TELLING IT LIKE IT IS
Her fans are inspired by her honesty, which is why SA’s Tracey-Lee has such a huge following on social media
IN A world of awesome abs and #bootygains selfies, fitspo-inspired people seem to be on every social media platform they can get their weight-lifting, kettle-bell swinging hands on. From Aussie fitness sensation Kayla Itsines to perfectly proportioned fitness model Emily Skye, internet stars peddle messages of body-love – while sharing snaps of their ultra-lithe figures in teeny workout outfits with their legions of fans.
But every once in a while, a voice many can relate to joins the fray – like that of Cape Town girl-nextdoor Tracey-Lee Lusty.
The 25-year-old family law attorney started her Instagram fitness account on 1 January 2016, when she weighed 109,3 kg.
She’d battled with her weight since she was a little girl, trying out crash diets and losing up to 15 kg in months, only to gain it back – and then some.
To hold herself accountable she became @fitnessgirl_za, sharing every step on Instagram.
“So this is me,” she captioned a close-up. “Everyone knows me as Tracey, the fun-loving confident happy go-getter but my self-esteem has never been lower.
“I’ll crack jokes about my weight to indicate that there’s no way I could fit next to the person on a bench or in the back of a car. My fat jokes and mild body shaming always seem funny to everyone around me.
“But the truth is, I don’t want to have to make those ‘fat’ jokes to make myself feel better about a situation I find myself in. That’s why I’ve started this fitness transformation journey. I want to change my life.”
The account exploded. Suddenly thousands were cheering her on – and it started working.
“When I first started I didn’t have any guidance from a nutritionist or personal trainer,” the pretty brunette tells YOU. “I’ve had many in the past so I thought I could just use previous techniques to reach my goals.”
WHEN it comes to dieting, Tracey had been around the block. She’d been doing it since she was seven, when she saw her first dietician.
“I didn’t quite understand what I was doing there but knew we had a ‘playdate’ every Tuesday at 3 pm,” she recalls. “I remember eating cream crackers and strawberry yoghurt a lot!”
This marked the beginning of almost two decades of yo-yo dieting. At her slimmest she weighed 62 kg – on her 21st birthday in 2012. “It felt amazing,” she says. “I could hardly believe it was me. I remember attending a friend’s wedding and people being mesmerised by my weight loss.”
But a year later she started postgraduate studies toward a Bachelor of
Law degree – and studying full-time took a toll on her psyche and her body. “By the end of 2014 I’d gained all my weight back (and more), and weighed about 102 kg.”
When she started working the number on the scale crept up – until she turned to Instagram. “I started @fitnessgirl_za on 1 January 2016 as a visual diary to track my progress and as a means to remain accountable to myself this time around,” she says. “The first step was really admitting what I’d done to myself.”
Tracey was down to 103 kg by day 58 of her “fitness journey” but by mid-year her weight had crept up again because of long work hours and her lack of knowledge when it came to portion control.
“It was only in August 2016 that I realised I needed to seek outside help,” Tracey admits. She stumbled upon online coach Jack Lotter, owner of Sheriff Training Systems, on Facebook and signed up for his guidance. “After all, what did I have to lose?”
THE more she posted, the more her audience grew. “I didn’t lose followers because I gained weight, I gained followers because I was so genuine, open and honest about it,” she says. But now she had a plan, and someone other than her ever-supportive boyfriend of eight years, Dean Horwitz, to guide her through the quagmire of getting fit. Jack is based in Joburg, so he set up a workout and healthy eating plan for Tracey on an app called Trainerize.
“I would always eat what I ‘thought’ was healthy,” Tracey explains. “But in actual fact, what I was eating was far from it. Before I started with my coach Jack, my portion sizes were out of control as I was basically eating for three to four people per sitting!”
Now Tracey practises a technique called carb cycling. “Essentially this is a high-carb day when I train legs, four medium-carb days on the other days when I train, and then two low-carb days on the rest days when I don’t train.
“My day-to-day diet consists of oats, egg whites, tomato, mushroom, salmon, broccoli, apples, white rice, chicken breast, tuna and cucumber.”
Four weeks after her first weigh-in she’d lost 7 kg. “I’m so HAPPY to reveal these results!” she shared.
Her winning weight-loss streak continued. The number on the scale crept down to 103 kg, then 96 kg, 92 kg – and 89 kg by May 2017. Having committed to losing 54 kg, Tracey was more than 25 kg down.
“Words cannot even begin to describe how overwhelmed I feel right now as I write that I have FINALLY reached the first MASSIVE milestone on this journey,” was her proud Instagram caption.
“Today I want to reach out to those of you who feel you’re struggling with your journeys. I just want to say one thing, I HEAR YOU! This isn’t glamorous. Getting up at 5 am for fasted cardio is NEVER going to be fun. But you know what is fun? Seeing the weeks of your hard work FINALLY translate. Believe in yourself, push yourself, RISE UP! Because you’re a damn UNICORN. And ain’t no one gonna tell you different!” Her supporters went wild. “Your honesty and down-to-earth ‘realness’ is inspiring,” one fan commented, while another added, “Well done and keep up the great work. Inspiration for me to start my own journey real soon.” Tracey believes her honesty resonated with many. “I don’t sugar-coat anything. Weight loss is a real struggle,” she says. “Most people lose and gain and lose again. I wasn’t proud. In fact, I was the opposite. This was my journey and I wasn’t about to cover it up. “And I never wanted to make this story glamorous in any way. It’s not. It’s hard and it will test you beyond your limits.”