"...with the grief of losing my Mother to cancer 13 months ago, which was shortly after losing Dad to cancer, I went back to old eating patterns, had 3 months off the gym and numbed the loss of my pain with a few glasses of wine more often than was good for me."

I had reached a plateau and unable to lose any further weight. For years I had read about the amazing transformations of clients of Ideal Bodies Online, and decided this may be the key to achieving my own success in reaching my goal weight.

I went off my diet I would stop exercising too and have a ‘well deserved break’, which would ultimately see me back at where I started in no time at all.  I had two entire wardrobes of clothes – ranging three sizes to fit every part of the yoyo cycle.

"This all started over the summer holidays when my 12yr old daughter innocently pointed out that I now had ‘old ladies legs’ (you know the type, all lumpy and bumpy around the upper thigh)."

"The 12 weeks has been a journey of self discovery and transformation from years of low self-esteem, low confidence, disordered eating and negative thoughts to FINALLY being at peace with myself in my own body."

"I have always admired people with the fit, toned look and always wished I could have their body. I thought I was a fairly active person but I knew I was lacking something to get my Ideal Body."

"As I watched the weight pile on through inactivity I sought comfort in food and would regularly eat a family block of chocolate every night. I was caught in a vicious cycle of emotional eating and hating the way I looked causing me to seek more comfort in food. I couldn’t stand to look at myself in the mirror and felt sad that my kids couldn’t remember me as a fit person. All they saw was chubby Mum who probably hadn’t played sport in her life!"

"I have just come back from Everest Base Camp, it was the hardest thing I have ever done!"

I was approaching my 30th birthday and it occurred to me that for more than half my life I had been “on a diet”.  As a teenager I developed disordered eating patterns which carried through with me for 17 years.  Ever since I can remember I’ve been on and off diets and lost, then gained significant amounts of weight.

"This is the year I turn 40 and I am determined to meet this birthday with a slimmer more toned body."

"...you have to do the work, but if you have the will and determination – your goals and dreams are more than possible."

"I am now in control, feel fantastic on the inside and out, my confidence has been boosted dramatically, what more could I ask for!"

"I received plenty of stares, comments and wolf whistles as I undertook resistance training using 10L water jerries..."

"It was time to take the bull by the horns, stop talking about it and just do it."

Well, it happened before I knew it. I was nearly 50, fat, flabby, frustrated and feeling awful. I had sabotaged my efforts to lose weight for years by constant yo-yo dieting, starving myself to the point of exhaustion and ill-health. At night I would arrive home after work and begin to eat so much that I couldn’t then eat the healthy meal I’d prepare for my family.

"My husband is so proud of me, he thinks he has a new wife."

"I was very motivated to finish the challenge because I knew if I did, I could achieve anything I put my mind to.”

"I eat when I am stressed, when I am sad and when I am happy. I have eaten my emotions for so long that no matter how hard I trained in the weight room or how much cardio I did, I could not lose weight."

"My biggest problem areas were my thighs, bum and tummy. I bought the Women’s Health Magazine one day and saw the ad for Ideal Bodies Online, jumped on the computer and looked at the amazing transformations."

"When I was younger I suffered from an incident of abuse. This event altered me and I became withdrawn, insecure and wary of the world. To cope, I subconsciously became an emotional eater allowing food to medicate my moods. But as I was still a child my activity levels and metabolism ensured that I didn’t gain too much weight."

I decided to sign up for the NEW YOU 12 week challenge after reading an article in women's health and fitness magazine I found myself in awe of the transformations that were featured.

I joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1996 at the age of 17, straight out of school. I was just under 5 foot tall (still am) and weighed 49kg. I had grown up on a farm with my small family. My Mum had brought my sister and I up eating great, healthy food. Most nights we had meat and three veggies. I didn’t know what it was like to have pizza delivered, we never had soft drink in the house and we only had dessert if ice cream happened to be on special.

Coming from a background of sport and fitness, and coaching martial arts for a number of years, it was to my disappointment that I had become what I had feared most…a fat, frumpy, unfit and debilitated thirty-something.

I have struggled with my weight over the past 5 years. I have lost weight only to regain it again. Unfortunately each and every diet I tried would result in the weight loss, but the idea of incorporating that eating into the rest of my life was never a possibility and therefore I would go back to my old eating and regain the weight.

For years I have battled with weight and body image issues. I have lost weight, through really low calorie restricted diets and lots of cardio, and not a lot of weight training and have always put the weight back on through bingeing. My body has been in a state of starvation.

The NEW YOU 12-Week Challenge is something I have been aware of for quite some time after seeing the ads and testimonials in some of the fitness publications I read such as Women’s Health and Fitness and Oxygen magazines. However, I always scoffed at the idea of online personal training thinking it was for gullible people who had reached such a point of desperation that they would part with their money for any old quick-fix and yet... those before and after shots were so compelling, especially on the IBO ad, that I kept being drawn to it and eventually went to the web site.

Like too many others, my weight has been a problem from a very early age. When I reached 18, due to some happenings in my life, I decided to do something about it, so, slowly, started increasing my activity and modified my diet a little. Then, I came to Australia, and a new lifestyle, new opportunities did help me get to a very reasonable weight, for which I was happy (65 kg) but not satisfied.

Hi all, I’ve just completed my 12 week challenge under the guidance of mentor guru – Karen Lewis - and she’s asked me to proffer a few motivational words.

I wasn’t always overweight, though I have been for a long time. When I was in high school, my eating habits were not great but I played a lot of sport and was quite active so I was always a healthy weight. That all stopped however, once I started uni and the active lifestyle came to a screeching halt with my eating habits remaining the same.

I have always had issues with my body. Ever since I was a teenager, I have continuously struggled with attaining my ideal body shape. I have always had skinny legs, so could get away with wearing baggy tops to hide my tummy.

Well I didn’t waste any time joining as I thought, this is it, this is what I’ve been trying to do for years.  I’d had personal trainers in the past but they only guide you in the exercise area.  They didn’t really follow my eating plan.  I’d always been fairly slim and exercised regularly but somehow in recent years I have had a tummy and got tired of people asking if I was pregnant.

A series of unfortunate events that spanned a couple of years and found me extremely unhappy, out of shape and in desperate need of change, was the catalyst for me to begin a program with Ideal Bodies Online.

I am 43 years of age, married and have two small children who are 4 and 5 years of age. I work part time, and also run my own small business. My sister and I decided to do the 12 week body blitz competition mid August.  We were both feeling very unhappy with our level of fitness and our physical appearance and for me it was starting to impact on my emotional well being.

I didn’t want to go through another winter in Melbourne putting on 10+ kilos of weight and having to spend most of summer trying to lose it. With a holiday planed for Thailand in October, there wouldn’t be much time to get into shape either. This winter was going to be different.

Since I first put on 10kgs as a teenager, I've been a chronic yo-yo dieter. I tried many weight loss programs. The regimes were always so restrictive that I was never able to maintain them. Even if I lost weight, eventually I became complacent, returning to my old eating habits & the weight would soon pile back on with interest. Finally after multiple failed attempts at losing weight, I fell into deep depression.

For years I have read the fitness magazines with the success stories and dreamt of having that commitment and discipline to complete a 12 week challenge.

I am 36 years old, I have two children, and a wonderful husband who has supported me through out the last 12 weeks of my weight loss challenge. Only twelve weeks ago, I was at my heaviest weight ever. I was starting to feel very tired, unhealthy and unattractive. 

Approaching my 29th Birthday, being a wife and mother to my three beautiful daughters (9,7 and 4 years), I have never been one to put myself first.  Between the responsibilities of running a family, working part-time and studying, I had little time left for myself. I kept my goals in the back of my mind, things I would dream of achieving, but never seemed to have the will to reach them.

I hated the fact that whenever I complained about being unhappy about my weight, I always received the same response from people, “but you’re tall you can get away with it.”

I was really starting to feel like a complete failure in anything I set out to do...

I never believed that not only would I stick and follow the 12 week challenge, but that I would “win” in so many ways.

I’d spent most of my life being overweight, until 6 years ago I “discovered” sport 6 years ago. This did wonders for my figure and it fast became a favourite pastime. My eating, though, had lots of room for improvement.

After spending an entire winter, cooped up inside, unwilling to exercise outdoors as my asthma and breathing was so bad, I became increasingly unfit and unhealthy. I felt lethargic, unmotivated to exercise (which was unusual as I had competed in triathlons several years earlier) and very uncomfortable with my body

Having spent a large portion of 2004 travelling for work, followed by an extremely indulgent Christmas and holiday season, my weight had ballooned to the highest ever. My body fat was 25%!! I had never felt so ashamed of myself, or so out of control.

Your 40s are all about being comfortable in your own skin, being kind to yourself and having the inner onfidence to know that it’s never too late to achieve beyond your wildest expectations.