Taking to the catwalk to celebrate weight-loss success

THREE Clare women, who have lost about 200lb between them, are among those gracing the catwalk at a special fashion show this Friday night.
Ella Rose Thickett, Hilda Cusack and Emily Mafiet, along with Gerard Murphy and Sheila Hogan, will be styled by show co-ordinator Tess Purcell before taking to the ramp for the show, in which all of the models are current WeightWatchers members.
Forty-five-year-old Shannon resident Emily Mafiet is a real WeightWatchers success story, having lost close to 7st since joining in 2009.
Emily, originally from South Africa, has lived in Shannon for the past five years. She suffered at the time from depression and found the transition difficult. She struggled to make friends.
“I was not a people person. I was very depressed with myself and with everything. I was comfort eating all the time,” Emily remembers.
“I wasn’t making friends but there was one woman, also from South Africa, who was friends with me. I met her and she saw the state I was in. She came to my rescue and brought me to WeightWatchers.
“My journey with WeightWatchers started in 2009. This friend of mine introduced me to it. My membership was a birthday gift from her to me. She asked me to join and I wouldn’t because I wasn’t that confident yet. She said I must come and she would pay and it was a gift from her to me. So I went. Everyone was very friendly and straight away I felt at ease,” Emily recalls.
Since then, Emily has lost just under 6st 12lb. She has dropped from a size 22 to a 10-12.
“I am feeling happy now. I am more outgoing. I am more outspoken, which I was not. I was very shy. I didn’t want to mingle with anyone. I am happy to go out now and do things that I wasn’t before. Three years ago, I wouldn’t have got off the couch. I wouldn’t go out. I didn’t want to go to a gym, nothing. I can go out now for hours and walk and the walking has turned into running and I go to the gym. There is a huge difference. My life is much better now,” she explains.
“The reason I am taking part in this fashion show is because I am now more confident and I want to show those outside, who are afraid to try to lose weight, to put themselves out there. I want to tell them that you can do it but you must just go out there and meet people like I did.
“If you get into the right group of people who are supportive, then that is good as well. My weight was so heavy that I had to use an inhaler but I am off it for two years and I am now off the depression tablets too. WeightWatchers saved my life,” she continues.
The change in Emily is so great that when her father visited her and her husband and two sons in Shannon recently, he didn’t recognise her at first.
“My husband and sons have been very supportive too. I wouldn’t have done it without them. We are all human so I might see crisps and want to try some but they would just remind me to consider the points so they were very supportive in that way,” Emily explains.
Twenty-one-year-old Ella Rose Thickett from Miltown Malbay is a student at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.
“My first day was awful,” the now third-year student recalls. “I didn’t know anyone. I couldn’t find the urge to talk to people. I couldn’t wait to get home. I felt really alone. There were lots of people around but I couldn’t talk to them. I was a bit lost too without my mum, who is my best friend. It got better after the first few weeks but the early days were pretty bad. I wasn’t talking to people or meeting people because I was so under-confident. Obviously I made friends after that and it is better now.”
Ella Rose never felt like she fully fitted in. She moved to Miltown Malbay from England when she was in national school and found it difficult to make friends.
“I have been always under-confident. In primary school I felt a bit picked on. I moved here from UK and there was an even number of kids in the class so everyone already had a best friend, you know, stupid things like that. I would have had some close friends but I wouldn’t have put myself out there. I have found a lot of confidence since I lost the weight, definitely. I am a different person,” she believes.
Ella Rose admits she was “always big” but in an attempt to deal with a family tragedy when she was doing her Leaving Cert, she comfort ate and began to put on more weight.
“That was about three years ago. I put on a lot of weight. I was never thin but I was not that fat and I put on the weight very fast. I never used to weigh myself because I didn’t like myself but I would say I was probably about 12 stone at the start. I would fluctuate a lot though. I would put on weight, then I’d lose it, then I would put it on again. I would never stick to one weight. When I started [WeightWatchers] I was 13stone 3lb. I am quite tall but people were quite shocked by how heavy I was. Looking back at pictures now, I don’t know how people didn’t see it,” she recalls.
“I always felt big and was always trying to lose weight but never could. I only went to a WeightWatchers meeting with a friend just because she didn’t want to go on her own. Basically I sat in the meeting, I didn’t get weighted in but I stayed in the meeting. I listened to the whole thing and from that day, I haven’t looked back.”
Ella Rose joined WeightWatchers in May last year. Since then, she has lost more than 50lbs.
“I never felt unhealthy because I didn’t eat unhealthily. The main reason I had put on weight was because I wasn’t exercising. I’m below my goal weight, which was 10 stone. I am 9st 10lb now. I am much more confident. I have been working with Share A Dream since last year and now I am happy to get the t-shirt on and am happy to get out there fundraising on my own. I feel like I have really come out of myself,” she asserts.
Even with all this confidence, stepping onto the catwalk is a daunting task for Ella Rose.
“I am very nervous but am looking forward to it. I am a big planner and this is nerve racking because I haven’t been told very much yet,” she concluded.
Hilda Cusack is originally from Cork but has lived in Ennis for the past 14 years. Her history with weight loss is one many women can identify with.
“I joined WeightWatchers lots of times. The first time was back in 1998 but that lasted about two or three months. I was about 10 stone. After that I decided that I could do it myself but I had a big objective because I was getting married that year. I did keep going but then the weight started creeping on around the time I got pregnant with my first child.
“It took about a year before I decided to go to WeightWatchers again and I was living in Ennis then. I actually have no memory of what weight I was but I was more than 10 stone. Again that time I lost the weight but I didn’t stay the course. I kept the weight down for two to three years until I got pregnant again but then the weight went mad and I didn’t go back to WeightWatchers until February last year,” she outlines.
The mother of three explains what prompted her to stay the course this time round.
“I was 12 stone 8lbs and it was getting me down. My confidence was really down. Then someone else at the school where my kids go said they were going to join, so I said I would do it too.
“I made a pledge to myself that I was going to go to every single meeting and that I was going to get to my goal and then I was going to keep going to maintain my weight. This is what I did. I got to my goal on the last day in November. I put on two pounds over Christmas but lost it again and then more. Now I am 8st 12lb.”
Like many women, Hilda was very active in school and college but this all ended when she entered the working world.
“Before I started back with WeightWatchers I wasn’t doing any exercise. Back in university I played badminton and squash and I cycled all the time. Now I walk everywhere. I do about an hour every day, with maybe one day off over the weekend. On Sundays I take the kids on walks and we try to make it interesting, so we might go to Lees Road or Dromoland or wherever,” she reveals.
Losing 3st 10lbs has made a big difference in how Hilda feels, both physically and mentally.
“I feel comfortable in myself. I have no aches and pains. I used to feel like an old woman. You get confidence to do lots of things. I would never have gone into The Clare Champion before, I would have rather died. This is the year I decided not to say no to things, just say yes and go and do it,” Hilda says.
Even though a lot of her family are in Cork and Waterford, their support has been particularly uplifting for Hilda.
“I see my family fairly regularly so they have been watching my progress really. They have been so supportive. I have cousins who I would not have seen since the summer and we met up at Christmas and they were delighted for me and so supportive. One of my cousins is doing WeightWatchers too, so if she was doing dinner for all the family, she would be mindful of what she prepared to make it a bit easier for me. That was brilliant,” she says.
Closer to home, while her sons have been less vocal on the subject, Hilda’s daughter has been extremely encouraging, as has her local WeightWatchers leader.
“My daughter is nearly 12 now and she notices the difference. She says to me that I have got so slim and that I look well. I am glad for her too because she is still reasonably easily influenced so it is good that she sees that I have good eating habits. My leader, Joanne Woods, has been so supportive and so sympathetic and she really makes the meetings so much fun,” Hilda outlines.
The Weigh Out Fashion Show, in association with WeightWatchers, takes place on Friday at 7.30pm in the West County Hotel, Ennis. The event also supports a number of local charities. MC on the night is Ciana Campbell and Tess Purcell is co-ordinating the show. Tickets are available from the West County Hotel and WeightWatchers classes.
Models will wear pieces from Cornucopia, Pamela Scott, Kymari, An Binsin Luachra, Carraig Donn, County Boutique, Club Dangan, Annette’s Boutique, Joanne’s Fashion House, Design Lodge, Blarney Woolen Mills, Captain Tortue Group and Clarinbridge’s Áil Rúin.