Having tried everything from the baby food diet, to soup, pear and fruit diet to fads that have been and gone, Zoe O’Donnell found clean eating was the fastest way to lose weight… and keep it off for good.
The 23-year old from Donegal, who is currently living in Adelaide has been working hard at eating the right food, little and often, and shared her experience of weight loss with us here at Her.ie.
Here Zoe shares her experience of growing up the ‘chubby’ child, trying every fad diet, and finally taking the steps to not only change her weight but help others on their transformation journey too…
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“When I was younger I was pretty chubby child, like I was the biggest in my class. I was always picked last to do things when it involved running or the football team. I was always pretty chubby and then I started swimming, and I did lose a bit of the baby fat but I was still the chunky Zoe.
I really didn’t have a clue about eating but then I remember when I went to college I started hearing about these diets. I even did that baby food diet but I only lasted on it a few days. Then I did the pear and fruit diet, the soup diet, all these stupid things that were just never going to work. They really made it ten times worse for me.
I never really thought I was that big in college until I started looking back and realising I wasn’t eating properly and I’d be putting on weight. I remember during the baby food diet, coming home and my mum was looking at me like “what are you eating?” and I just pretended to love it. Sure I ended up going and getting a big Chinese that weekend!
When you’re that age, you hear all these diets that work, but what I really think is important is that girls realise that they don’t. You won’t get anywhere by starving yourself. I was guilty, I did the exact same because I thought it’d work… but it does not work.
When I came to Australia, I still didn’t have a clue about eating, I was still eating out, still drinking a lot of alcohol. It would have been Christmas 2012, and I went skydiving. I was 68/69kg and when they measured me at a height of only 5ft 3, I thought it was pretty heavy but I didn’t see it on me. After that I googled it, I looked it up online and realised I shouldn’t be weighing in at that weight. I decided to try clean eating. That’s when I lost the weight drastically.
I went home at Christmas, and everyone was really taken aback. I did get really skinny, probably too skinny, but I lost 9kg from August to December.
I didn’t like being that skinny though – it was too skinny for my frame. I kind of gave it all up that Christmas and put it all back on. So then back in July, I decided to start again but this time I researched it more. I started looking up what foods to eat, what I should do, what exercises I should do, and this time I slimmed down, but to a healthy skinny. You won’t look at me and think I’m tiny, but I look like a healthy skinny.
I eat every three hours, and even every hour and a half I have a snack. Even the people at work would say “Where do you even put it?” I honestly eat so much, and that’s my biggest piece of advice to anyone: Do not let yourself get hungry. If you do eat regularly you will not put on the weight, and that’s why I started my instagram page – to show other people that they can eat healthy, smaller portions every couple of hours and still lose weight.
I was really nervous when I made the page public though, ‘cause I didn’t know what reactions would be from people at home. But everyone’s been so supportive, and I love that I wake up and sometimes there’s people leaving questions. I love that I might be able to help them with their weight loss.
My mum has been so supportive but for me, I think the best reaction has been when I put two pictures of myself together and I just saw this massive difference. I couldn’t get over that I went from one extreme to the other while eating so much food.
People think it’s going to be really expensive to eat clean, but I’d advise they just buy their groceries in bulk. I prep all my meals on a Sunday, and I’ll buy in the fruit, vegetables and lean mince and chicken breasts and make my meals up from the week. I post my recipes on instagram too, so if people want a meal idea they can just log on and get it.
Zoe posts pictures of food recipes of clean eat meals, treats and snacks to her instagram account
For anyone starting out, the first thing I’d tell them to do is to try on their sports bra and boxers and take a picture before they start anything. Then the most important thing is to make sure you start off every day with a good breakfast. People who skip breakfast, but then eat a salad for lunch, well of course their tummy is rumbling.
I don’t believe in letting your tummy rumble. Start off with a good breakfast and then make sure you’re eating well-portioned meals. A dinner plate should really be the size of a side plate – your meat should be the size of a fist. Going to bed with a full stomach after eating a too large dinner at eight is the worst idea. After two weeks of eating a breakfast and a smaller sized dinner, you’re really going to notice a difference.
Then gradually you’ll start noticing you’re making changes to your lunches, and your snacks and you won’t even notice it’s happening. If people are willing to spend serious money on slimming diet tablets, then why not spend your money and do it right by buying proper groceries? And then just introduce your exercise.
I started on cardio, but I’ve sinced moved onto weight training as it’s so good for weight loss and toning. I started Cross Fit and I absolutely love it. I do it four times a week at an hour a session. And I know that if there’s a week I decide to take off from the gym, I won’t put on the weight because I’m eating more regularly and eating a balanced meal plan.
I hated exercise and I really can’t run, but I love Cross Fit now and it’s the exercise I stick with.
I’ve had to learn to know myself, that I’ll have that packet of crisps that I want, or that piece of chocolate, but I just won’t scoff it, and I won’t have it every day. Don’t hold back from going on a girly night with a Chinese take-away. Go enjoy it, and then just eat clean the rest of the week. It is possible.
I just want people to realise that they can lose weight, and they can enjoy it.”
For more inspiration for clean eating recipe plans, food diaries, or some motivational snaps of Zoe’s journey along the way, follow her instagram page @thehealthyme.ie here.
