On 2FM Breakfast with Doireann Garrihy, chef, author and Instagram star Trisha Lewis talks about her refreshingly honest weight-loss inspiring journey and how she deals dealing with negative backlash online.
Trisha is well known for sharing her journey on her Instagram page @trishas.transformation, where her 189,000 followers cheer her on.
When she chats to Doireann that morning, she already has her daily walk done. "Otherwise I'll have convinced myself by the end of the day that I did enough, I'll be fine! I'll spend the whole day going, you'll injure yourself at half four, that's the highest rate of injury", she laughs.
Trisha started her weight loss journey "like a bat out of hell", dropping 7.5st since she started. "I'm just having great fun", she tells Doireann, a mindset that radiates from her account.
One of the most charming and motivating parts of following Trisha is that she's candid about her good weeks and her bad weeks, normalising the process of getting on top of your health. This even comes into play when it comes to staying motivated, as Trisha rejects the Instagram trope of chasing motivation all the time.
"I find that motivation is like, you know when you're playing a superhero game and you jump on a mushroom and it boosts you into the air? It's grand when it comes, but you can't rely on it. My biggest motivation is making sure I get up everyday and I do what I'm meant to do.
"With weight loss it can be so bleak sometimes just watching scales and I'm up and I'm down. The one thing I decided was I was never going to put my self worth on my size again, whether that's 27st, 19st, 12st. My biggest motivation is feeling happy."
For Trisha, feeling happy was tough to maintain during the first two lockdowns, and like many of us she struggled with the enormous changes around her.
"It took me until the third lockdown to be like, right just get over it Trisha, see what you're doing wrong. It was still difficult", she says, especially the loneliness and the shock of losing her job. "Like everybody else, I really struggled."
"But then again I look on the bright side and from that struggle I started going to therapy, I go to therapy for a binge eating disorder. I thought before if I said that out loud I'd be like, oh the embarrassment! I'm so delighted because that makes so much sense."
"Don't look back with regret, look back and reflect. There's no right or wrong in what we've gone through in the last year. It's just coping, and if coping means you put on a bit of weight, that doesn't mean you're a bad person.
It doesn't give you the right to not change it and say, right, get up now, go for a walk, get a bit of water, do my food shop and just buy what I need.
Starting a weight loss journey is often the most difficult, and with St. Patrick's Day just gone and Easter around the corner, it can be particularly hard to get up and get the walks in when surrounded by so much indulging. For those who are looking to start working on their health, Trisha's advice is, "Then start".
"I know it sounds so frustrating when someone says it. What I would say is remove the guilt, Paddy's Day is gone. No money in the world can bring back yesterday, and no money in the world can guarantee us tomorrow. You have to go to the four principles: your water, your sleep, your exercise and your food. If you get those four figured out and just reset, move on, forget about it!
"Manage what you can manage", she adds, saying that of course you can indulge in Easter treats as long as you enjoy it and then continue working towards your goals.
"I always say, an apple isn't walking around with a halo on its head, just like Supermacs isn't walking around with a leather jacket and guns! There's no such thing as a good or bad food, it's all about how you see it."
Listen back to the full interview below:
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