I LOST 168 KILOS... AND GOT A THE BABY OF MY DREAMS
After an incredible weight-loss journey, Sydney woman Ginny Weiss is over the moon to finally become a mum
‘It’s the most l wonderfu thing I’ve ever done’
Please,” Ginny Weiss thought as she held the pregnancy test in her hand. “Let it be positive.” After a long pause, she hesitantly looked down and, to her amazement, two lines appeared!
“I couldn’t believe it,” the 38-year-old says, still in awe. “I was bawling my eyes out, I was so excited. I even planted a camera and woke Andrew up really early to surprisei him and film his reaction. Of course, he was over the moon.”
Ginny and Andrew, 41, her husband of four years, had been planning for a baby since they met 10 years ago. But Ginny’s weight was standing in their way. For many years, the digital marketing contractor, who tipped the scales at a whopping 272kg, was told her chances of conceiving were slim to none.
“Hearing that was heartbreaking and the thought of not being able to have a child was absolutely devastating,” she says. “I was really trying to come to terms with that possibility and grieving it.”
But after losing 50kg naturally by overhauling her unhealthy diet, Ginny underwent gastric sleeve surgery to remove twothirds of her stomach. Postsurgery, she dropped 118kg, and 18 months later she was finally able to start trying for a baby.
“We were literally counting down the days until we could start trying, we were that excited,” she says. “In the back of our minds we knew it might not be a possibility, so to be pregnant just two months later was an absolute dream. I’ve wanted a child my entire life, so thishi was an absoluteb l blessing.”bl i ”
They were thrilled when little Asher came into their lives on September 3 this year, weighing 3.1kg. For Ginny, the arrival of a healthy baby boy was even more emotional, given her pregnancy was not smooth sailing.
“I struggled with sickness throughout my whole pregnancyncy and I wasn’t able to stomach any protein. That really threw my diet out of whack,” she says. “Then n I started eating carbs and I hadad terrible cravings for sweets and peanut butter.”
Ginny gained 20kg during her pregnancy but she’s now managed to kick the cravings and get back to good eating patterns. Her biggest motivator is beautiful baby Asher. “I look at him in his pram and think, ‘I can’t slipli b backk i into my oldld habits and have him grow up in a house where the refrigerator is full of junk food,’” she says, as she plants a kiss on his cheek. “I need to be a good role model and be healthy, so he’ll want to be too.”
Ginny has lost 9kg since giving birth, and she’s working hard to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight, walking up to three hours a day with her little boy in tow.
“I don’t think I could do what I’m doing now if I was at my heaviest weight again. I’d still like to lose more weight, but I’m not in a hurry,” she says. “Our little family right now is what’s most important to me.
“Being a mum is exhausting but the most beautiful and wonderful thing I’ve ever done,” she adds. “Sometimes I look at him and I just cry. I’m so grateful he’s here, thankful I have a husband who has loved me and supported me through all sizes, and glad I have a life now that’s full of so many
more possibilities.”
‘I’ve wanted a child my entire life, so this was an absolute blessing’