First time mum Chantelle Sisco admits she ‘felt disgusting’ before 65kg weight loss

Eighteen months ago, Chantelle Sisco could barely walk around the block with her young son without feeling out of breath and wanting to sit down.

Now she is preparing for a bodybuilding competition after losing 65kg so she can ‘enjoy being 21’ and run after her son.

Speaking to FEMAIL, the determined mother from Ipswich in Queensland said she had always been “a big girl” but it wasn’t until after seeing a photo of herself after giving birth that she felt she needed to change.

‘I’ll never forget it, I was at my friend’s baby shower. She had already given birth and she was the biggest there,’ she said.

“I saw the photo and thought ‘do I really look like this? I’m disgusting’.”

At the time, he weighed 162 kg and felt out of shape for the first time in his life.

“I gained 70lbs when I was pregnant, I wanted to lose that and I wanted to be able to play with my son,” Chantelle said.

The mother, from Ipswich in Queensland, said this was the photo that made her reevaluate her lifestyle: “I felt disgusting.”

Chantelle said that she would “eat anything that would fit in her mouth” before deciding to change her habits.

‘I would not have prepared meals, I would just eat everything all the time. Sort of like a non-stop meal of pizza, McDonald’s, chicken schnitzel, whatever’s in the fridge and always something fried,” she said.

He still likes to eat all those foods, but he does it in moderation.

The Busy Mom shares her story to help inspire others to reach their health and fitness goals, and she wants them to know they don’t have to hit the gym every day to get results.

Chantelle lost her first 10kg by “taking a five minute walk around the block” with her mother, who joined her on her weight loss journey “whenever she could.”

Chantelle weighed 162kg at her peak and couldn’t walk around the block without bloating

Now she works out every day, and she’s confident, even when it comes to showing off her legs, something she’s always been insecure about.

“I had tried to lose weight before, but I fell for crash diets and crash diets and it never worked and I never held on to anything,” Chantelle said.

His most important diet change was not to “throw it all out” the first time he ate or drank too much.

“One bad day is not going to undo everything you do,” he said.

Chantelle now weighs 97kg but wants to lose up to another 30kg for a bodybuilding competition

“I used to fail because I’d eat one small thing that I wasn’t supposed to and think I’d messed everything up, so I’d gobble up everything else in sight,” he said.

Chantelle has consistently lost weight with this more realistic and flexible approach.

“I want to enjoy my life, I want to eat pizza with my family, but now I know how to balance that.”

Chantelle said she used portion control to lose weight by limiting the size of her meals instead of counting calories. Instead of a whole pizza, she would eat two or three slices.

However, people who follow her journey on Instagram may be confused by her advice, as her grid shows a woman engaged in intense workouts at the gym and counting calories.

“I’m only looking at macros and calories right now because I’m preparing for a bodybuilding competition,” he said.

Chantelle will need to lose up to another 39kg and work on getting as much definition as possible for competition.

“This is just an added challenge for me, I know the (bodybuilding) weight is not sustainable and I don’t want to do it long term,” he said.

Chantelle wants people to know that they can “start small” and that they don’t need to go on crash diets to see results.

Chantelle says her biggest piece of advice is “don’t start on Monday.”

‘If you want to do it, you will. You won’t wait until you’ve eaten all the junk food in your cupboard, or until next week, or until after the event.

‘You will start immediately,’ she said.