- Reesha Lewis, 39, from the Glass House Mountains, Qld, binged on takeaways and weighed a whopping 158kg.
- When she struggled to get up a local mountain she knew she had to lose weight before she ate her way to an early grave.
- Reesha took up hiking and battled up the mountain three times a week.
- She took up long distance running and reached an incredible 68kg
Here Reesha tells her story in her own words.
Tucking into a tub of ice-cream on the lounge, I heard the postie pull up.
Our letterbox was at the bottom of a short but steep driveway to our home in the Glasshouse Mountains, Qld, where I lived with my husband Adam, then 35, and our kids Archie, two, and Nevayah, six months.
After collecting the mail, I trundled back up the incline.
Back inside, my stomach sank with guilt.
It was January 2014 and aged 28, and my weight was 142 kilos – far too heavy for my 175cm frame. I’d always been fit and active growing up.
I rode horses, played soccer and did cross-country running.
‘My portion sizes were out of this world.’
As a teen I was a lean and strong size 8.
Aged 16, I met Adam and a few years later, after I started working as a cleaner, I stopped making time for sports and began going out for dinners and parties, over-indulging in bad food and drink.
By the time Adam and I welcomed Archie in June 2011, I’d shot up to 130 kilos. And after Nevayah came along two years later, I was 158 kilos.
As a time-poor mum, I often relied on convenience food and takeaway to get by.
And my portion sizes were out of this world.
For breakfast I’d wolf down a bacon and egg toasted sanga, a bowl of fruit and a tub of flavoured yoghurt. I’d snack on a big bag of Twisties and muesli bars, washing them down with three sugar-laden iced coffees. Lunch would be a foot-long meatball sub, followed by crackers and a few TimTams.
‘I could see my body ballooning but I felt trapped in my own skin.’
For dinner I’d often polish off a large meatlover’s pizza, loaf of garlic bread and a 1.25 litre bottle of Fanta.
Dessert would be a litre tub of ice-cream, and a slice of cream cake.
I could see my body ballooning but I felt trapped in my own skin
– too heavy and tired to exercise and diet.
Now, I barely had the energy to get to the post box, let alone keep up with my kids.
A few days later, my mum, Sue, made plans to walk up nearby Mount Ngungun with our whole family. I recoiled at the idea of the two-hour hike.
‘The views at the top will make it worthwhile,’ Mum smiled.
Yielding to everyone’s insistence, I set off, but the climb was gruelling.
‘You can do it,’ Mum encouraged. By the time we reached the peak, my legs were shaking, I was dripping in sweat, and my feet were throbbing.
‘I’m going to climb that mountain again until I get fit.’
Despite the magnificent view, heart palpitations sent my anxiety soaring as I battled to breathe.
I’m going to have a heart attack, I fretted.
I felt so close to death, it petrified me.
Something has to change, I decided, after the exhausting clamber down. ‘I’m going to climb that mountain again until I get fit,’ I vowed to my family.
The next morning, I left home at 3am so I could make the hike up and down before my usual daily grind began.
I put in a mammoth effort, doing it twice a week… then three times, all with Mum by my side.
Four months later I’d lost 20 kilos.
As my fitness increased, I transformed my diet, ditching takeaways and instead choosing protein shakes and healthy homemade salads.
Before long, I was climbing the mountain daily, shaving minutes off each time.
Reaching my goal weight of 80 kilos in 2018, I felt like a new woman.
With my new energy, I took up boxing and, by December 2019, I’d shrunk even further to 68 kilos – I was 90 kilos down and had gone from a size 26 to a 10.
‘You’re an inspiration,’ family and friends praised.
In 2020, I took up running long-distance again with my friend Ian.
‘ I began entering ultra marathons.’
I enjoyed it so much that I began entering ultra marathons.
Finishing the Blackall 50km in October that year, I was the first female to cross the line and sixth overall, and I set a new course record.
After that I completed several more long-distance events, some 100km.
I even conquered Mt Beerwah, the highest peak nearby, running up and down in 26 minutes instead of the 3.5 hours it took the first time I tired it. And in 2022 I got the record for the fastest known time for tackling the ascent and descent of every peak in the Glass House Mountains.
Then in 2023, I tore my hamstring while competing. After that, I was also diagnosed with relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), a syndrome where energy intake doesn’t meet demands. I had to retire from running, which left me devastated.
While I took time to heal, I used my savings to have skin removal surgery, as my extreme weight loss had left me with lots of loose skin.
Two years on, I’m easing back into running and have taken up cycling, pedalling over 100km a week.
‘If I hadn’t changed my ways, I’d have eaten myself into an early grave.’
Looking back on how far I’ve come, I’m confident that if I hadn’t changed my ways, I’d have eaten myself into an early grave.
While Adam and I split last year, we remain close friends.
He and our kids Archie, now 13, and Nevayah, 11, are so proud of me.
Today, I still hike up Mount Ngungan – it’ll always hold a special place in my heart as it’s where I found the beginning of the rest of my life.
I’m proof that while you can’t rewrite your past, you can alter your future.
You just have to take one step at a time!
