Yahoo Lifestyle 
The one thing this woman did to lose 80kg
By the time she was 20-years-old, Ashleigh Butcher had ballooned to a dangerous 167kg, but one simple diet change has seen her shed half her body weight.
Now 26, the New Zealand local has lost 80kg by finally starting to have breakfast.
Ashleigh used to eat nothing but takeaway, and most days wouldn’t have anything to eat until 2pm in the afternoon, followed by a late dinner at 10pm.
But when doctors said she was heading for a heart attack, Ashleigh, who was about to turn 21, knew she had to change something.
“His words gave me one very big shock and I sat down and had to think about what I was doing to myself at that point in time,” she told News.com.au.
Ashleigh started googling what to do to lose weight and tried various quick fixes like Weight Watchers, juice diets and Atkins. But she found none of these methods sustainable long-term.
She spent a year going up and down in weight, with doctors also offering her medical alternatives.
Deciding not to go down that path though, Ashleigh instead realised she needed to drastically change what and how she was eating.
“I went through with [the doctor] what I was eating, what I was doing physically and it became obvious that what I was eating was not the right food,” she said.
Her afternoon meals were generally a Big Mac cheeseburger, large fries and a drink from McDonald’s and she had never cooked at home before.
So she decided to focus on one simple thing – start having breakfast.
At first she introduced a meal replacement shake for breakfast every morning, and simultaneously started walking for 30 minutes in the morning and at night.
In six months she had lost 15kgs and started upping her walking to an hour.
Ashleigh eventually joined a gym and had a trainer to help her every step of the way, including helping her plan a healthy and sustainable diet.
“We sat down and made a whole list of things I could and couldn’t eat, as well as day-to-day plans and an outline of the best times to eat,” she said.
“We also went over the best options to eat if I went out to a restaurant with friends or family.”
Now instead of takeaways she focuses on eating real food. She has minimal sugar, allowing herself an orange juice or a couple of pieces of dark chocolate every so often. She has also swapped her soft drinks for herbal tea.
“I don’t do the meal replacement shakes any more, I just eat real food,” she says.
“I still go out and have nice dinner or brunch on a Sunday ... it’s important to allow yourself to do things like that, or you get to the stage where you binge.”
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