HEALTHY, STRONG & FULL OF ENERGY
ELIZE DELPORT HAD TRIED MULTIPLE DIETS AND WEIGHT-LOSS TABLETS WITHOUT SUCCESS UNTIL TWO WORDS – ‘INSULIN RESISTANCE’ – CHANGED HER LIFE.
Switching to a low-carb lifestyle gave Elize Delport a new lease on life
On 1 January 2014, after years of countless diets and rock-bottom self-confidence, Elize Delport (57) of Nelspruit in Mpumalanga summoned the courage to weigh herself. ‘I never used to climb on a scale and I rarely looked in the mirror,’ she says. She weighed 92kg. Stepping onto that scale was the first step towards a healthier lifestyle for Elize, which, four years later, would see her 35kg lighter!
Elize was 15 years old when her family moved to Holland. ‘I lived there for five years and finished high school there,’ she says. ‘They eat a lot of bread and potatoes in Europe, and when it’s cold there is a lot of comfort food. Those days were the early contributors to my eating habits.’ She was slightly overweight as a teen, but extramural activities such as gymnastics and athletics kept her active and fit.
She returned to South Africa in 1981 and had her first child three years later, followed by her second two years after that and her third in 1991. Elize says she put on a few kilos with each pregnancy and would lose it again, but as the kids got older, exercise took a back seat. ‘I’d been running with a running club,’ she says. ‘Then the kids started going to school and there was no more time for running because there was so much to be done.’ And that was when she really started to gain weight.
With little time to exercise she tried various diets, without much success. ‘I took pills and shakes and whatever products were available,’ Elize says. She’d lose the weight and be more active, experiencing periodic bursts of energy, but it never lasted long. ‘The tablets and shakes would help for a short while, but once I got off them I’d put the weight back on again. At one stage I got addicted to Thinz tablets, which were later taken off the market.’ Elize also suffered from high blood pressure, that she treated with medication.
Her yo-yoing weight was becoming frustrating, and before long her self-esteem plunged. ‘I didn’t want to go out to socialise because I didn’t look good in clothes, and I didn’t feel good in clothes,’ Elize recalls. ‘I didn’t want to show my face anywhere. I’d just sit at home while everybody went out to have fun. You get to a stage where you’re like, “Ag, I must just accept that my life is sort of over. I’ve had my fun and now I’m just an old lady who must sit at home with aches and pains and blood pressure tablets!”’
Her youngest daughter’s wedding in December 2013 provided the wakeup call she needed. ‘When I saw myself in those wedding photos, I said, “No! I have to do something.”’ A month later, Elize found the missing piece to her health puzzle. ‘My husband had bought Tim Noakes’s book Challenging Beliefs for me for Christmas. When I read the chapter on insulin resistance, I thought to myself, “That’s exactly my problem – I’m insulin resistant!” I understood that
'People know the're overweight because they eat too much, but they never ask: "Why do we eat so much?"'
carbs were my problem.’ That was the turning point. At the beginning of 2014, Elize set out in earnest to equip herself with knowledge about low-carb living. ‘I joined Facebook groups and learned everything about the LCHF lifestyle,’ Elize says. ‘When I started seeing real results on the scale, I was motivated to learn even more.
‘People feel guilty when they’re overweight,’ she adds. ‘They know they’re overweight because they eat too much, but they never ask: “Why do we eat so much?” It’s your body telling you to eat because you’re hungry – and I was hungry all the time! I’d have breakfast, but by 10am I was hungry again. I’d have a slice of toast and a cup of coffee, then have lunch. That was my life!’
Elize has since lost 35kg, going from a body mass index of 32 to 23. ‘I’m 57 years old – I don’t necessarily want that bikini body any longer. I just wanted to be “normal”, healthy and feel good in clothes. Now I feel really wonderful: healthy, strong and full of energy!’
Her husband and her kids are fully behind her lifestyle change, encouraging her every step of the way. ‘My husband is very supportive of whatever I do. He listens to everything when I explain it to him.’
The fact that Elize enjoys cooking has made the transition to LCHF even easier for them all. ‘The food is really delicious – I did cheat a lot, but I still
lost weight,’ she admits with a laugh. She’s also managed to successfully adapt her husband’s favourite recipes to make them low-carb. ‘I adjusted everything I used to make to suit the Banting lifestyle. For instance, my husband loves macaroni and cheese. I still make it, but now it’s cauliflower cheese and he loves it! And he feels good when he doesn’t eat carbs; he can feel the difference. He’s lost 11kg; although he didn’t have that much to lose because he’s a cyclist.’
Elize no longer suffers from hunger pangs or that crippling lack of self-esteem. She says she is a ‘different woman’ with a renewed sense of positivity. ‘All that negativity has changed: I have more enthusiasm and I’m looking forward to the future!’