Christine lost 46.8kg

“It is the first time I have ever been slim, it kind of shocks me!”

When her weight started to get in the way of her love of fashion and beauty, Christine White knew it was time to overhaul a lifetime of unhealthy eating. She now has a fabulous new figure, a love of exercise and a new career is beckoning.

Christine’s father served in the US military and the family got used to living in a number of countries from Japan, to Guam and the US. Describing the family’s eating habits as “indulgent”, Christine said that she never knew what it was like to eat healthily or be a normal weight.

Cruel words

A shy child, Christine was constantly teased by the children at primary school about her size and remembers starting her very first weight-reducing diet as early as nine years of age. Since then, she has tried just about every diet going – from Jenny Craig, to The Hollywood Cookie Diet, The Cabbage Soup Diet and even Atkins, despite the fact that she is not a big meat lover. If there was a new exercise DVD out, Christine would be the first to try it. However, nothing worked and her weight continued to rise.

A major milestone in her young life came when Christine’s father bought her a fashion magazine (the first of many). She remembers being mesmerised by the fashion and beauty tips inside and that was the beginning of a life-long love affair with fashion.

Fun fashonista

Soon, Christine became well known in high school as a fashion trend setter and for constantly changing her look. “My whole world changed when I started to experiment with hair and makeup and people at school started to compliment me about my style. People noticed me for clothes rather than being overweight,” she said.

Yet her weight continued to rise until in her late twenties. Christine got to a point when she was so big that she could no longer find fashionable clothes. “I got really fed up with the way I looked and how I felt about myself. I knew that I couldn’t keep on living my life like this,” she said.

“At the time, I also wanted to return to the US and seek a job in the US military but at 128kg, I felt that I would be discriminated against. I was also so tired all the time by having to lug all that extra weight around.”

Christine’s love for fashion was being affected, too. “I love going to the mall but I didn’t want to go out at all. I just didn’t want to deal with the way that people looked at me and nudged one another and whispered things about me. There are not many overweight people in the Philippines so I really stood out. I just wanted to stay at home and hide,” she said.

Christine knew that it was time for a change and that no one could make the changes for her. “It had to be for me and for no one else,” she said.

Having watched and been inspired by the US version of The Biggest Loser, Christine was excited when she heard that Loser was coming to Asia and she set about making an audition DVD.

A personal DVD

In her audition, Christine talked about how difficult life had been as an overweight individual.

“I showed the funny side of me and spoke about how I love doing my hair and makeup too. I even demonstrated a few exercises that I had been doing recently to lose weight and I spoke about just how competitive I could be. I told the viewers that during my entire life, I had never experienced living at a healthy weight.”

During her time in on The Biggest Loser Asia, Christine learned about selecting the right kinds of foods and about portion control. She kept The Biggest Loser Club Calorie Counter book with her and learned about the calories in foods, fast.

The avid chocolate fan switched from eating masses of chocolate to just a little good quality dark chocolate to satisfy her love for the sweet stuff. Instead of eating three or four slices of pizza, she began to opt for just one. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables also helped to keep her full and focussed.

Christine’s Red Team trainer, Kristy Curtis, inspired her love of cardio, weights and body combat. Slowly, she even began to enjoy weight lifting and interval training on cardio machines.

Lows and highs

Christine describes her lowest point in The House at around week six when her knee hurt so much that she could not get out of bed. “I told my teammates but asked them not to tell anyone on the other team or Kristy," she said. "I didn’t want to show a tendency for weakness. I was so afraid that it would be the end of me in the competition.

“Kristy found out, she thought I was faking it and that felt bad. But later, an MRI scan showed that I had a tear in the cartilage. As a result, there were a few things that I couldn’t do like the squats or lunges. It was OK to run on the treadmill so that’s what I did.”

Christine describes her highest point as the day that she was eliminated, saying: “I realised that I had lost so much weight by that time. I felt so lucky that I had seen such brilliant changes. It felt great and I had no regrets. Even though I had only lost 1kg that week, I worked the hardest I could have and I was confident that I would continue to lose weight.”

Svelte and shapely

She did just that and, today, Christine has shrunk her starting weight of 128.1kg to a trim 81.3kg and is working towards a final goal of 68kg. She was so inspired by the exercise and training that she learned to do in The House that instead of pursuing a career in business she wants a total change.

“I absolutely love the gym,” Christine said. “I love the environment, the buzz and the atmosphere so much and I never thought I would say that in a million years! That is why I am getting ready to leave the Philippines for Singapore where I hope to secure a position as a trainee personal trainer at Fitness First.”

Christine has a whole lifetime of good health and opportunities in front of her after her incredible life-changing experience. Whilst she remains The Philippines, no day passes without a compliment from a friend or family. “They say that they can’t believe it is really me and they say that I look really good – I think it shocks them in a way. Considering it is the first time I have ever been slim, it kind of shocks me, too.”