How Bay woman danced off the kilos
Kamma Heights mom changes her life through healthy eating and Zumba
Tired of being overweight and constantly complaining about her dissatisfaction with her body, a Kamma Heights mother adopted a lifestyle that has not only earned her the body of her dreams, but a successful business as a Zumba instructor as well.
While she had always had her weight under control, Teresa van Zyl Drake started disliking her body after gaining weight during her two pregnancies in 1999 and 2006.
Different diet plans only worked temporarily and she would regain all her weight later.
While busy with her usual complaining, she said, her sister suggested a home-based Zumba dance DVD that would soon change her life.
“I used to be quite active but, you know, you get married, start a family and life happens, so you just let yourself go.
“I was never too fat but I snacked all the time on all the wrong things and I was generally unhappy with my body,” she said.
Before starting with the home-based Zumba sessions, Drake felt the need to change her lifestyle, including her eating habits and attitude towards her body. “When you have daughters, you obviously have to be a role model to them but I was just a roll — one big roll.
“I realised that I needed to start with changing my mindset.”
Drake started doing Zumba at home in November 2011 and had adopted a healthier lifestyle towards the end of 2010.
She started by cutting out table sugar and bread from her diet but allowing herself to enjoy some of her favourite foods such as burgers and chocolates.
She then cut portions of all her food and snacks in half until she was able to completely cut out sugar and other unhealthy foods.
“I stopped eating takeaways completely. I go to restaurants only for coffee.
“I still go to braais but I make my own food.
“It’s a strange thing for people when you visit them and don’t want to eat their food because we socialise and celebrate over food,” she said.
After the birth of her second child, Drake weighed 138kg.
She weighed 129kg at the beginning of her journey and she now maintains her body weight between 65kg and 68kg.
“I don’t really check the scale so much any more because it’s all about how I feel in my clothes,” she said.
She started her instructing business in August 2013 and now trains more than 100 dancers — men and women — in Fitness and Strong Nation classes.
“I love dancing my heart out on the Zumba floor and in the process I help other people to be positive and de-stress.
“For me it’s a combination of dancing and socialising, then I come home and can just be perfectly happy,” she said.
She said her lifestyle change had also helped her deal better with anxiety and the panic attacks from which she had suffered for years.
It was her unhealthy habit of taking care of other people and neglecting herself that put her in an unhappy position, she said.
“I’m a people pleaser, so I’ll turn the world upside down for other people, but when it comes to myself I won’t care as much.
“It took me a while to realise it’s unhealthy.
“I’ve had to read so many books to realise that I needed to take care of myself first, because if I’m healthy and happy then I’ll be able to take better care of the people around me and my family,” she said.