Former Kenyan beauty queen Rachel Marete opens up about her shocking weight gain and loss in a span of one year

Rachel Mbuki Marete is a name that is well known in the pageant world, the former Kenyan beauty queen made shocking revelations about her 36kg weight gain and 20kg weight loss all in under a year.

The former Miss Kenya revealed to her 128,000 followers the reason why she has been off social media saying that a major life event knocked the wind out of her leading to a massive weight gain of 36kgs between September 2018 and March 2019.

She went on to explain that she was burned out, she had trouble sleeping and as a result of stress, her cortisone levels shot up leading to the weight gain. Stressed about her weight gain, the US-based entrepreneur shut herself indoors, did nothing all day because she had no energy and quit social media.

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So… this is why I have been missing since January guys… This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to post. It’s scary putting myself out there like this and being so vulnerable. The short of it is I gained almost 40 kilos (80 lbs) between Sep 2018 and March 2019. Around July last year I had a big life event happen to me and it just knocked the wind out of me. I was burned out. Perhaps it was an early 30s mid life crisis? 🤷🏾‍♀️. I started having trouble sleeping. From September to March I would stay awake all night till 9 in the morning every single day. As a result of the imbalance from stress, my cortisone levels shot up leading the massive weight gain in just 6 months. (Why can’t I be those people who lose weight when stressed? 😒🤦🏾‍♀️). I held it together for a while but after my September Mexico trip that’s when the weight gain started. Come January I was so stressed out that I ended up shutting myself indoors and barely left my house. That’s when I quit social media too. I didn’t want to unravel in front of the world. My sleep schedule was a mess. I was exhausted. Doing the simplest things felt like a massive chore and I just had zero energy. One day, around mid March, I finally had enough. I needed to make a change. I decided to take a health and fitness getaway on my own. I needed to heal from the inside out and I needed to do some soul searching to make sure I’m never here again. I have been in Phetchabun, Thailand for the last 2 months at a Muay Thai health and fitness camp called @battleconquergym. As I write this I’m on board my flight back to Los Angeles. I pushed myself as hard as I possibly could. I did lots of fasting, Yoga, meditation, hiking, and Muay Thai kickboxing. I’ll share more details about exactly what I did to lose the 20 kilos in 2 months since I have almost 20 more to go now. I’m posting this to show that none of us is perfect. Many of you would comment and say “goals” not knowing how sad I was inside and that I was spiraling from stress. This has been a super humbling journey. Now though, I feel blessed and grateful to have gone through it. Sometimes we gotta fall really hard so we can get up and be our best selves.

A post shared by Rachel Mbuki Marete (@rachelmbuki) on May 21, 2019 at 3:04pm PDT

However one day she decided enough was enough and she took a health and fitness getaway by herself to Thailand to turn things around. She is now at lost 20kgs having been there for 2 months doing yoga, Muay Thai kickboxing, meditation and eating healthy.

She added that she was posting about her shocking transformation to show that no one is perfect in a world of #Goals on social media but sad, stressed and depressed deep within.

Ms. Marete who previously flaunted her well-shaped curves on social media has never shied away from admitting that she has had some plastic surgery done to enhance her already gorgeous God-given body.

Ms Marete who got engaged to her lover while vacationing in Diani in 2017 won Miss Universe Kenya in 2005, becoming the second winner of the beauty pageant which was inaugurated in 2004.

In 2007, at 20, she left for the US and has since become an actress, TV host and singer. She has had several hosting gigs in Hollywood, Miami and New York. She has also worked as a news anchor for Transit TV, Los Angeles. Ms Marete has also released a number of songs, among them ‘Kelele’, ‘Kama Wewe’ and ‘Nguvu’.