You wouldn’t be alone if at some stage or another, you’ve said that you’ll start your diet on Monday and continue eating as you want until that day rolls around.
But what if you knew that such an all or nothing Monday attitude was in fact sabotaging your weight loss goals?
That was the case for Sydney-based Kelly Matthews, who said that her ‘Monday attitude’ in fact meant that she gained more and more weight.
Kelly Matthews’ (pictured before and after) Monday attitude meant that she was always starting new diets at the start of each week, and then swiftly falling off the wagon by the end
Here, Kelly (pictured) revealed how she shed 24 kilograms and finally quit fad dieting, clearing up her relationship with food
‘For as long as I can remember, I was always starting something new on a Monday to lose weight,’ Kelly told FEMAIL. ‘Bonus if that Monday landed on the first day of a new month’ – this meant that she tipped the scales at 82kg (left) before losing weight (right)
The 30-year-old (pictured before and after) stumbled upon a nutritional plan and approach she now swears by
‘For as long as I can remember, I was always starting something new on a Monday to lose weight,’ Kelly told FEMAIL. ‘Bonus if that Monday landed on the first day of a new month.
‘With that mindset, I ended up gaining more and more weight until I tipped the scales at 82 kilograms.’
Taking matters into her hands, Kelly, 30, managed to quit fad dieting – and lost 24 kilos to boot. She shared how she lost the weight with FEMAIL, and finally kicked her restrictive eating and binge habit to the curb.
Kelly said that from her teenage years, she would either binge or restrict – and if her approach wasn’t perfect, then she quickly fell off the wagon (pictured now)
‘If I ate even one single chip I would see it as a failure to my diet,’ she said of her approach then (pictured before and now)
These days, her day on a plate includes plenty of delicious foods, including chia pudding (left) and delicious homemade bowls for lunch (right)
According to the 30-year-old, her Monday all or nothing attitude first surfaced in her teenage years, when Kelly said she first visited a dietitian:
‘At the age of 13, I was taken to see a dietitian as I was quite big,’ Kelly recalled.
‘While I know it was done by my family with love, it quickly marked the beginning of an obsession for me. I would ask to be taken to Weight Watchers classes and dietitians, and if I ate even one single chip I would see it as a failure to my diet.’
The 30-year-old quickly spiralled into a cycle of binge eating and depriving herself.
If it wasn’t perfect, a diet wasn’t worth following – and if she fell off the wagon on a Wednesday, it wasn’t worth getting back on her diet until the next week rolled around.
The day she knew something had to change came when Kelly (pictured) was at a pool several years ago and was too embarrassed to strip down to her swimwear
‘I needed balance, not restriction, I needed self love rather than to look into the mirror criticising what I saw,’ she recalled
She stumbled upon Jessica Sepel’s book in a bookstore and started eating wholefoods and a little of what she loved – before she knew it the weight dropped off (pictured)
One day, several years ago, Kelly knew something had to change.
‘It was 38 degrees and I was at a swimming pool where everyone was cooling off,’ she recalled. ‘I was too embarrassed to get in so ended up getting into the pool in my clothes, which was almost even more embarrassing.
‘That moment in the pool I knew something had to change. I knew that what I had been doing for nearly ten years wasn’t working. I needed balance, not restriction, I needed self love rather than to look into the mirror criticising what I saw.’
The first thing the 30-year-old did was go to the bookshop to find inspiration.
Stumbling upon nutritionist Jessica Sepel’s book, The Healthy Life, Kelly invested in a copy and took it home to read.
‘I started following some of the things she advised in it, like cooking wholefoods and eating the things I love in moderation,’ she said.
‘I started aiming for balance rather than perfection, and stopped categorising my days into good or bad.’
Whereas beforehand, Kelly said she’s go to the gym for an hour every single day and do cardio exercises aggressively, instead ‘I started to move my body in a way that I loved’.
‘I stopped restricting certain foods for ever,’ she added. ‘Perfect eating is not healthy eating, I stopped trying to eat perfectly.’
‘Perfect eating is not healthy eating, I stopped trying to eat perfectly,’ she explained
The 30-year-old (pictured before and now) said that she has realised that healthy eating ‘doesn’t need to be boring’ – she said she now weighs around 60kg, which is her healthy weight
These days, a typical day on the 30-year-old’s plate includes plenty of variation.
Kelly said at the moment she is enjoying salted caramel oats or a protein smoothie filled with spinach or banana pancakes for breakfast.
At lunchtime, she’ll typically have roasted vegetables with brown rice, spinach and avocado.
Then in the evening, she loves salmon with sweet potato and broccoli, or eggplant bruschetta or cauliflower pizza.
‘Pancakes for breakfast and pizza for dinner is so much more exciting than anything I might have had previously,’ Kelly said.
‘This program proved to be that healthy living doesn’t have to be boring.’
At present, Kelly weighs around 60 kilograms – which she said is her healthy weight.
She said she does 28 minutes of exercise three times a week, as well as walks and the occasional online yoga class with her baby girl, Hannah.
Kelly has also ran a 5km race (pictured), something which she said was a goal for her – she also only works out for 28 minutes three times a week
‘Finally I’ve learned that diets do not work,’ Kelly concluded.
‘They’re not achievable and not possible in the long term. If you want to lose weight, you need to ditch diets and the all of nothing attitudes.
‘It’s possible to have balance and freedom in your life and lose weight.’
To follow Kelly Matthews on Instagram, you can visit her page here.