A young mother has proudly showed off her incredible post-birth body transformation after shedding three dress sizes despite eating six meals a day.
Maggie Chretien, 30, from Melbourne, said she felt ‘trapped’ in her own body after struggling with her fluctuating weight since the age of 21.
By the time she was 26, she became a serial yo-yo dieter, training up to 12 times a week and she convinced herself the only way to lose fat was to eat foods she hated like boiled chicken and plain steamed vegetables.
But after giving birth to her baby son Jagger in April 2018, she banished her tummy to get a toned physique with washboard abs after losing 23cm from her waistline within six months without giving up fries, ice cream and chocolate.
The mother-of-one credits ‘flexible dieting’ for her size six physique where she eats 80 per cent wholefoods and 20 per cent of anything she wants, within reason.
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Before and after: Maggie Chretien, 30, has proudly showed off her incredible post-birth body transformation after shedding three dress sizes despite eating six meals a day
The mother-of-one credits ‘flexible dieting’ for her size six physique where she eats 80 per cent wholefoods and 20 per cent of anything she wants, within reason
Before embarking on her weight loss journey, the mother-of-one said the biggest challenge she faced in her life was food.
‘I have always been around food, my dad is French so carbs really are a big part of my life,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I have always enjoyed exercise, but I had a really bad relationship with food because I just didn’t understand it. I would feel guilty for eating food I thought was bad for me, and I would just cry because I felt really uncomfortable in myself.
‘I was eating boiled chicken and steamed vegetables and then on the weekends I would binge on chocolate and ice cream.’
As she took up gym challenges where she’d workout between 10 to 12 times a week, Ms Chretien noticed she was losing weight but yo-yo dieting quickly derailed her hard work.
Yo-yo dieting is a pattern of losing weight, regaining it and then dieting again. It’s a process that causes weight to go up and down like a yo-yo.
‘The workouts would help me lose weight but I was yo-yo dieting because it just wasn’t sustainable. It really wasn’t good for my body and it was even worse for my mental health,’ she said.
But after giving birth to her baby son Jagger in April 2018, she banished her tummy to get a toned physique with washboard abs
But after giving birth to her baby son Jagger in April 2018, she banished her tummy to get a toned physique with washboard abs after losing 23 centimetres from her waistline within six months without giving up fries, ice cream and chocolate
Ms Chretien struggled with her fluctuating weight since the age of 21 (left). By the time she was 26, she became a serial yo-yo dieter, training up to 12 times a week (centre). But after giving birth to her baby boy Jagger, she was able to transform her body the healthy way
But her turning point to lose weight in a healthy way came after the birth of her little boy following years of yo-yo-dieting.
‘I knew I couldn’t continue the way I was going. Once I had my son, I didn’t want to be that mum who didn’t want to take photos with her baby because of her insecurities,’ she said.
‘I wanted to be in every single photo with my son. I wanted to run around after him on the beach, I wanted to show him what a healthy relationship with food looked like, I wanted to show him what a confident mumma looked like.’
So she turned to Equalution – a science-based nutrition program which involves meeting daily targets of macronutrients – protein, carbohydrate and fat – that have been calculated based on the dieter’s age, gender, activity level and any condition.
‘To be honest, at first I didn’t believe it could help – I just couldn’t comprehend that eating foods I enjoyed would help me lose weight. But it did,’ she said.
‘The program taught me about food, it taught me about portion control, it taught me that I could enjoy every single thing I ate and get the results I wanted.
‘It’s changed my life, honestly, I don’t want to think about where I would be without them. My relationship with food is now a good one. They also made me realise that it wasn’t just my body that needed help, but also my mindset. Mindset is everything.’
Her diet includes macronutrients – protein, carbohydrate and fat. She eats 80 per cent wholefoods and 20 per cent of anything she wants, within reason. The mother said she’s been able to enjoy her favourite foods such as ice cream, burgers and pasta
Her turning point to lose weight in a healthy way came after the birth of her little boy following years of yo-yo-dieting
The mum said she wanted to transform her body so she could run after her son Jagger and take every photo with him without feeling insecure about her weight
It took her 12 weeks to lose 28.5cm all over her body and six months to shed 23cm from her waistline.
‘When I started, I was 63.4kg. I am now 56.5kg. I used to be really caught up on the number on the scales, but I was taught that weight is just one indicator of progress,’ she said, revealing she went from a size 10-12 to a size 6-8.
‘I now focus more on my measurements and progress shots. I didn’t cut out any foods, that’s the beauty of it, you don’t have to. It’s about incorporating foods you love. That’s what makes it so sustainable.’
After one year of flexible dieting, she consumed 691,600 calories, ‘inhaled’ 43kg of ice cream, attended 208 gym sessions and drank 390 litres of water.
She now exercises anywhere between one to four times a week and counts her macros rather than follow strict diets.
‘There’s no such thing as a “guilty pleasure” because I know how to fit it into my daily macros and calories now so there is no guilt,’ she said.
‘I’m really proud of the physical and mental journey I’ve been on. Self love is such a journey, and not every day is a good day, but I’ve never felt like this before, I’ve never felt this kind of happiness before.’
She said her story isn’t about her ‘before and after’ transformation, it’s just ‘two stages of my journey as a mother’.
For those struggling to lose weight, Ms Chretien said: ‘Understand that it’s about a calorie deficit and understand that it’s both your body and your mind that will help you get to where you want to be, so be kind to yourself.
‘And if a Melbourne mum of one who had a shocking relationship with food can do it, you can too.’