Noakes appeared on the scene, and low-carb products started becoming available,’ she says.