Bernie English catches up with our Clare Operation Transformation winners, Berni O Hare and Jessica Chaplin, to see how this fantastic prize has changed their lives – and their bodies!
Operation Transformation duo Bernie O Hare and her friend Jessica Chaplin found The Clare Peoples Operation Transformation tough at the start but now theyre reaping the benefits.
With exercise, diet, detox and beauty therapy all underway, Bernie has lost an amazing stone in three weeks, while Jessica is down almost one stone and has lost one and a half inches off her vital statistics.
It was hard settling into it at first but Im really delighted with the weight Ive lost. Every one of the team has been so helpful and so supportive that it makes me all the more determined to do it, says Berni.
Berni applied for Operation Transformation after being turned down for a career in the Garda on the basis of her weight.
At five feet six inches tall and 18 stone, the Ballynacally mother of one was told she needed to lose five stone if she was ever going to be admitted to the force.
I was gutted – this was my dream and Id passed all the tests but my weight was holding me back, she tells The Clare People. Im one stone down and another to go. Its been tough but Im getting into a routine now and Im halfway through so its fingers crossed that Ill make the target.
Jessica – already a member of the force – has also been finding the going tough in the last week as her job is not nine-to five. You have nights and travel and its difficult to fit in the exercise but having the help of all the professionals and having the focus of Operation Transformation really helps.
The Ultimate Health Clinic and Ozone Fitness have been advising the girls on their diet and fitness programs and the pals have also been having colonic irrigation treatment and liver flushes. Both say they feel marvellous after the colonics.
I had an amazing amount of energy afterwards, says Berni, an experience echoed by Jessica who said it made her feel much better.
In the gym, both ladies are having their cardio fitness programs ramped up and are working hard both on the equipment and in walking on other days.
And a real bonus for the pair have been the beauty treatments which they have enjoyed.
The diet is helping, certainly, but we had facials with Anne Leavy and a skin peel and my dry skin looks and feels so much better, says Berni.
One aspect of being in the limelight through The Clare People is that both women have found that everyone is urging them on.
People I dont even know have come up to me and said they saw me in the Operation Transformation story in the paper and theyre wishing me well. Everyone is being great. I couldnt let myself or them down.
Bernies long-term ambition is to get enough weight off to go back and take up her dream career as a garda.
She told The Clare People when she was picked for the challenge that she wants to look in the mirror and not see the Michelin man looking back at me.
Helping Bernie and Jessica to reach their target weight and new look and lifestyle are the Transformation team – the Ultimate Health Clinic and Caroline Danaher, Ozone Fitness and Ken O Malley, Anne Leavy Health & Beauty, with Anne Leavy, Monument Hair Salon, with Rosaleen Burns, JRÕs Hair Salon, with Gerry and Norma Jeans Claire.
In the coming three weeks, the girls will be honing their fitness and exercise as well as taking a long-term look at their eating habits and how they can re-educate their palates to eat in a healthy way that they can enjoy.
Bernie will be continuing to resist the temptation of unwrapping her beloved chocolate bars – although she allows that she only gets the odd longing now – and Jessica will be trying to structure her meals around her busy shift-work.
ÒWe just feel theyve both done incredibly well, said The Clare People Life Editor, Aoife O Driscoll. Its hard to imagine how much effort they put into losing almost two stone between them in just three weeks but the important thing is, it wasnt done with any fad diet, it was done with the help of extremely professional people who have tailored programs to suit the ladies individually.
We have every confidence that they will lose the pounds and the inches and we cant wait to see the total transformation.
Well be catching up with Berni and Jessica again in our March 30 issue, to see the final results of Clare Operation Transformation.
Bernie & Jessica, Our Clare Girls
