Good health comes in all sizes
AFTER HITTING A CRISIS POINT, Elizabeth Lallier changed her lifestyle — and her attitude: It’s not about being skinny
E lizabeth Lallier has battled with weight her entire life.
“I came into the world weighing 11.8 pounds,” the vibrant store manager explained. “And I just kept on growing.”
Lallier, who was born in Calgary to francophone parents, lived there and later in Vancouver. When she was 10, her family returned to Quebec, and it was tough, she said.
“I was this big, blond kid who didn’t speak French, it was a very difficult time, and, yes, I was bullied.”
Lallier, 38, said she remembers very clearly her first diet at the age of 9. “It was the first of many, many diets and failed attempts and deprivation; I do believe I tried every diet out there.”
Still, when she was younger, Lallier said, she was active. “I was always outside, on a bike, riding around, playing soccer in the park, swimming, whatever. Video games weren’t an issue then.”
Fast forward to 2008, and Lallier found herself in a serious depression.
“I stopped doing everything. I was on a cocktail of medication and very sick, I ended up gaining a lot of weight, which made it all worse.”
In 2009, when she hit her heaviest weight of 358 pounds, she was given a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
“I was having problems with my vision, I was walking with a cane, and I thought to myself, ‘I cannot continue this way.’ I didn’t want the next thing to be a wheelchair, and then who knows what.”
So Lallier took stock of what she was eating, gave up junk food, and cut back on dairy and cheese and processed foods.
“I also had a sweet tooth and was eating a lot of sugar — a lot.”
Then Lallier joined a local gym and began to swim. “It was easy on the joints, and I loved it.”
She started eating six times a day — “no more coffee and cigarette for breakfast” (she also quit smoking) or skipping meals. She concentrated on fruit and vegetables and lean protein.
She does have the occasional treat food. “If you deprive yourself, that’s when bad things happen. If I have a piece of pizza every once in awhile, that’s OK, it’s just not every day.”
With time, the weight started to come off and she was feeling better than she had in a long time.
A trainer at the gym, who noticed that she was swimming every day, offered to give her a program that included light strength training, some biking and walking. “I thank God for her every day — she really helped me build my strength and mobility.”
Lallier’s lifestyle is also a factor at work: she manages Sportive Plus, a store that sells activewear for plus-size women. “So often, people think plus-size women aren’t active,” she said. “We are — I’m one of them.”
When the owners of the boutique proposed hosting sport activities for women, Lallier was first on board. They began a learn-to-run program, as well as Bootcamp classes offered by Allez Hop Let’s Go, a company founded by two plus-size women to encourage others to live well through healthy eating and exercise.
Lallier has since become one of their trainers, giving classes to women who want to learn to run.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Lallier said. “Some of the women who come to the group are so shy at first, they don’t want to go out on the street and try, they are worried that people are laughing at them,” she said. “I tell them not to be shy, that people who are looking out their window are inside, not doing anything — at least we are here and we are moving.”
Since hitting rock bottom, Lallier has completely changed her life. She doesn’t own a car anymore, but cycles everywhere.
She has lost more than 150 pounds, has run her first 21K race in Ottawa and cycles 90 kilometres a day to and from work in Laval. Just not on very rainy days.
“My goal is about health, not being skinny,” she said. “When I stopped dieting and put my focus on eating well and moving, that’s when I started being successful.”
The scale is only one form of measurement, she said. “I weigh more than I did when I was much younger, but my measurements are smaller, I am leaner — so don’t focus only on what the scale says.”
Lallier said that when she was a child, there weren’t many overweight kids; now they are everywhere. “Why? Because they are inside playing video games, eating processed food and fast food and not moving. It’s a shame.”
Her MS flare-ups have been kept at bay, she said, which she firmly believes is a result of her new, healthier lifestyle.
“Not too long ago, I met someone and was eating out more often and maybe having a little too much wine and I started to feel awful again,” she said. “Once I got back to eating well and moving, every day, I immediately felt better. I know that for me, it is what I have to do.”
We all have the capacity to do the things we want to do, Lallier said. But we have to really want them.
“I knew I didn’t want to get sicker, so I found the time for me — just like any other appointment, I put exercise in my agenda and I do it. Start small, go outside and just walk, 30 minutes every day, you will see all the good things that can come out of that, I promise.”