By Alyce Collins
MEET the mum-of-two whose weight spiralled out of control when she was hospitalised for her entire pregnancy and later gave birth to her son with a heart defect, causing her to eat to make herself feel happy but nevertheless lost an incredible four stone to achieve her dream svelte figure.
When Sophie Brown (27) from Adelaide gave birth to her premature son at just 32-weeks, he had four holes in his heart and required constant medical appointments and surgeries. At this time in her life, Sophie had no money and no possessions, and she became increasingly reliant on her parents to get by. Sophie turned to YouTube workouts and did them five-times-a-week, and she can now do the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts that she once never thought she would do.
At her heaviest, Sophie weighed 14-stone and was a UK 18, but she has now slimmed down to just 9st 13lbs and is a UK 8. Sophie used to feel embarrassed when she was out with her children, and often compared herself to all of the other mothers around her. She described her moment of clarity when she knew she had to change her life.
“It was a hot 35-degree day and I was in a jumper and jeans because I was too embarrassed to wear a top that showed my arms or stomach,” said Sophie.
“That feeling I had in that moment made me want to lose weight. Not just for me but for my kids.
“I started with a five-day challenge and I got 12 mins into it and I almost passed out doing the low impact. But I stuck to the five days even though I didn’t finish the length of the workout videos. I worked out 5-6 times a week, and started really slow.
“No big HIIT routines no strength just light cardio and pilates to try and make a difference. Then all of a sudden I could do the HIIT routines and I would strength train. I have never stepped foot in a gym thanks to fitness blender. I do HIIT, boxing, strength training and pilates. All mixed up in my week.
“I lift maximum 20 kilos per hand that’s it, I never thought strength training would do anything, but it has changed my life! I now do around an hour – hour and a half training five-times-a-week.
“It’s changed my life so much, I play with my kids all day I can run after them constantly and I eat healthy now so they do too.
“Before it was easier for me to swing past fast food places because I wanted it, so instead of cooking I’d get them food from there too but not anymore, that’s now a treat not a daily thing.”
Sophie explained that the hardest thing about losing weight was that she would overanalyse herself on a daily basis, expecting change to happen overnight.
“I would always look in the mirror and stare at all the parts of me I hated and think nothing was changing when in fact it was. So I do a weekly check in and apart from that I don’t check myself everyday anymore,” she said.
Sophie now eats 2000 calories a day, drinks 3-4 litres of water a day and strength times at least four-time- a-week. Sophie also does boxing, HIIT and pilates when she can.
“I can look in the mirror and feel proud of myself and instead of sitting on Instagram looking at other people for motivation, I am my own motivation. That means everything to me,” she said.
Sophie’s advice for anyone else looking to lose weight is to start slow and ease into it.
“Drink more water, maybe cut a couple snacks a day from your daily diet, ease yourself into it. Don’t call being healthy ‘a diet’,” she said.
“You can still eat chocolate you can still have takeaway, whatever your favourite thing is you can still have it, but the other 90% of the time eat clean, and fuel your body.”
For more information see www.instagram.com/sophie.ellen_fitness
