Shock jock spurs EL mom on to lose kilos
Just over a year later determined Amalinda resident has lost half of her body weight
WHILE some listeners are offended by 5FM breakfast show host Gareth Cliff’s controversial remarks, an East London woman instead used his insults about overweight people as motivation to slim down.
Santie Leach from Amalinda said she was fuming last year when the outspoken Cliff referred to overweight people at the gym as “disgusting to look at”. Cliff has even referred to award-winning British singer Adele as fat and plays sound clips of a snorting pig every time he plays her music.
Leach, 28, took his words to heart and turned it into inspiration to push herself.
She weighed 118kg then – and is now almost half that at 63kg.
The Saturday Dispatch visited Leach at her workplace in Gonubie to find out more about her battle against the bulge.
It was in February last year that she was at work listening to the breakfast show when Cliff said: “It’s disgusting to look at fat people at the gym . . . there is no excuse for being fat.”
Leach said she had been obese all her life but these last words of Cliff’s – “there is no excuse for being fat” – set alarm bells ringing.
The young woman was ridiculed while growing up and even in her adult life.
“School was a nightmare. Going out to restaurants was a nightmare. I used to comfort myself by eating junk food.”
Her plan to start losing the weight was not elaborate – it was literally one step at a time.
Equipped with a pair of takkies, Leach contacted her sister and the two started walking together for an hour a day.
“I have been fat all my life and had been making excuses for myself.”
The married mother of two – her children are seven and three years – could not afford expensive weight-loss options.
Walking was the ideal way to start, and soon the walks around the block became home exercises, which included running up and down the stairs. With the exercise, she started eating more healthily and cutting out junk food like burgers and chips.
Just over a year later, Leach has lost almost half her body weight and still maintains her healthy lifestyle.
“For the first time in my life I can wear a pair of jeans and play with my children.”
Earlier this week Leach called the breakfast show to thank Cliff for his rude awakening.
“He said he was glad his rudeness had helped someone.”
Leach said her new goal is to lose the excess skin on her body.
“I am hoping to raise enough money to go for plastic surgery to remove the skin,” she said. — arethal@dispatch.co.za