Cindy's Diary

Television (Full Length) – 1999

In this documentary, fashion retailer Cindy Gibbons allows cameras to record her year-long bid to lose weight in a healthy way. Gibbons is candid about her bad body image, her addiction to quick fix diets and the adverse effect her weight has on her life. She consults experts including nutritionist Jeni Pearce, who encourages her to focus on how eating better and exercising makes her feel — not what the scales say. As the weight starts to shift Gibbons realises changing her shape (and her self-esteem) takes longer than she envisioned. Gibbons later wrote 2002 book Cindy: Breaking the Cycle, and featured in a follow-up doco.

I've agreed to do this because I know there are thousands of women like me who have lost weight time and again, then put it all back on again. I'm sick of stories that make dieting look easy. I want people to appreciate how hard it is being big and trying to lose the weight...
– Fashion retailer Cindy Gibbons on her reasons for being in a documentary about her weight loss journey