The trip that prompted Nicole Gallagher to lose an impressive 25kg in six months

Nicole Gallagher didn’t realise how much she “let herself go” until she looked back on photos with friends after a girls’ trip away.

Shireen Khalil

@Shireenkal

4 min read

January 25, 2020 - 8:49AM

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Nicole Gallagher never realised how much she “let herself go” until she looked back on photos from a girls’ weekend away.

The mother-of-two from Newcastle was on a weekend trip to Forster, a coastal town in the Mid North Coast region of NSW, just over a year ago when she was faced with a person she didn’t recognise — herself.

“My friends and I had always been around the same size and it wasn’t until I looked at the photos when I was like, ‘Oh my God’.

“I had let myself go so bad. They are all size 8s and I was a size 20.”

The photo from Nicole Gallagher’s (second from left) weekend away with friends that sparked her weight-loss journey.

It was in that moment the 34-year-old, who weighed more than 90kg at her heaviest, decided to change her lifestyle. And she did just that, transforming from a size 20 down to a happy 8-10 in just six months.

“It was super confronting and tough. I just didn’t want to be that woman anymore,” Ms Gallagher told news.com.au.

“I had ups and downs with my weight, but I was never that heavy. With my first child (now seven years old) I got close to 80kg, but this time, with my second child (10 months old), I really blew out and let myself go.”

Ms Gallagher suffered from postnatal depression (PND) with her youngest child and was also recovering from a broken arm after falling down a flight of stairs, which she said contributed to her weight gain.

The Newcastle local was a size 20.

But the mother-of-two went on to lose an impressive 25kg in six months.

“I didn’t have PND with my son, it was a whole new feeling with my little girl. I put so much pressure on myself. I thought, ‘I should know what I’m doing’, having had one before.

“My brain was really playing tricks on me and I couldn't understand, being a devoted mother, why I felt this way.”

Knowing she had to take control of her life again, Ms Gallagher joined her local Coaching Zone gym in November. Once she started clean eating and training her journey to happiness and contentment began.

She signed up to a six-week challenge and won. She also came first in a national competition through the gym and went on to win $5000 — she was judged on her weight loss, before-and-after images and overall lifestyle changes.

Ms Gallagher dropped 25kg and is now a happy and healthy size 8-10.

“Coaching Zone has literally changed my life. I never want to be that overweight, depressed woman again. She’s just somebody I used to know,” Ms Gallagher said.

She gained the weight after having her second child who is now 10 months old.

The 34-year-old said she never wants to be the woman she once was.

STRUGGLE WITH JOINING THE GYM

Ms Gallagher said she had never been a “gym person” and signing up was a daunting experience.

Before joining Coaching Zone she started at her local gym and did three sessions a week.

“It broke me. I had no form and also suffered from ab separation after giving birth. I was in agony and I wasn’t lifting correctly — I wasn’t shown how to do things correctly,” she said.

She was suffering from postnatal depression after having her second child.

And also had ab separation that she says contributed to her weight gain.

One of the mothers from her son’s school then introduced her to Coaching Zone where she did a two-week free trial, taking part in group workouts.

“Since then I haven’t looked back,” she said.

Ms Gallagher now goes to the gym six days a week, mainly before school drop-off at about 4am.

She started seeing results after two weeks — a body scan then showed her visceral fat (fat around the organs) had also dropped.

“It added years onto my life. Then I started to notice I was dropping numbers on the scale and also my measurements, and I wanted more,” Ms Gallagher said.

Ms Gallagher now trains six times a week at her local Coaching Zone gym.

She begins her training before school drop-off at about 4am.

Her workouts consist of weights, endurance, strength and conditioning and high intensity classes.

“I feel like a whole different person. I’ve totally transformed and changed my life. I just never want to go back to that person. I feel like I am a better wife and mum with more energy for my family.

“Even with my husband I’ve got a higher sex drive.”

Her words of advice for anyone looking to improve their lifestyle is not to listen to that “inner b**ch telling you, you can’t do it”.

“If I can do it, you can do it … the world is yours,” she said.

Her workouts consist of weights, endurance, strength and conditioning and high intensity classes.

DAY ON A PLATE NOW

Ms Gallagher says she continues to eat clean, using meals plans from the past that have been successful for her now.

Meals

Breakfast: Half a banana and coffee before training at 7am, followed by a protein shake, coconut YoPRO with raw almonds, berries and shredded coconut and a gluten-free muesli bar

Snack: Protein ball, rest of the banana

Lunch: Homemade tandoori chicken pizza

Snack: Two boiled eggs with cottage cheese and curry powder

Dinner: Homemade chicken schnitzel with vegetables and sweet potato chips

Dessert: Protein pancakes with sugar-free maple syrup, mixed berries, cottage cheese

Ms Gallagher also drinks up to three litres of water a day.