Walkerston mum Mellissa Austin reveals how she lost 30kg

This single mum went from feeling tired and struggling to keep up with her son to running half marathons. Follow her amazing journey here.

In 2018, Mellissa Austin was pushing 113kg and did not have the energy to keep up with her young son.

Now she trains six days a week, meal preps her food and has completed multiple half marathons, a Half Ironman Triathlon and various other challenges under her considerably smaller belt.

But the 34-year-old Walkerston mum said her focus was no longer on weight loss, but performance.

At her lowest she said she was 75kg, these days she was a “comfortable” 80kg.

Now and then: Walkerston mum Mellissa Austin has lost more than 30kg since starting her weight loss journey in 2018.

“I’m not at my lowest, but I’m at my fittest,” she said. “It’s about how fast I can run my 5km.”

Ms Austin said there was no real turning point three years ago to make her focus on her fitness.

“At the time my son was at an age where he was getting out and about more, I just didn’t have the energy … to go and keep up with him,” she said.

“That’s what prompted me the most … and I just didn’t feel happy with the way I looked.”

At first, she tried weight loss shakes and shed about 10kg.

“And then I realised that I didn’t like not eating food,” she laughed.

“As soon as I stopped doing it I started putting weight back on.”

Mellissa Austin says she now focuses more on performance over weight loss. Picture: Michaela Harlow

That’s when the mum joined Red E Personal Training and took part in the Little Black Dress eight-week challenge.

“I had tried other gyms in the past … but never really stuck to it,” she said.

“I’d do it for short bits, have a few results and slowly slip back out of that routine again. I do think it’s a case of where you are … I do think it’s a mindset thing and I do also think it’s who you come across.”

With the Red E crew, Ms Austin felt at ease. She made a connection with other clients and the trainers, which gave her the accountability to come back.

“It encouraged me to actually change my lifestyle and actually include those things into my daily life instead of trying to do something extreme,” she said.

The Walkerston mum has made meal prep and exercise part of her weekly routine.

“In the beginning it was about my weight loss … I thought wow, I look so different.

“But that slowly changed to become more of a performance-based focus.”

Ms Austin said regardless of whether someone is starting out or at peak fitness, all workouts were hard.

“It’s always going to be hard – nobody does a workout and goes, that was easy,” she said.

“But it’s the results and the performance results that you get … that becomes what you chase,” she said.

“I think that’s when people become discouraged, stop and go, ‘I’m never going to get better at this’ because they don’t see immediate results.

Mellissa Austin and her son Asher Dolmin. Picture: Michaela Harlow

“You have to keep that consistent approach rather than looking for the quick fix.”

Ms Austin begin with one PT and one Saturday group session per week.

“I also started to learn a lot … I had a lot of misconceptions about things,” she said.

For example, that she had to eat more to lose weight. “It sounds contradictory,” she said.

“I wasn’t eating enough food. That’s super common with people who drop down to a 1200 calorie diet, but it’s actually not enough food for you to actually lose weight.

“And if you’re training you’re not fuelled enough to get an efficient workout.

As her knowledge grew, Ms Austin said her own habits changed. She began meal prepping more, which she said was “one of the biggest changes” she made.

Mellissa Austin says she is currently at her fittest. Picture: Michaela Harlow

“I have an eight-year-old son who does not want to eat the same food as me, so I actually meal prep for both of us,” she said.

She has switched packet foods for more wholefoods, and restricted the amount of white carbohydrates in her diet.

“I still ate the things I wanted to eat, but I started to consider what my calorie intake would look like across the day.”

Ms Austin, a single mum who works full-time, said when she looked back over the past three years, she felt grateful that she made the change.

“If I had have kept going on the path I was going, I could see the huge impact it would have had on my health,” she said.

“People say to me all the time, I couldn’t do what you did. Well yes you can, anybody can do it. I didn’t do anything special.

“There’s 168 hours per week … You’ve got the hours, you do have the time, it’s whatever you prioritise to spend it on.

“I spend more time watching Netflix than I do at the gym, but I exercise six days a week.”