Losing an incredible 89lbs has been utterly life-changing for Lisa.
Now she is strong, confident and happy again after years of uncontrollable weight gain which left her feeling depressed and ‘worthless’.
Lisa had struggled alone with her weight for years, gaining more than 88lbs over five years.
The 34-year-old sales director was 275lbs at her heaviest point, was eating over 4,000 calories a day, and was desperately unhappy with her body and the way she felt.
Nothing she tried ever worked. Ketogenic, vegetarian and juicing diets had all failed, and she just felt lost and helpless of ever achieving a long-term solution to her weight loss struggle.
Constantly tired, lethargic and low on energy, she feared she had thyroid problems or diabetes.
What doctors found were dangerously high cholesterol levels.
With a family history of heart problems and diabetes, Lisa made a commitment to change her life and her health for good.
Sixteen months later and Lisa is unrecognizable from her old self after completing Steven's custom diet and training body transformation program. More than 110lbs lighter, healthier and looking stunning with a whole new wardrobe, Lisa is thrilled with the lasting lifestyle changes she has made.
“You can’t describe it with words. It changed my life completely. I’m back where I was a long time ago.
“It’s like two different people. Not just physically, but mentally I’m stronger too.
“I am wearing mini-skirts that I didn’t even wear back when I was 25 or 26.
“I just feel amazing! I love myself now!”
Lisa has come so far over the past 16 months.
To understand just how significant her transformation has been, it’s important to consider where she started.
Before getting on the program, her weight gain was out of control.
She was gaining weight at an alarming rate year on year because of a poor diet and a lack of exercise.
“I’m an emotional eater. I think the weight gain started after having some issues in our family business. Then my mom got diagnosed with cancer.
“Then after my mom passed away in 2015, it went even further up.
“I would be gaining about 22lbs a year, easily.”
Lisa's diet was behind her uncontrollable weight gain
Food played a big part in Lisa's rapid weight gain.
Her husband was a vegetarian so Jill tried to do vegetarian food at home.
“Since I didn’t know how to do healthy vegetarian, it ended up being pasta, rice, curry and more pasta.
“Everything was fattening. If I wanted to add some taste, there would be cream and butter.
“My weight kept creeping up.”
Lisa says she would buy supermarket convenience food that she thought was healthy, but was actually packed with calories.
She would have things like shop-bought chicken wraps, smoothies and Snickers bars for breakfast, Caesar salads or Pad Thai for lunch, then curry, rice and roti for dinner.
Even a snack at her favorite coffee shop could add up to nearly 1,500 calories for Jill with a couple of soy chai lattes and a chocolate brownie.
“I actually ate 4000-4500 calories a day, most probably even more on weekends.
“No wonder I was gaining 22 lbs every year! That also goes to show how uneducated I was about different foods’ nutritional value.”
Every diet Lisa tried to regain her health ended in failure, and often actually made her gain even more weight back.
Whether it was the latest shake diet or ketogenic plan, Lisa just couldn’t find a way to sustain them.
“I did try every now and then, thinking ‘I’m going to be doing this juicing thing, or I’m going to be doing this keto thing.’
You try, but it’s not sustainable long term.
“You can handle it for a couple of weeks, or a month, and then eventually I’d give up.
“The weight would go down but it wouldn’t go down as fast, or I would feel hungry and then eat something and feel guilty. I thought ‘I’ve already messed the day up, I’ll just keep on going.’
“Then when I would gain the weight again, but I would gain it even faster.”
This cycle of restrictive diets and then rebounding hard to gain more weight left Jill feeling down and helpless to do anything.
Lisa knew it was time to change. She had seen ads on social media and a friend who had just started using Steven's custom diet and training programs but it took months before she was finally ready to commit after having one last go at losing weight herself.
“I couldn’t do it on my own. I tried, but I just couldn’t. I gained another 22 lbs, which brought me to 275 lbs.”
At the time, the one thing holding her back had been money. But seeing it as an investment in her health and happiness changed her mind.
“A few months down the line, I saw the amazing results my friend was having with Steven;s custom diet and training program....So I said ‘That’s it! This is my only chance out of this.
“When I actually thought about it, I thought ‘this is actually an investment in myself. What am I going to do, keep all that money in my account? For what?’
“I can’t buy nice things, I can’t wear nice dresses, I can’t do any of those things.
What am I going to do with the money? I might as well invest in myself and my health. So I did decide to do it.
“My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!”
Lisa is now looking to achieve even bigger goals in the gym.
Feeling happy, healthy and confident again
Lisa says her journey has been absolutely life-changing from feeling comfortable in clothes to being happy enough to take photographs of herself again.
“I struggle to show people what I looked like before because I don’t have any photos. The rule was no photographs. None whatsoever.
“The only ones I had were selfies. Then I would take 100 selfies, if not more from different angles so my chin was not visible.
“I would choose one or two photos that would stay with me.
“It’s a little sad because it’s five years or more of completely lost memories.
“Now? You can take pictures of me whenever you want!”
Lisa has one thing to say to anyone in two minds about starting a transformation with Steven's online programs. whether it’s down to time, cost or even if they don’t think the results are possible – ‘just do it!’
“You will never ever regret it. This was the best decision I ever made in my life.
“Seriously, the best decision. Investing in you, in your health, and in your well being is the best thing anyone can do for themselves.”