In five week's Camille Richards has lost 38 pounds. - photos by Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

After five years of trying unsuccessfully to lose weight, Camille Richards has finally done it. The 33-year-old lost 38 pounds in just five weeks on a plan designed by personal trainer Nicholas Pitt of All About You Fitness Studio.

At five feet, six inches tall, Richards has always battled with her weight. At one point she managed to lose some of it, going down to 130 pounds. However, she regained the weight and was at 165 pounds for quite a while. Six weeks ago, her weight skyrocketed to 178 pounds. "I was training rigorously," she told Flair. "The problem was, I love food!"

Fast food

Every morning after leaving the gym, she would head directly to the nearest fast-food burger spot, she admitted. "My weakness was fried breadfruit and cod fish and fries. My mother would always say, 'you going to gym and you still big and fat'."

Richards said when she saw the 178-pound reading on the scale, she knew she had to do something about it.

Detox programme

Pitt put her on a 14-day detox programme, though she admitted to Flair she only did seven. Then, a low carb, high-protein diet. "What became important for me was portion size," said Richards. "I didn't have to give up the food I loved."

The programme Pitt designed for Richards included plymetrics, light weight high reps and high intensity. Richards now works out five days each week with an hour and a half uphill power walk every Saturday. "It's all about the food, the gym is like 10 per cent. It's about not over-indulging in bad food," noted the now 140-pound Richards. Her ideal weight is 135 which, she noted, she should be able to get to in two weeks. Pitt explained that Richards' rapid weight loss is perfectly healthy. "Too much is determined by what you do," he explained. "If you're eating 1,200 calories per day, it's not too much. If you're starving yourself to lose it, then that's different."

All About You Fitness Studio, 7 Goodwood Terrace. Telephone: 925-6630.