Magda: How I Conquered My Mount Everest and Lost 25kg

Magda Szubanski celebrates reaching her goal weight of 85kg with a foxy photo shoot and candid interview in this month’s issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly - New Zealand Edition (AWW) and the star says she’s ‘never felt better’.

Australian comedian, Magda Szubanski, has arrived in New Zealand to celebrate conquering her biggest challenge to date, achieving an extraordinary 25kg weight loss to reach her goal weight of 85kg.

Magda says that thanks to Jenny Craig, and she’s the happiest she’s ever been. 

“I feel amazing. I feel like I’ve climbed Mount Everest,” Magda says. “This was my Mount Everest, tackling my weight, and I’ve achieved it. I’ve reached my goal and lost 25 kilos – that’s nearly a quarter of me.”

“I can honestly say, I can’t remember a time in my life when I felt better. I just feel so well and have so much energy, not just for exercise, but for life. But it's more than that. That niggling worry that used to be there sabotaging everything I did, that horrible anxiety, is gone.”

Magda approached her weight loss as a holistic process, and it was an intensely personal journey both physical and emotional. 

Magda says she reached a point at her heaviest, at 121kg, where just walking around the block posed a challenge and her mother was worried she was eating herself to an early grave. She was diagnosed with sleep apnoea and was suffering from back, hip and knee pain, as well as recurring lung infections.

 “I turned to Jenny Craig for help because I simply didn’t have the skills to do this on my own. With my consultant there for support, I have overcome nearly 40 years of bad eating habits,” Magda says.

“I can't emphasise enough how vital it is to have strong support systems in place to help you get through those times when you feel like giving up."

“I have realised you don’t have to accept that you’re always going to be the way you are,” Magda says. “With the right support, anyone can make a change for the better. I feel like I am finally allowing myself to be my best self.”

“Happiness is never going to be just a number on the scales, but I have to admit, when I weighed in at 85kg, it was an awesome feeling. I haven’t been this weight since the late 1980s, and I feel great.”

Last year if someone had said ‘attractive blonde’, Magda Szubanski would have thought they were talking about someone else. Now after losing 25kg with Jenny Craig Magda is coming to terms with the fact that she looks as great as she feels.

“I still can’t believe it when I walk past a mirror and catch a glimpse of myself,” she says. “It’s taking a while to sink in that the little person looking back at me in the mirror is me.”

"When I first walked into a shop and tried on something off the rack and it fit, I burst into tears," Magda tells AWW. 

"We live in such a fat-phobic society that I don't think I realised just how bad and shamed I felt by my size. Now, when I go into shops, I get really nervous and shy, but for a different reason. I get intimidated by all the choices that are out there and I don't really know what my style is yet."

For Magda losing weight was always about a lot more than looks. “I still don’t buy into the cultural madness that exists around body image, but when I realised how much my life was being compromised by my weight and how many things I was missing out on, that’s when I knew I had to do something about it,” she says. 

Magda tells AWW that she has had a serious food addiction from the age of 13 and that giving up her food addiction proved even harder than giving up smoking.

Now that she has reached her goal weight, Magda plans on staying focused and continuing her amazing journey. “I know everyone will be watching me now that I have lost the weight to see if I am going to slip-up and put the weight back on,” she says.  “But this time I’m determined, and I know that I’ve got the skills to maintain my weight in a healthy, balanced way.”

 “I’ve had so much support along the way, from my family, my Jenny Craig consultant, and the public, and I hope that I have inspired others to do the same and make a difference in their lives. If I can do this, anyone can!”

With many work projects on the boil and the energy to deal with them now, Magda is excited about the future. But she also wants to give something back.

"I'm going to do hands-on charity work and I'd love to get involved in some public policy about obesity," she reveals to AWW. "I'll never forget what it's like to be ostracised and how deep and dark that feeling of being trapped in your own body can be.

Amy Smith, Managing Director of Jenny Craig, says Magda’s battle to lose weight has been an inspiration to many New Zealanders. 

“Now that Magda has reached her goal weight she has shown that with the right support, a healthy, balanced diet, and exercise, anyone can reach their weight loss goal,” Smith says. 

“Although she’s celebrating now, Magda knows that the battle is not even nearly over yet. Losing weight is a challenge, but maintaining a healthy weight will be an even bigger challenge.

“Magda is equipped for that challenge now. Jenny Craig has taught her the lifelong skills she needs for a healthy lifestyle. Jenny Craig is not about fad dieting, it is about learning the skills, strategies and knowledge to understand your body and change the way you think about food.”

—Ends—