I feel more happy and free
Operation Transformation’s Edel O’Malley on finding space to take care of herself
WHEN Edel O’Malley signed up for Operation Transformation she felt she had lost herself. It’s something that lots of women who are mothers of a young child will identify with — being a mother to one-year-old Daniel and adapting to motherhood meant there wasn’t much time for herself.
Now a few weeks in Edel is feeling happier and healthier in her own skin.
‘I kind of felt like I just ran out of road,’ she says of her reason for applying to the RTE show. ‘I lost myself a small bit. I hadn’t been exercising, I hadn’t been eating right and I felt horrible. And I was trying to make changes, I was going to the odd class here and there, but I wasn’t putting my heart and soul into it.’
When the ad for Operation Transformation leaders popped up on her Instagram, Edel applied on a whim.
‘I had seen the show, but not a huge amount of times,’ she says. ‘But I applied and went through the process, never thinking I was going to be selected. When I was I thought, “Oh, my God! I’ve really done it now.” But it obviously was meant to be.”
The 36-year-old works in human resources in Ashford Castle in Cong, Co Mayo and is engaged to Marcin whom she met on a night out. Together they have one-year-old Daniel so initially Edel was worried that with work and a small baby, she’d have a problem fitting everything in.
‘It was my biggest concern at the start even when we went to the assessment day, which is before you find out you’re selected,’ she says. ‘We were moving house that week, so life was very busy and I was thinking “How am I going to fit this in? And how am I going to add one more thing onto a busy schedule?”
‘And now that I’m coming to the end of it, the one thing I have realised is that I can give a bit of a priority to my own health and my own wellness. It makes me better as a mam, as a partner, a friend and employee.
‘It took me a bit of time to figure out how I could add it all into the mental load of life and being busy already it was a big concern but I got there in the end — with a lot of help from behind the scenes.’
In the last few weeks Edel has changed her life dramatically and, with the help of the experts, has lost over a stone.
‘I’m so glad I was selected for Operation Transformation. The plan has been really good for me and for us as a family as well. The experts have given us all so much support — I can text any of them at any hour of the night or morning and they will always respond to you.
‘And just finding out that I could do it and week on week, I was getting stronger both in body and mind.’
For Edel keeping up with the fitness regime has been the hardest part but she has her goal of the 5kms in Phoenix Park in mind.
‘The fitness plan has definitely been the hardest part,’ she says. ‘I was just not fit and my body took a bit of time to adjust to these exercises. But as the weeks have gone on I have continued to work at it and now it has become almost second nature to me.
‘We’re out the door here every morning by 7.30am, home by 5pm and bedtime is at 7pm so we have a good routine established. And then it’s just finding that 30 minutes somewhere for me.
‘I found going out early in the morning is what’s really worked for me. And it’s something that I will hopefully carry as I go on, and once the show finishes.
‘I get my exercise in while it’s nice and quiet and I get a bit of mental clarity and time to myself. I’ve added it in but it’s been a really lovely addition, because it’s brought so much benefit for me.’
Edel hopes to be running the 5kms on Saturday week in Phoenix Park but even if she has to walk a bit, she knows she will complete it, something she thought impossible just a few short weeks ago.
‘When I started this I thought “There is no way I will finish a 5kms.” And now I’m really hopeful that I’ll be able to run the 5kms. But also I know that I’ll finish it. That’s the guarantee I’ve given myself, and I’m not putting pressure on myself in terms of running the whole thing.
‘I’m not supremely confident yet with my run, and I’m working very hard at it. I’m doing my best, and I said at the start of all this it would be a real, measurable goal for me to complete it. I wouldn’t say I am 100% confident I’m running it all. But I do plan to get over the finish line one way or another. ‘
Being on the programme has made Edel more mindful of her choices in life, particularly because in those few weeks she has lost over a stone.
‘It’s made me more confident to know that I can do it, I’ve done it for eight weeks and I can focus on my own wellbeing and fitness. Operation Transformation has just turned a little cog in my mind that lay dormant for so long. And it’s exciting. I feel like I’ve been given a new lease of life which probably sounds like a bit of a cliche, but it is true.
‘I’m not out of breath now running up the stairs, looking after Daniel and so on.
‘This has just made me feel freer and happier — I think that will have a benefit for everyone.’
As every mother will testify, your children come first but Edel knows that making time for herself is also important.
‘It actually benefits your children as well as you, because they’re getting a happier, healthier version of you.
‘You’re going into things stronger and feel better off.
‘I take so much more now from going out for half an hour of a walk or a run than I do from half an hour sitting on my bum. The benefits are far reaching. This really has been a good lesson for me.’
Operation Transformation is on Wednesdays at 9.30pm on RTE One and on the RTE Player.
The benefits are far-reaching, doing the programme has been a really good lesson for me