Eighty Kilos of Shame
The process of losing the emotional weight
“Once a fattie, always a fattie.” Right?
After spending most of her life obese, weighing in at one-hundred-and-sixty-five kilograms (364 lbs) at her heaviest, Mart-Mari Breedt, software engineer and mother of four, lost just over eighty kilograms (176 lbs) in a mammoth battle against the scale. She then found herself in a frightening dilemma: how would she manage to keep the weight off and maintain her massive loss after she had spent her entire life as a morbidly obese person? All she had ever known was how to be fat. Being thin was a new and daunting experience.
In her dazzling debut memoir, Mart-Mari asks hard to answer questions: Can you recover from obesity? Is it possible to maintain a weight loss of eighty kilograms?
There are so many books on how to lose weight — an entire industry has been built around it, yet so little — apart from stick to your eating plan, keep exercising and continue to be perfect — is written about keeping the kilos off and maintaining one’s weight.
Refusing to accept defeat and realising that she cannot spend the rest of her life obsessed with her scale, Mart-Mari started blogging about her maintenance challenges, which turned into an introspection journey. In the process, she dug deep, confronting long-buried emotions. Along the way, she found her true self, who had still been hiding in eighty kilograms of shame.
Tagtig Kilos se Skuldlas
Die proses om die emosionele gewig te verloor
“Een keer ’n vettie, altyd ’n vettie.” Nè?
Na ’n hele lewe as ’n vetsugtige persoon, het Mart-Mari Breedt, ’n sagteware-ingenieur en ma van vier, net meer as tagtig kilogram verloor. Haar stryd teen die skaal was massief — op haar swaarste het sy een-honderd-vyf-en-sestig kilogram geweeg. Maar in plaas daarvan om haar nuwe gewig ten volle te geniet, bevind sy haarself toe in ’n skrikwekkende nuwe dilemma: hoe gaan sy dit regkry om haar gewig nou konstant te hou, as sy nog haar hele lewe lank oorgewig was? Sy weet hoe om vet te wees — sy het immers jare se ondervinding daarmee. Om maer te wees was ’n nuwe en uitdagende ondervinding.
In haar ‘krap-alles-oop’-debuutgedenkskrif, vra Mart-Mari moeilike vrae met geen maklike antwoorde nie: Is dit moontlik om ten volle te kan genees van vetsug? Is dit moontlik om ’n gewigsverlies van tagtig kilogram in stand te hou?
Daar is so baie leesstof oor hoe om gewig te verloor — ’n hele industrie is gebou daarom, tog is daar so min, behalwe hou by jou eetplan, bly oefen en hou aan om perfek te wees — geskryf oor hoe om gewig af te hou.
Haar hardkoppige weiering om te aanvaar dat sy maar net weer haar gewig gaan optel, saam met ’n besef dat sy nie vir die res van haar lewe die skaal obsessief kan dophou nie, het gemaak dat Mart-Mari begin skryf het oor haar gewig se instandhouding en uitdagings. Haar skrywery het gelei tot ’n introspektiewe reis waartydens sy baie diep in haar psige moes gaan grawe en baie seer en ou emosies in die gesig moes staar. Op haar reis het sy haar opregte self ontdek, wat nog al die tyd begrawe was in ’n skuldlas van tagtig kilogram.
My First Marathon Training
80 kg down, a marathon to go…
Running is hard.
42,2 km is far.
For most runners running 42,2 km is a bucket list event. For Mart-Mari Breedt it was as well. This 41-year-old software engineer, author and mother of four had already achieved a lot in her life: She lost 80 kg, became a runner, and authored and published her memoir. She loves writing and running and embraces the gifts that overcoming obesity has brought her. It is now time for her next goal: Running a marathon.
My First Marathon Training is a tale of grit. It is the story of how an unlikely marathon runner persevered through a challenging training program to achieve a goal she thought herself incapable of achieving. There were days when her responsibilities made it unrealistic to fit training into her life. Many days she was tired, sore and doubted herself.
Physical discomfort was inevitable — nothing about Mart-Mari’s story was ever comfortable. But mental discomfort — for someone as headstrong and determined as Mart-Mari — was surprising.
Mart-Mari’s story might appear to be about her journey to the marathon finishing line — it is not. It is about how she made her way to the start line. She only realised this herself the day before race day.
42,2 km is far. 0 km is sometimes further.
Ons het 4 November 2024 met nog ‘n rondte van die Kopskuif kursus begin. Ek beplan ‘n Engelse weergawe van hierdie kursus in 2025 en sal later meer daaroor deel.
Die Kopskuif kursus is ‘n gewigsverlies voorbereidingskursus. In hierdie kursus probeer ek om die wêreld van diëte en oefening te ontrafel en dit ‘n bietjie minder ontmoedigend te maak vir iemand wat weet dat hulle gewig moet verloor, maar onseker is oor waar om te begin.
Oor die verloop van 21 dae gesels ons oor:
- Redes vir wil gewig verloor
- Emosionele eet
- Motivering
- Verskillende diëte
- Verskillende oefen opsies
- Ondersteuning, ens
Kursus formaat: Regstreekse video’s elke weeksdag en geskrewe dagstukkies
Platform: Facebook
Koste: R550
Om in te skryf kontak 082 859 3151
