JANELLE LOST 37KG
"I'm now the new you every mental health sufferer aspires to be"
Weight loss stats
| Start weight | 97kg |
|---|---|
| Current weight | 60kg |
| Weight loss | 37kg |
| % weight lost | 38% |
A struggle with mental illness meant that life has not been easy for Janelle Abbott. But the girl who hit rock bottom has turned her life around with the help of exercise – and now she’s happy, slim and confident with a new career to look forward to.
After repeated attempts to take her own life, Janelle found herself in hospital. Two months of treatment later, the 24-year-old, from Klemzig in SA, was discharged – only to find herself without a job and homeless.
Hitting rock bottom
Moving into a homeless shelter for women, she hit rock bottom and knew she had to do something to turn her life around. Within eight months, Janelle had made great progress and was awarded her own place to live. Still focussed but weighing 97kg (and a size 20), Janelle began to re-evaluate her life and her first step was to lose the weight she had been carrying for so long. Coincidentally, her new home was just down the road from the Fitness First Payneham club and she felt that she could no longer hide.
Tremendous change
Training with Personal Trainer Hien Nguyen three times a week and doing BodyCombat and boxing classes, Janelle has now lost 37kg in seven months. Not only that, but she has given up smoking, no longer takes medication for her mental health condition and has a new career working at the women's shelter she used to live in.
Janelle recently presented at the National Mental Health Conference where she preached the benefits regular exercise can have on your mental health. Today, Janelle is a happy, confident and balanced person and, in her own words, she is “the new you every mental health sufferer aspires to be”.
In her own words