Not 'One Day' do it now 'SAM'S WEIGH!'

Home Sam's Story Home Visits Work Visits Workshop A Day Sam's Weigh Contact Others Success

Sam before - December 2000

Sam's Story

Hi my name's Samantha McCallum (I prefer Sam).  I was born in 1968 in Australia.  All my life, I've had a weight problem.  When I look back at high school photos now, I don't look fat.  I was just one size larger than the 'skinny' girls.  Plus I developed early and was known as Mt Everbreast.  I used to be teased so much about my weight.  Kids can be so cruel.

My mum was concerned about my weight.  My earliest memory of dieting was being taken to a local 'slimmers club', at around the age of 10.  The room would be split into two.  On the left, members who lost weight would sit.  On the right were members who put on weight.  I remember putting on weight one week, being made to sit on the right.  To add to embarrassment, we had to sing a song.  'I'm a piggy in the pen (in the pen!), and I have surely let you down (let you down!)'.  For some reason, that's etched permanently in my childhood memory!  At the end of the meeting, they would have a raffle, where people would bring in the prizes.  I remember getting so excited about winning a packet of Ginger Nut biscuits! Why they were there in the first place, baffles me to this day.

At the age of 16 I hated school so much, I quit.  I started working as a 'checkout chick' at a major supermarket. I eventually started working in the deli.  That's when the picking started.  Cutting up cheese, it's so easy for the slivers to fall into your mouth, after all, you've got to let the customer know what it tastes like!  Slicing up ham, eating the skin of the roast chicken that gets left behind on the rotisserie baskets.  Then there was the damaged choc caramel slice that can't be sold! The weight just kept creeping on.  I tried slimming pills, cabbage soup diet, grapefruit diet, etc.  None ever worked (couldn't stick with anything for more than 2 days!).

By the time I reached 21, I was a deli manager on the Gold Coast (ate most the profits!).  I had moved away from home and was living on McDonalds (my home town at the time didn't have one - it was such a novelty!).   My mother and sisters came to visit me for my 21st birthday.  When I saw the photos, I was disgusted by the way I looked.  By then I weighed 90kg (14St 4lb) wearing size 18 - 20 dresses.  Here I was, living in Surfers Paradise, these beautiful blonde girls, frolicking in the waves.  I was the beached whale, people were trying to push back into the sea!  Enough was enough.  It was time I did something about it.

I went to the doctors.  They were doing a revolutionary diet, which was totally supervised by the doctor.  Meal replacements (like slimfast).  Breakfast and Lunch was replaced by either a shake, soup or mousse.  They were totally disgusting!  For dinner I was allowed to have 60g of fish and as much vegetables as I wanted.  I had to visit the doctor every week to be weighed.  I had to take in my urine sample, so he could test if I was cheating!  The weight started falling off.  I was terrified of that wee stick turning purple to say I had been cheating.  My doctor was really cute and I didn't want to let him down.  I lost 20kg (45lb) in 10 weeks.  My doctor said I was his *Star* patient (swoon!).  Then he moved to Brisbane.  For some reason, it wasn't fun anymore doing the diet.  So I joined a gym and lost another 10kg (22.5lb).  On the eve of my 22nd birthday, I did a bungee jump.  No way in the world could I have done it the year before.  My reason for doing it, 'if I can do this, I can do ANYTHING!'.  I was a size 12, had dyed my hair blonde, and was one of those babes frolicking in the waves!

All of a sudden, men were interested in me.  I was having so much fun, I quit my job as a manager, as it interfered with my social life!  I met my first serious boyfriend and ended up moving to Brisbane with him.  After a year, we split.  In that time, I had put back on 10kg.  After splitting up, I knew to make myself feel better, I needed to lose the weight. So for the first time I joined Weight Watchers.  I remember losing 6kg (13lb) in my first week!  I just lived on vegetables and went to the gym every week.  I eventually lost 13kg, reaching my lowest weight ever 57kg (just over 9st)  I was in a size 10 for the first time in my life!  I was determined not to EVER be fat again.  I became obsessed.  I would go to the gym every day, twice a day, cycling there and back.  Then I took it one step further.  I started purging.  If something upset me, I would eat as much chocolate, biscuits and ice cream as I possibly could.  Then I would bring it all up.  Sometimes I would even go into the toilet in a restaurant after having dinner.  It's amazing how you learn to be sick silently.  This went on and off for a couple of years.  One day I was reading an article on bulimia.  It wasn't talked about that much in those days, as anorexia was the illness in the limelight at the time.  It gave the symptoms of bulimia.  All matched to me.  Especially the bit when they said the hair on your face turns 'furry' and noticeable.  This was how my face was, and it freaked me out.  It was a turning point in my diet life.

Another major change happened.  I landed a job of a lifetime.  I became an Area Manager for a major international food company, which had me travelling all over the country.  I was only home 10 days out of the month.  The rest of the time, I was on the road, having McDonalds for breakfast every morning, deep-fried service station food for lunch, restaurant food for dinner. None of the hotels I stayed in had gyms, and I was rarely at home to go to my own.  Within 3 years, I had put most of the weight back on.  I tried the doctor’s diet again, but it wasn't the same.  I wasn't in the same town each week to go to a Weight Watchers meeting. I tried Atkins, but felt ill.  I remember on one diet you could only eat protein for breakfast and lunch, then for one hour in the evening, you could each as much food, any food, as you wanted!  I would go to Sizzlers and in that hour eat the entire salad, pasta and dessert bar out.  For some reason, it didn't work!

By the time I was 27, I decided it was time to travel.  I came to the UK on a two-year working visa (that was 10 years ago!).  I would say when I arrived, I was a size 18.  I hadn't hopped on the scales for a long time. Too scared.  By the end of those two years, I had married a brit and had given birth to my first son. Then I fell pregnant again and in June 2000, my second son was born.  I had actually weighed 10kg (22lb) lighter when my second child was born from when I fell pregnant (I craved Caesar salad!).  During the second pregnancy, we flew to Australia to see my family for a holiday.  I couldn't fit in the plane seat properly.  I was so uncomfortable, I sat in the aisle when I could.  I remember the flight attendant giving me filthy looks.  With this fresh in my mind, I was determined to lose the weight again. 'I'll join Weight Watchers again - in January!'.  I gave myself 6 months off to pig out as much as I could.  We lived on take aways, as it was very hard work looking after a baby and a toddler (all the excuses came flying out!)  I tried to do some exercise.  We bought bikes.  I remember standing at a Zebra crossing in Ealing, waiting to cross the road.  A young (thin) couple walked past.  I heard the man say to his girlfriend 'if she hops on that bike, the frame will snap in half!'  I crossed the road, hopped on the bike, with tears rolling down my face all the way to the park.  Adults can be so cruel.

After that incident, I was miserable.  When you are miserable, you comfort yourself with all the wrong foods. Which makes you even more miserable! Such a terrible cycle.  I had to break it.  That new years eve, we were at the in-laws.  Living in a ground floor flat, I didn't have to climb up stairs.  The only stairs I climbed were the ones at the underground.  EVERYBODY got out of breath climbing those (so I thought!).  When I went up the stairs at my in-laws house, I was panting like a dog.  This scared me.  I didn't want to go out for New Year.  I only had size 26 tents to wear.  My new years resolution was to lose the weight, for good.

After - Sam now, 8 stone lighter!

On the 5th January, 2001, I joined Weight Watchers.  I had lost weight with them before, I knew I could do it again.  I was afraid I was going to be the largest person there.  Guess what? I was.  I tipped the scales at 120kg (19st 1lb) the heaviest I had EVER weighed.  I said to myself, this is the heaviest I will EVER be.  I didn't care how long it would take, this time, I was going to do it!  Weight Watchers taught me how to eat properly.  The first time around, I was very young, and really just starved myself.  It was the leader weighing me each week that gave me the motivation, not the diet.  This time, I was going to do it properly.  Within the first year, I lost 6 stone (37.5kg).  When I went back to the in laws for New Year, I had gone down from a size 26 the year before, to a size 16!  I felt fantastic!  I went night clubbing for the first time in years!  This spurred me on the following year.  I loved the meetings so much, I became a helper. In the beginning, my first leader was terrible.  I was losing the weight just to SPITE her.  I was determined to be a leader and show her how it should be done. At one stage, I nearly stopped going to the meetings because of her.  Then the meeting was taken over by another leader.  She was so much better. I kept telling her I wanted to be a leader.  I badgered her constantly!  I had to be at goal to be one, I was told.  In May 2002, I was one stone away from goal.  Finally I was given an interview and started training to be a leader.  By the end of July I started doing holiday cover for others.  In September I was finally given my own.  At the same time, I finally reached my goal.  I lost 8stone (50kg)! Even though I was a leader myself, I went back to my original meeting to accept my gold membership.  I never felt so fantastic in my life as I did that day.  I was down to 11stone (70kg) top of my bmi, and back in a size 12. 

For two years, I worked for Weight Watchers, building up my meetings and being very successful with them.  I loved helping people lose weight.  I would sometimes be more excited about it than they were!  Watching people 'blossom' was such a thrill.  That's how I see weight loss.  A flower bud.  When the person loses weight, you can see their petals opening, turning into a beautiful blossom.  What a transformation!  And to be a part of that is so fulfilling.  In those two years, I kept playing with a stone.  I kept going from 11stone to 12stone.  If I looked at a cream cake I put on weight!

While my career was going from strength to strength, my marriage was falling apart. It got into such a bad state, the only way I could see of getting out of it was to return to my family, as most people do.  Unfortunately, they are all in Australia.  In July 2004, I left without my husband knowing, taking the children with me.  I needed my family. I was so relieved to arrive home, only to find out I could be made to return to the UK under the 'Hague convention'.  For 3 months I tried to fight this in Oz.  Eventually I realised I had no choice but to return to the UK.  Within these 3 months, with all the stress and not caring what went in my mouth, I went back up to 13 stone (81kg).  I returned to the UK in October 2004, facing child custody battles & divorce proceedings.  By January 2005, I was back up to 13st 9lb (85kg).  I was in a size 16 again and not really caring.  I had too much other stuff on my mind.

While in Oz, I was introduced to eBay.  I noticed how popular Weight Watchers products were.  So I decided to sell them here.  I couldn't be a leader anymore, as I had the children to look after.  So I offered free advice to the members who bought off of me.  I had all this knowledge and no one to use it on!  Creating this weekly newsletter inspired me to start losing weight again. I had over 90 people all over the world emailing me with their weight problems, helping me do what I always wanted to do, devise my own weight loss plan!  While refining my diet, I lost the weight again.  This time it's for good!  I've finally learnt how to maintain my weight.  I've stopped counting, and started cutting foods out of my diet.  I no longer eat any sugary foods and steer clear of bread and cheese.  I've just done small changes that have lead up to permanent weight loss.  I don't care if the weight comes off quickly anymore. I'm down to 11 stone again!  I've been losing on average 1/2lb a week, and you know what? I've never been happier about my weight loss.  For once, the weight is coming off slowly.  I'm eating more healthily than I have done in my entire life.  The reason why I'm so happy?  Because this time I KNOW it's going to stay off!  I'm finally under control.  It's taken all 30 years of my dieting life!  Now I want everybody else with a weight problem to be as happy and healthy as I am.  That's why I've launched Sam's Weigh.  Don't say 'One Day' anymore.  Let me help you now!