Life Is Good

Stephanie Ralph didn’t just shed kilos when she joined Weight Watchers – she also found a positive new mindset.

- Jo Webber

Stephanie Ralph first joined WW when she was 22. The program had worked for her older sister Jacqui, so Stephanie decided to give it a go herself.

“I was never overweight as a kid and when I was a teenager I thought I’d be slim forever. Then, once I hit my 20s, I started putting on weight and couldn’t lose it. I weighed 70kg when I joined WW that first time,” she says.

The sisters both made it to Goal, but Stephanie found maintaining her weight loss difficult and it wasn’t long before all her hard work was derailed.

“Life happened,” she recalls. “I got married. I got divorced. My dad was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away. I was drinking a lot at that time, which was probably due to all the stress, and I stopped caring about myself.”

When Stephanie’s dad first became ill she moved back home to be closer to him. Growing up, she had always suffered from mild anxiety, but now she was having full-blown panic attacks. “I thought I was losing my mind. I thought this is it, I’ve finally snapped,” she says.

Then, in the middle of what seemed like her whole world falling apart, a wonderful thing happened. Stephanie found Andrew.

LOVE HEALS

“We had gone to the same high school so we already knew each other, but it wasn’t until Andrew’s 30th birthday party that we really clicked. His stepfather had just died of a heart attack and my dad was still very ill. We just talked and talked. We really understood each other and developed a special bond.