Working in a rugby club meant Victoria Pinder had to be one of the boys, but she never realised it would mean a big beer-and-pie belly too.
After packing on more than 20kg while working at North Harbour Rugby Union in Auckland, Victoria promised herself she would lose the weight. But it took several years, and Weight Watchers, before she finally shed the legacy of her blokey past.
Victoria got a job at the rugby club in 1994 after graduating with a diploma in sports studies. It meant her social life expanded dramatically – and so did her figure. She fooled herself into believing that regular exercise would compensate for lots of drinking and unhealthy, greasy snack food, but it would quickly take her from trim to tubby.
“I indulged in too much beer,” admits Victoria (36). “And there were lots of meat pies. I went from being a very active student to having a sedentary job and a busy social life, and the kilos kept creeping on over the next decade. It was like I did my oE on the North Shore. It’s just as well I kept exercising during that time or I’m sure I would have got even bigger.”
At her heaviest, Victoria weighed 82kg, and when she married her husband Mark (now 41) in 2004, her gown designer declared, “You’re the only bride not to lose weight before her wedding!”
When Victoria saw the wedding photos, her heart sank. “In my mind I didn’t think that I was big, but now I look back at those photographs and think, ‘Holy cow, I was overweight.'”
It wasn’t until she saw photos of herself as a bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding last year that she decided to take action and join Weight Watchers. When she discovered her local group was only two doors down the road, she knew there was no excuse.
Victoria says the decision to take control of her size and health helped to empower her at a time when she was carrying a lot of sadness. She gave birth to her daughter Elise (now 5) almost three months early and had yet to address how upset she still felt.
“Here I was, a mother in a ward next to everybody else’s babies and I couldn’t even see my own because she was in the baby unit. I felt robbed of an experience that was meant to be so lovely.”
Victoria was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and found herself seeking comfort in the form of regular visits to drive-thrus at ocDonald’s and Burger King.
“I’d hide the evidence because I didn’t want Mark to see. I was always eating it in the car or in secret somewhere,” she reveals.
“I knew Mark would be disappointed. He was concerned because he knew it was making me unhappy. As it turns out, he knew about my hidden eating anyway.”
When her son James was born three years ago, Victoria suffered from mild post-natal depression – and by now her moods had started to affect her marriage.
“I felt very empty. It wasn’t like a massive depression, it was more like anxiety. I felt out of control. When I look at photos from around that time, I look so distant and distracted. My body’s bloated and I seem very unwell.
“The scary thing is that I would eat crap during the day and then sit down to a full dinner at night and have massive portions. I’d easily eat the same amount as Mark and would then go back for a second helping.”
oaking new food choices has been one of the biggest changes Victoria has made. “I tend to eat more food in its natural state now. I try to stay away from preservatives and follow the advice, ‘If it’s something your granny doesn’t recognise, stay away from it.'”
When Victoria joined Weight Watchers she was 78.7kg and she now weighs in at a trim 63.5kg. Losing 15kg in just under a year has seen her become the national Weight Watchers Healthy Life winner for 2010.
Even though Victoria lost less weight than some of her competitors, the judges were impressed by her dramatic lifestyle changes and the way she regained her slender figure through sensible, healthy food choices.
Victoria’s prize includes a week for two at a health retreat in Australia’s Hunter Valley and a $2500 shopping spree. But as Weight Watchers’ slimmer of the year, she believes she’s already a winner – her prize is her happiness and a healthier lifestyle.
“The glass is half full now. Joining Weight Watchers has led to a complete change of mind-set. My behaviour is different now. I haven’t been to a drive-thru since I joined Weight Watchers in August 2009 and I don’t eat in secret any more,” she says with a smile.
“Mark and I are really cool too. He says it’s like having an affair with his wife because it feels like we’ve met each other again for the first time.”
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