Woman warned she would die at 40 reveals how she lost 115kg
Elena Goodall would eat three meals in one sitting and weighed 184kg
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Your support makes all the difference.A woman who was warned that she would die by the age of 40 because of her weight has revealed how she lost 115kg by beating her addiction to fast food.
At her heaviest, Elena Goodall, 29, from Queensland, Australia, weighed 184kg and would almost exclusively eat meals from McDonald’s and KFC. Aged 26, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea.
Speaking about her fitness journey on Australia’s Today show, she said: “It wasn’t just one large meal each sitting, it was about three I would get through plus some extra chips as well.”
“I just couldn’t stop. It was an addiction."
Goodall decided to transform her lifestyle after her doctor warned she would die in ten years if she didn’t change.
“I couldn’t even tie my own shoes up — things that most people take for granted, I couldn’t do,” she told the Cairns Post, adding: “I couldn’t sit down on the ground and get back up.”
In order to kickstart her weight loss, Goodall underwent gastric sleeve surgery, which helped her hit 69kg on the scales. She kept the weight off by quitting junk food and by setting herself fitness challenges.
On an average day, she now eats a green smoothie for breakfast; corn on the cob as a mid-morning snack; one boiled egg and raw vegetables for lunch; seaweed in the afternoon; and smoked salmon and salad for dinner, she told the Metro.
However, Goodall stresses that her health and fitness, not the number on the scale, is what’s most important to her. She has completed triathlons, including the Cairns Ironman 70.3 - consisting of a 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike ride, and 21.1 km run - in six hours and 45 minutes. In December, she hopes to conquer the full Ironman course.
Goodall has documented her weight loss on Instagram, Facebook and her blog EllesJourney. Her accounts are filled with photos of her running, cycling and her wholesome meals.
“To say I’m proud of my journey so far is an understatement,” she wrote under an Instagram photo showing her dramatic weight loss. “I cry because of how proud I am in less than 2 years that I have turned my life around from nearly losing my battles with weight and fast food to becoming an ironman."
“I just want to prove to people that if you reach that point, there is something you can do, and you can save your own life,” she told the Cairns Post.
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