Eating McDonald's five times a week as well as food from a bakery for lunch every day, three years ago Whitney Radhich was only 23 years old when she hit rock bottom.
Unable to fit in lecture hall seats anymore, she quit university and found comfort in food.
"I almost lost myself to depression" she told Newshub.
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A year later, she went with a friend to the Brown Buttabean Motivation bootcamp in Papatoetoe where she found hope.
"I started in April 2017 and haven't stopped going since" she says.
"I could barely do a star jump when I first started. But everyone is so supportive."
Slowly and steadily, and with some significant changes to her diet, the weight began to fall off.
Last year Radich says it was time to set some new goals. In 2018, she decided to partake in one of Auckland's biggest fun runs, Round the Bays. But it wasn't exactly her first time.
"You could say I've been doing it since I was a baby: Dad used to push me in the pram running with Mainfreight, and we'd do it as a family" she says. "When I got to 13 I said 'no more'; I just wasn't interested."
"Last year I felt better enough I thought I could do it, I said to dad 'let's do it together', and he gave up the Mainfreight shirt for the first time."
Her father joined Radich and her BBM family, and they all began training together. Radich ended up losing another 27kilograms.
She's running it again this year, where she hopes to beat her time by "just five minutes".
"I love the race because it's for everyone; there are children, people of all ages, and you don't feel rushed.
"Our thing is never leave anyone behind so as soon as we cross that finish line we turn around and go get those people still going."
Another element is of course the eating: Radich says her diet, and subsequently her mental health, is unrecognisable.
"I haven't had McDonald's in two years... I'm not perfect I've eaten other takeaways but I had such a negative relationship with it, I had to break up with it," she revealed.
Now she says she eats more than she ever did before - just better.
"Protein and heaps of veges, I can't believe how many vegetables I eat now, it's insane!"
Those plants will be powering her all the way to the finish line.
To join Radich and give Round the Bays a go, you can find more information here.
Newshub.
