You Got This: Mum drops 60kg without going to the gym

Weighing 120kg, mum of three Shellie was terrified at the thought of going to the gym. So she didn’t, losing half her body weight in the process.

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Losing 60kg without stepping foot in a gym sounds seems like there would have to be a magic pill involved, but as Shellie Alberdi will tell you there was no easy fix — just plenty of hard work.

The Townsville mum-of-three decided to overhaul her life four years ago after the birth of her daughter saw her weighing 120kg.

Prior to her transformation, Shellie would eat takeaway almost everyday and struggled to find clothes that fit her, as well finding it increasingly hard to keep up with her children.

Shellie was too embarrassed to go to a gym and couldn’t afford a membership anyway, so instead she started walking everyday and training in her garage.

Today the 36-year-old is a personal trainer who runs bootcamps for other mums who, like she did, struggle with their weight.

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Shellie Alberdi weighed 120kg and was a size 24.

But now she’s lost half her body weight working out at home.

‘IT JUST WOULD GO UP AND DOWN’

The weight had crept on gradually throughout Shellie’s 20s as she tried diet after restrictive diet to shed the kilos, only to lose hope and quit them.

“It just would go up and down but I would slowly put on more weight in the process, because that doesn’t work,” she told news.com.au.

“I got married, put on heaps more weight, got three kids and then after my third child was born I was like, ‘urgh I can’t keep going on like this, I’m not going to see them grow old basically’.

“I had two sons and a daughter. My sons were toddlers and they wanted me to run around with them.”

Feeling “too embarrassed” to go to a gym or bootcamp, Shellie decided to make changes to what she ate.

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The mum of three was too intimidated to go to a gym. Picture: Supplied.

“I just started changing my diet first because the thought of exercise was too hard,” she said. “I really cleaned up my diet, watched my portions, cut sugar out completely.”

Realising she was losing weight and keeping it off, Shellie began walking everyday around her streets, which she found was good not just for her physical health but also her mind.

“I’d lost a fair amount then,” she said.

“I started YouTubing videos and downloading apps to do different exercises like HIIT training stuff in my garage, because I still had a small child and we were on a single income so I didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for a gym membership or bootcamp.”

After two years Shellie managed to lose an incredible 60kg without stepping foot in a gym, going from a size 24 to a size 10.

Today she weighs 70kg which she calls her “happy, healthy” size, after putting on 10kg in muscle.

She lost half her body weight by making slow, gradual changes to her diet and walking every day. Picture: Instagram/@fitness.food.frappes.

‘I WAS EATING TAKEOUT EVERYDAY’

Before her weight loss Shellie was eating a diet high in processed food and sugar.

“I would eat a lot of processed food, a lot of takeaway, a lot of bread – I still eat bread now, I don’t cut any food group now,” she said.

“I would eat takeaway probably nearly everyday before lunches and dinners and now we have takeaway probably once a month, it’s really cut back.”

She started by making little changes such as cutting back on the number of sugars she had in her coffee and today focuses on “eating fresh, real food”.

“In the morning I have eggs on toast and then for lunch — I usually train at lunchtime — so I have a smoothie after lunch which is full of blueberries, oats, egg whites in there for the protein,” Shellie said.

For snacks she eats tuna, rice cakes, peanut butter or carrot sticks while dinner is a “a big, big salad with an egg, some meat, sweet potato”.

Shellie always makes room for something sweet at the end of the day, eating a Halo Top ice cream, yoghurt or berries.

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Today she is a personal trainer and helps other women get healthy. Picture: Instagram/@fitness.food.frappes.

‘THERE’S NO EASY WAY’

After her transformation sparked an interest in fitness, Shellie got qualified as a personal trainer and now runs bootcamps for other mums, as well as teaching yoga to kids in daycare.

“I’ve come full circle where I now help women like me who couldn’t afford it, didn’t know what to do and I train women like what I was,” she said.

She tried a six-month gym membership last year but didn’t like it and still finds time to go for her daily walks around the neighbourhood.

Shellie’s journey has “changed everything” and has even inspired her family to live a more healthy, active lifestyle.

She wants people to know that while sustainable weight loss is possible there is no easy fix.

“I tried the shakes, I tried the pills … it took me a long time to realise it didn’t work,” she said.

“Everyone that wants to lose weight thinks it’s an easy way, but there’s no easy way. It’s got a lot to do with your mindset, you’ve got to want to do it.”

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