“Helen is a complete professional who is very knowledgeable and up to date with the latest nutritional information. I would recommend Helen to anyone who is seeking nutritional advice/guidance. ”
So there I was happily pregnant with my second boy …I swore up and down that I was not going to put on the same amount of weight I did with my first! I was getting the final weigh-in before meeting my little man, standing on the scales with the number unseen kindly being blocked by my bulging belly… “What does it say?” I whispered to my husband. With widened eyes he whispered back a number but wisely did not add any comment. Not only did I put the same amount of weight on but I had gained an additional 4kg!! Here I was sitting “uncomfortably” in the triple figures telling myself that this one was just going to be another big baby and I was holding a ridiculous amount of water. Yes he was a big baby but he was not 15kg!!! What I was holding was a ridiculous amount of fat!!!
I figured breastfeeding would melt away the additional kilograms but no such luck; the scales seemed to favour numbers that I did not favour and they refused to budge. Finally I had had enough and decided to enlist the help of the wonderful Helen Ross at RNC.
Being a mother herself she could relate to my struggles and issues with food and understood the demands of having two youngsters and the little time you have to look after yourself. She made me feel completely at ease and confident that I could get back into decent shape again. I left the initial consultation feeling so motivated clutching a folder with a plan of action. Helen had created a delicious food plan based around foods I enjoyed eating and she had given me realistic exercise guidelines that would fit into my busy schedule. For two weeks I followed that plan religiously and managed to squeeze in some exercise. I never felt hungry, deprived or lacking in energy. I proudly turned up to my next appointment with a perfect food diary. I jumped on Helen’s scales and BOOM I had lost over 4kg!! So needless to say I kept Helen on….;-) To date I have lost 12kg and am back to my pre-baby weight. I meet with Helen weekly to monthly depending on how motivated I’m feeling. It’s still a work in progress as it’s a lifestyle change not a fad diet quick fix. I have an additional 6kg to my goal weight and I’m really confident that I will achieve this. I’ve had some ups and downs due to my insatiable sweet tooth that tends to rear its ugly head every now and again and in the past has been my undoing. What I find great about Helen is she continually comes up with solutions/ideas to help me break my sugary habit once and for all and I’m finding that I’m implementing these approaches with success.
I enjoy our follow ups, she is awesome to talk to, motivating and understands it’s more than just throwing a food plan together and expecting you to follow it. She knows each individual is different when it comes to losing weight.
After having spent the past 6 years either pregnant or breast feeding I thought it was time to do something about the weight I had gained through each of my 3 pregnancies. I was recommended to Catherine Harvey by a friend from my coffee group. I had seen the transformation in my friend and thought why not give it a go.
I went to see Catherine on the 17th January 2012, and had a real wake up call when I weighed in at 78kgs, which is quite a bit of excess weight on my 5ft 4inch frame. I was close to a size 14, this is the largest I had been in years and although I had not wanted to admit it, my weight had been slowly creeping up even before I started having babies, but once I got pregnant with my first baby 6 years ago, it was just seemed a lot harder to move. Looking back I realise I didn't have the right tools to do this!
Catherine was excellent! She understood exactly how I felt, she made me see the importance of eating right and portion control. Together we wrote a list of the foods I like eating and with this list Catherine crafted an eating plan for me, each meal was carefully constructed with the right balance of protein, carbohydrate and vegetables. In fact I could not believe the amount of food I was allowed to eat and I kept saying to Catherine that the new eating plan gave me more food that I was used to eating in a day. The important difference being that it was the right food and correct portion size for me. I stuck to the eating plan religiously, along with regular gym work outs of 3 - 4 times a week and slowly started to see results and feel a lot better.
In the first 2 weeks of seeing Catherine, I lost 2kgs! This was exactly the result I needed to keep my motivation up. And over the next few months I saw even more change. Slowly my body started changing and people started noticing the improvements to my body along with the change in my levels of energy, confidence and personality. I have always been a very bubbly person, but I feel now I really am the person I am meant to be.
In total I have lost 20 kgs, and now weigh in at between 58 - 59kgs. This is the best I have felt and looked in years . In fact when I got married 10 years ago, I weighed 57kgs! So I feel weighing 58kgs now after having 3 children at the ripe old age of 36 is not bad going. I absolutely love my new body, and have to thank Catherine for her support, encouragement and understanding. Although I put in the hard work of discipline and exercise I could not have done it without Catherine. She was incredibly understanding when I lost a little motivation, she would say "tomorrow is a new day" and "all is not lost". She understood that some days were a lot hard than others and there were times that when dinner out with friends and a good time was more important than an eating plan. She would say "just enjoy yourself, have a nice meal out with your friends and then focus back on what you need to do tomorrow!" This level of understanding and support really helped keep me focused.
I have recommended Catherine and the services offered by RNC to a number of people and will keep singing the praises of Catherine and the very friendly and professional team at RNC. Thank you for everything team!
“Catherine was excellent! She understood exactly how I felt, she made me see the importance of eating right and portion control. Together we wrote a list of the foods I like eating and with this list Catherine crafted an eating plan for me, each meal was carefully constructed with the right balance of protein, carbohydrate and vegetables.”
“I really wanted to write a letter of thanks to you. I feel like I have now got the knowledge and tools to deal with my nutritional challenges. I definitely would not be close to my goal weight or as strong a person without your help and advice.”
I'm very thankful that Nikki suggested that I speak to Helen, I was very worried about seeing a nutritionist. I had gained weight with a dietician, had exercised without a change in weight and tried the 1200 calorie restriction. And luckily for me you turned out to be a life changing person in my life.
You are a very open, non judgmental and encouraging person. Also I feel like you're a life coach helping me with my stress responses. I obviously have fallen off the band wagon and made a few bad choices along the way with food but you have never been judgmental. I think I get more disappointed at myself. This has helped me so much and allowed me to be successful in achieving many of my goals alongside increasing my confidence.