Ira and Esme Isak reveal how they competed to lose weight

Home Top

Emotional moment dead bat-boy's little sister, 7, threw a pitch at baseball team's first game since nine-year-old was killed by a strike to the head from a practice swing
Plane wing found on Reunion island IS from missing MH370 as investigators are finally able to confirm the jet crashed into the sea 515 days after it vanished
Tycoon's daughters who must wait ten years to inherit his $20m fortune go to court to contest bizarre rules which include bonuses for marrying
Obama calls for support for Iran nuclear pact - but bashes Republicans, tells Israel's PM he is 'wrong' and admits unfreezing cash WILL fund terrorism
Florida family-of-three killed in 'ritualistic' Wiccan attack planned to coincide with the Blue Moon
They're not just moochers: 20 percent of millennials are helping financially support their parents
National Enquirer runs deathbed photo of Bobbi Kristina amid heated family feud over another image taken during her funeral
Annapolis mansion blaze that killed couple and their four grandchildren ruled an accident caused by overstocked electrical outlet underneath 'dry' Christmas tree
Man throws away winning $10,000 lottery ticket but recovers it thanks to kind shopkeeper who helped him find it in a trash can
Elderly couple and taxi driver come to blows during furious road rage brawl on the Brooklyn Bridge
Woman, 35, who was filmed 'threatening man with a gun during road rage argument' is arrested after being identified on social media
EXCLUSIVE: Dentist who killed Cecil the lion hires armed security and installs covert cameras after death threats and vandalism at his homes crammed with evidence of his hunting obsession
Hunter who helped American dentist kill Cecil the lion dismisses case as 'FRIVOLOUS' in court
Divorced people who remarry are 'still part of the church' and should not be treated like outcasts, declares the Pope
UCLA student labeled 'pathetic' and 'idiotic' by 'sexist' trolls after writing an article about why women should get tampons for free
Feds indict Rand Paul relative and top 'super PAC' official for election fraud involving $73,000 in illegal payments during Ron Paul's 2012 Iowa presidential campaign
Dog shocks its owner by saying 'mama' as she tries to teach her baby to speak
School 'warned authorities about 7-year-old's dramatic weight-loss in the months before boy was beaten into a coma by his father'
'I'm a rehabilitated man': Ray Rice claims he's a changed person as part of continuing bid to get signed back to NFL
Did she EAT her victims?: Serial killer 'Granny Ripper' who kept diary of 11 people she decapitated may be a cannibal
'They threw him out like trash': Newborn baby with his umbilical cord still attached is abandoned in LA street in dirty stroller
Risen from the ashes: Now-and-then images reveal Hiroshima's restoration - 70 years after it was devastated by the atomic bomb
Sandra Lee rushed to hospital in emergency 'related to her double mastectomy'
Woman mauled by brown bear in Alaska despite using bear spray

Ira and Esme Isak piled on the pounds after the death of their grandfather
They decided to lose weight after he came to them in a dream
The pair's healthy competition helped them shed the pounds

Published: 09:21 EST, 5 August 2015 | Updated: 10:15 EST, 5 August 2015

View
comments

Two sisters have revealed how healthy competition in their weight loss mission has helped them shed a total of 28st and pursue a career in modelling.

Sisters Ira Isak, 30, and Esme Isak, 29, both of Bromley, London live together, do everything together and, being just a year apart in age, have always enjoyed a healthy level of competition.

So when Ira, who tipped the scales at 22st 7lb stone, decided she wanted to shape up, Esme, who then weighed 25st, signed up for the gym too - and the race was on.

Sisters Ira Isak (left in left picture) and Esme Isak (right in left picture) ballooned to a combined weight of 48st following the death of their grandfather in 2006. Since joining a gym, the pair lost 28st between them, spurred on by sibling rivalry. Pictured right: Esme (left) and Ira (right) since their weight loss

Their sibling rivalry meant they competed to fight the flab, spurring each other on to a combined weight loss of 28st with both slimming down to a size 10.

Ira said: 'I don't mind our sibling rivalry - after all, it gave us our dream bodies. Together, we're the perfect double act.'

The sisters both studied music together at The Royal Academy of Music and they say that's where their competitive streak began.

Ira said: 'We were always competing against each other while we were in education. We would always egg each other on and try to encourage each other. But we also each wanted to keep trying to be better than the other.'

Esme, left, Ira, right, gained weight after gorging on takeaways and junk food over a period of three years

In 2006, the pair were heartbroken when their grandfather died.

To deal with the grief, Ira and Esme both started comfort eating and gorged on chocolate, cakes and big bowls of pasta every day.

Ira said: 'We were very active before my grandfather died. We did a lot of sports and were always singing.

'His death was quite traumatic. We put our busy lives on hold and just sat around the house eating.

'We stopped seeing people, being active and singing.

'We were depressed and I think having some greasy food made us feel a bit better.'

By 2009, Ira had eaten her way from a size 16 to a size 24 and tipped the scales at 22st 8lbs, while Esme had reached 25st 2lbs.

Ira, pictured here in 2009 with a friend, ate her way from a size 16 to a size 24 and in 2009, she tipped the scales at 22st 8lbs

But the tipping point finally came one night when both sisters had the same dream about their grandfather.

Ira said: 'One night I dreamed that my grandfather told me he was disappointed that Esme and I had just given up after he died.

'As I was telling Esme about my dream she started finishing all my sentences. She'd had the same dream as me, it was very strange.

'Even the colours and the scenery were the same. Both dreams took place in a garden of roses.

'We both decided that enough was enough. We needed to get our lives back on track. We knew we needed to start by losing weight.'

One night Esme, left, and Ira, right, shared an identical dream where their grandfather revealed how disappointed he was in them for letting themselves go

Desperate to change, Ira signed up to the local gym and Esme joined too.

The pair then started competing to see who could lose the most weight - running, cycling and weightlifting, all the while encouraging other.

Ira and Esme also started studying fitness and nutrition, ditching carb-laden pasta dishes for lean chicken and salad.

Ira said: 'The first couple of years were hard - I kept treating myself to fatty foods. But once we had the nutrition sorted then the weight started to drop off.

'We both helped each other through it. We put a little bell on the fridge and every time one of us went to get something the other would run into the kitchen to check we were sticking to the diet.

'Esme and I kept checking how much weight we had lost and competed to see who could lose the most.

'She lost a lot more before me, but it spurred me on to keep trying.'

Ira and Esme, pictured here after their weight loss, overhauled their diets and both joined the gym encouraging each other to keep going

Six years on, the sisters' healthy competition has seen them both drop to nine-and-a-half stone.

With a combined weight loss of 28 stone, both have shrunk to a svelte size ten.

They have since qualified as personal trainers and are also pursuing modelling careers.

Ira said: 'It felt great when we started to see progress. I remember the first time I put on a bikini I felt amazing - I never thought I would look this way.

'We both feel really confident now. Our lives are full and busy with modelling, training and singing.

'Esme and I are very close - a real double act. We both helped each other to get to the place in life we want to be.'

Within six years of dieting, Ira, left, and Esme, right, reached their goal weight of nine and a half stone and have now taken up a modelling career

Esme added: 'I know that I would never have been able to lose all this weight without Ira doing it alongside me.

'There were lots of times when we struggled even doing it together so I couldn't have done it without her support.

'The rivalry makes it more fun and it lets us actually enjoy what we're doing. It's a friendly rivalry, we don't put each other down. If Ira is working hard then I want to work hard too, and if anything, this journey has brought us even closer together.

'I feel so much better in myself now, not just physically but emotionally too. I am a much happier and energetic person and it's great to see the same change in my sister too.'