PERSONAL experience inspired Amanda Salis of Kogarah to overcome her frustrations and create hope for other people.
Now the associate professor at the University of Sydney's Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders has won a major award for her work.
Nominated by one of her masters students, Dr Salis was recognised in the "innovation" category of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards 2014 for her contribution to research aimed at finding better ways to treat obesity.
Now in its third year, the awards celebrate outstanding women from a variety of sectors across Australia.
Entrants were rewarded on their outstanding ability to demonstrate vision, leadership, innovation and action in and beyond their fields.
Dr Salis and her team are investigating weight loss strategies that focus on "listening to hunger, rather than denying it".
"This is the opposite to what diets do," Dr Salis said. "We know that everyone can lose weight but what happens is once they have lost five or 10 kilos, they hit what I call a famine reaction.
"This makes people really hungry and tired, so weight loss plateaus.
"I was severely obese about 17 years ago, and was frustrated at not having something that worked.
"We're aimed at finding better ways to overcome this through psychological strategies.
"Another angle we're looking at is if rapid weight loss under medical supervision cuts increased appetite."
Dr Salis is recruiting participants for the clinical weight loss trial, which is called TEMPO — a type of energy manipulation for promoting optimum metabolic health and body composition in obesity.
The three-year trial is targeted at women aged 45-65 who live in the Sydney metropolitan area, have been post-menopausal for five years or more, are non-diabetic and have a body mass index of 30 to 40 kilograms.
Details: tempo.diet@sydney.edu.au