Standing on top of the One World Trade Centre in New York in October, it hit Laura Bourke just how far she had come.
“It was that moment where you say: ‘You’ve achieved so much,’” smiles the 27-year-old chef, who recently reached her target of losing seven stone in the last two years.
Originally from Belfast but living in Tralee, Co Kerry, since 2000, Laura was mid-way through her accountancy studies when a challenging turn of events indirectly led her to a new career in food.
“My mom got diagnosed with breast cancer, so I took a year out,” she explains.
“During the year off I was cooking for my mom, looking after her and I was like: ‘This is really something that I love.’”
Having seen a one-year Springboard course advertised at IT Tralee, Laura decided to make the leap and was lucky to get work experience in the newly opened Ashe Hotel in Tralee, which led to her first job as a commis chef.
One of the first tasks given to her by her head chef was to research recipes for a “Slim and Healthy” menu, by looking into what Slimming World was offering at the time, given the growing popularity of the club in the town.
For Laura, however, it became as much a personal as a professional journey, having seen her weight climb to almost 18 stone from her teenage years, which had a crippling effect on her self-confidence.
“I was body shamed. I’d wear t-shirts, cardigans, a jumper over it and then a scarf. You’d constantly be hiding yourself,” says Laura, recalling a particularly low point after she was verbally abused by strangers in a car while standing at an ATM.
“Out the window someone was like: ‘Go die you fat so and so.’ And I was like: ‘Oh my God!’ Obviously it was just mean people, but it stuck in my head.”
Over the years, Laura had tried different diets and exercise plans to lose weight – at one stage, shedding five stone – but the results proved short-term. Walking in the doors of Slimming World that first night in October 2016, however, she was determined to do things differently.
“I was like: ‘If you see this as a diet, you are going to fail. You have to see this as a lifestyle change,’” says Laura, who was encouraged by the fact that she could still eat things like potatoes and pasta, but cooked differently, with plenty of fruit and veg.
“It kind of clicked in my head – this is something that works with you – and I never felt I was keeping myself from stuff.”
A journey
Having set herself a big goal of losing seven stone, Laura decided to focus on mini-milestones along the way, such as fitting into a bridesmaid’s dress for a family wedding in the spring of 2017, as well as using photos to track her progress.
She also began exercising, starting with walking, before she signed up for circuit classes, and later personal training at Kinetic Health and Fitness in Tralee.
And while the pounds fell off in the early days, Laura explains that she also had many set-backs during the two years it took to reach her goal, but believes that they made her stronger in the long-run.
“It’s a real journey,” she acknowledges. “You’re going through all the emotions with it, you’re having bad weeks, you’re having good weeks, you’re learning to cope with everything that life can throw at you.
“I’d be a very stressed and emotional eater. I’d either over-eat or I’d under-eat, it depends on what kind of emotion I’m in and it’s so hard to stay focused.
"But if you do it over a longer period of time, you’re kind of more like: ‘I can do this for the rest of my life.’”
Reaching her target weight loss last October was an emotional moment.
“I started bawling,” admits Laura, but explains that while she was once obsessed with the weighing scales, once the battery went dead in her set at home, she decided not to replace it and instead focused on how she felt in herself.
“I think I was nearly a bit too strict on myself, but now I’m like the way that you feel about yourself is way better than losing two pounds,” says Laura, who has felt the benefits in every aspect of her life, from being able to play with her little sister, Líle, to working in the kitchen.
“Carrying that kind of weight in a kitchen is very tough,” she explains. “You’re sweating, the kitchen is huge, you’ve to run from one section to the other; and now I can run around the kitchen no bother, moving swiftly around the place.”
New challenges
She has also taken on a range of new challenges, including participating in colour runs for charity and last summer represented The Ashe Hotel at the Kerry Rose of Tralee selection.
Meanwhile, she has advanced in her career, with her current role as junior sous chef with full responsibility for developing the slim and healthy specials at the hotel, inspired by her personal experience.
“I wanted to be able to give them something because I used to struggle with where to eat,” she explains.
“All my friends would be like: ‘Let’s go out for dinner.’ And I’d be like: ‘Where do I go?’”
Goals for 2019 include taking part in the Rose of Tralee 10k fun run and Dingle half marathon, while longer-term Laura would like to study nutrition to help other people who struggle with healthy eating.
“I feel like when people work nine-to-five and nine-to-six, the last thing you want to do is go home and spend an hour making something,” says Laura, who is sharing two of her most popular recipes from The Ashe with Irish Country Living (see right).
As for her advice for anybody who wishes to tackle their health and fitness in 2019, Laura says that the most important thing is to believe that you have what it takes to reach your goal.
“I feel like a lot of people, when they start their fitness journeys or they start their healthy buzz, they’re only codding themselves because they are like: ‘Sure I’ll do it for a few weeks.’ They’re already putting themselves down. I used to always put myself down,” she says.
“You just have to believe in yourself. Believe that you can accomplish it.”
Chicken Tikka Masala
Serves four
4 chicken fillets, chunks or strips
1 large onion, diced
3 mixed peppers, roughly chopped
1 large courgette, cubed
Broccoli
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
4 tbsp tikka masala powder
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Paprika
Cumin
Salt & pepper
Coriander, freshly chopped or dried
4 bags of boil in the bag rice
Poppadom
Low-calorie cooking spray
Vegetable stock cube
Raspberry meringue crush
Serves four
4 meringue nests
Punnet of fresh raspberries
1 low fat/fat free Irish flavoured yoghurt
2 handfuls of frozen mixed berries
2 tbsp of sweetener
Raspberry sorbet
Mint
Low-fat Irish cream, whipped, or low-fat spray cream
4 squares of 70% dark chocolate