Tanya Ellis is the winner of the Nutren Activ Adventure Boot Camp Challenge 2011. She weighed in at 104.5 kg and has lost 12.3 kg, 5.3% body fat and a total of 70.5cm in just over three months. This is her story:

Finding me and who I really am!

I remember from a very young age wanting to grow up and be a professional netball player, even if it was to just get my Provincial colours. I really enjoyed playing all sorts of sport and being active.

After not being selected to play in the first team for netball in high school I became very angry, frustrated and rejected thinking I had no chance of ever playing professionally.

This is when my weight started increasing, which lead me to start dieting for my Matric Dance. In Grade 12 I was finally selected to play for the first team and tour with them to Namibia. I started to play club netball too and was selected to play for Western Province. My dream had finally come true and it was one of the happiest days of my life. However, in my first match I injured my knee and was unable to play for almost a year. This is when my weight really started becoming a problem. I was used to training four days a week and playing netball matches every weekend and all I could now do was watch from the sideline.

Again I felt frustrated and angry and began to eat to make myself feel better. I was no longer on the netball court, I could not exercise or put any impact on my knee other than swimming and I really did not see myself swimming, so I did no exercise and thought the world was against me.

I hardly played much netball at college because of my injury and was always afraid I would hurt myself again. I then started working at Go2Africa where almost 8 hours of my day involves sitting still and at my desk. (This was not really me, I like being active out and about) however, I remained and just focused on my work.

Deep inside me I still had this passion and drive to play netball again, get fit and healthy because as the months went by I just started picking up more weight. Many family members kept telling me I should watch my weight and it really upset me so much so that I would burst into tears and out of anger go buy an ice cream, chocolate or pizza and ‘deal with it’

I was very unhappy with myself and could not fit into the clothes I wanted. I started feeling shy around my own husband, I kept asking how I could have let myself go and get to this point. Early last year I noticed an ad for Adventure Boot Camp in a magazine and decided to join for the winter special during June and July. 
My world changed and I was looking forward to each and every practice. I noticed that I started feeling fitter and lost about 3kg. I then had an appointment with my Gynaecologist, as my husband and I were keen to start a family, when to my shock she told me I was obese and an extremely high risk. Pregnancy at this stage could cause many complications for me such as Type 2 Diabetes, Still Birth and Hypertension. She wanted me to lose at least 30kg first.

At this point I knew I could not continue with the lifestyle I was following. I made an appointment with Adventure Boot Camp’s dietician, Kim Hofmann, who again confirmed I needed to make lifestyle changes.
It was soon after that I entered the Nutren Activ Adventure Boot Camp Challenge and was chosen as a finalist. My world changed drastically. I now know that following a healthy eating plan combined with regular exercise is the only way to find balanced happiness and a sustainable life change. Ladies, there is help and people will be supportive, you just need to know you are not alone and people like helping. So reach out and speak to someone.

In the near future I will be following my dream to educate, support, train and motivate women and I can’t wait for the many exciting adventures ahead. Then finally I will achieve my most important goal of being a healthy weight to conceive and start a family and know that my children will learn healthy habits. What an amazing gift to give your kids!

The Adventure Boot Camp Challenge will open again for entries in March 2012. If you feel you need a lifestyle makeover, read more about it on www.Adventurebootcamp.co.za/challenge.php5 or register for one of their camps located across South Africa.