Mother-of-four shares secret after shedding more than seven stone

04 January 2024 , 12:42

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Jemma Hahn, from Mandurah, Western Australia, tipped the scales at 16-and-a-half stone in 2021 when she knew she needed to make a drastic lifestyle change (Image: The Healthy Mummy)

A mother of four has revealed how she managed to shed half her bodyweight and hone her lean, healthy physique. Jemma Hahn lives in Mandurah, Western Australia and back in 2021 weighed nearly 16-and-a-half stone.

She wanted to make a drastic lifestyle change and so the 37-year-old joined the Australian weight loss community The Healthy Mummy, after finding an online advertisement. She started eating a wholefood diet via recipes on the app and found a new love for swimming and home workouts.

It was a totally different experience for the former yo-yo dieter, who had spent a lot of time trying fad diets, and hating her body. In February 2022, she experienced two major preventative cancer surgeries having found out she had the BRCA1 gene. Her recovery was long and painful and meant she gained a stone and a half. Six months later, after pursuing a healthy lifestyle again she lost nearly five stones, The Daily Mail reports.

Jemma Hahn, from Mandurah, Western Australia, tipped the scales at 16-and-a-half stone in 2021 when she knew she needed to make a drastic lifestyle change (The Healthy Mummy)

Now at a settled weight of just over eight-and-a-half stones and a petite size eight, Jemma has revealed all she's discovered over the past two years. Despite a busy schedule, she's managed to stay in shape and nurture her body. Jemma used to skip breakfast and lunch and rely on coffees to give her energy throughout the day, but she'd end up hungry and snacking a lot. Then she would eat a large, meat heavy dinner, followed by dessert.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Jemma said: "My metabolism wasn't really working - I'd try to lose weight previously and would deprive myself of foods or go without and skip meals. That was just unsustainable and the weight would come back. Now I eat foods I want to eat because they make me and my body feel good. What I consider a treat these days I would never have eaten before. My diet is also 80 per cent plant based and I feel better than ever."

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The now 37-year-old joined Australian weight loss community The Healthy Mummy (The Healthy Mummy)

Jemma consumes wholefoods at every meal time, including protein dishes which feature a lot of whole grains and high fibre foods. She adds: "My skin looks more youthful, I feel healthier, I'm happier and have better gut and metabolic health. I have more energy, my metabolism is always going so I get up and eat straight away and I try not to have coffee until late morning so that I'm getting my energy off good food instead of caffeine.

"I am a fulltime sole parent of four children so I am very busy and have a lot on my plate, but I have learned to prioritise being active - that is what makes me mentally and physically healthy which enables me to be a better parent," she said.

Jemma Hahn, from Mandurah, Western Australia, tipped the scales at 16-and-a-half stone in 2021 (The Healthy Mummy)

Jemma swims two to three times per week for half an hour, completing an average of sixty laps. When she first began swimming twelve months ago, she was only able to manage thirty laps per session.

But then in June she reached fifty, and sixty by October. Jemma said: "I also do gymnastics and calisthenics from home and I do self-taught core and lower body workouts with my Roman rings and trapeze and core and upper body with my funky monkey bars and ninja combat ladder. I also do handstands all the time, even inside my home, as well as cartwheels and headstands. I have learned how to do dips on dip bars, pull ups and chin ups on bars outside and I also have a pull up bar on my bedroom door so I can do them inside too."

She adopted a wholefood diet via recipes on the app and discovered a newfound love for swimming and home workouts (The Healthy Mummy)

For a more traditional approach, Jemma is a fan of workout sets from home whilst learning Pilates, and undertaking core workouts from the Healthy Mummy app, streamed via her TV. She said: "I regularly walk, run when I feel like working up a sweat (I can do 2.6km in 15 minutes) and I also dance. I'm a former Zumba instructor so I have countless routines in my head and just put the music on and away I go!"

She tends to opt for the stairs rather than a lift or escalators and likes playing outside with her children. "If at parks or home I'm on the swings and trampoline with them," she said. "My children love the new me, I'm more engaged, more fun and so happy I have inspired and motivated them to be more active within themselves, to eat healthier and make healthier choices. They have watched how the choices I made transformed me and have given me a whole new lease on life. They are all onboard and very supportive."

Charlie Duffield