A competitive swimmer and sports enthusiast in her childhood, Marie Waldron never second-guessed her health. But near the end of her primary school years, she gave up sport, and without the regular activity, Marie quickly put on weight.

In preparation for secondary school, Marie’s mum took her to a nutritionist, who prescribed a strict diet. Marie started to feel something was ‘wrong’ with her when her mum was preparing ‘special’ meals compared to her family. While she had initial weight-loss success, it was short-lived.

“Within two years I put all the weight back on,” Marie says. “I got to a size 18-20. I was hiding away at lunchtime to avoid getting teased.”

Marie had been an on-and-off dieter ever since. Her head was cluttered with constant thoughts about the food she wasn’t allowed to eat and she felt constant guilt for not exercising. The constant focus on her weight made her exhausted and grumpy, with little energy to enjoy life.

She still had hope. With her goal of one day becoming healthy almost gone, she had her sights set on becoming a mum. However, when she was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2006, that dream became a whole lot more complicated.

“When I had my second endometriosis operation in 2009, my condition was so severe I was on the table for five hours,” Marie recalls. “They recorded the whole procedure to train their medical students. They told me I was the worst-case scenario; I was such a mess.”

Marie and her husband Robbie tried IVF to help her realise their dream of becoming parents. But when their final attempt failed, Marie opted to have a hysterectomy two years later to free herself from her pain. After which, she turned to unhealthy comfort food.

“After that, I pretty much sat in the corner of the couch eating for 18 months,” Marie says. “We had fast food every night, watched TV and stopped going out. Thinking back, I was probably clinically depressed.”

In a moment of desperation, Marie found Isagenix® though her friend Alyce who was sharing people’s ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos on Facebook. Despite all the heartache she’d been through, she felt a tiny spark within her that ignited her health transformation.

“I thought to myself, ‘what if this could work for me?’,” she says. “I bought a pack, and by day three, I could feel the energy change!”

Marie was finally able to replace the worry and stress of her nutrition with thoughts about looking after herself. Completing the Healthy Mind and Body program, attending events and the IsaBody Challenge® Community has given her the strength she never knew she had.

Having overcome so much adversity to become an IsaBody Challenge Finalist, Marie is now more than ready and capable of tackling anything life throws her way.