Meet Her Smile Client Caroline Watters: From Constant Pain to Handstands in the Outback

Before Caroline Watters met Adele Haussmann, walking had become something to dread rather than something she did without thinking. Arthritis in her feet meant every step was painful, her feet numb, her hands, knees and back constantly aching. She was taking Panadol Osteo two to three times a day, not to feel better, just to get through the day. Her doctor kept telling her she needed to lose weight, and had started her on cholesterol tablets. Caroline knew, in the abstract way we all sometimes know things, that she needed to exercise more and eat less. But knowing wasn't the same as being able to do anything about it. She felt lost, and depressed, stuck in a version of her health that seemed to be slowly closing in.

The turning point came almost by accident. A friend mentioned a free class demonstration Adele was running at her studio, and Caroline went along thinking, honestly, that she had nothing left to lose. The moment she met Adele, something shifted. Caroline knew instinctively this was the person who could give her the support she needed to get her weight and health back under her own control. She signed up on the spot, for beginner classes and for Her Smile's 10-Day Spring In Your Step Challenge. As Caroline puts it simply: she was sold. Adele's approach was exactly what she'd been looking for, even if she hadn't known how to find it until then.

The results, over time, have been significant. Caroline has lost 13 kilograms and 25 centimetres from her waist, moving from a size 18 to a size 12, with a size 10 now firmly in her sights. The cholesterol tablets, once a daily fixture, are now a distant memory. She describes feeling so well these days that she's practically jumping out of her skin with the energy of it, a far cry from the woman who once dreaded the numbness in her own feet.

What makes Caroline's story particularly remarkable is how portable her transformation has become. She and her husband now travel extensively since his retirement, and Caroline simply brings her training with her, taking her exercise equipment along in the caravan and joining Adele's classes via Zoom wherever there's internet coverage, often from genuinely remote parts of the country. Last year alone, that meant staying active through Birdsville and Alice Springs, and walking trails at Uluru, Kings Canyon, and both the East and West MacDonnell Ranges, walks Caroline says she simply wouldn't have contemplated in her old life.

There's a quieter thread running through Caroline's journey too. She learned ballet until her early twenties and hadn't danced in decades, but working with Adele, her flexibility has returned to something close to what it was in her teenage years, and her physical strength has followed right alongside it. Caroline is visibly proud of what her body can now do: a handstand, a squat, up to 50 skips in 20 seconds, and lifting 5 kilogram weights when starting with 1 or 2 kilograms once felt like a genuine effort.

Caroline describes Adele's classes as fun and informative, but what she values most is the atmosphere among the women themselves, everyone working at their own level, genuinely supportive of one another, with no judgment anywhere in the room, only encouragement. As she puts it: "I'll be doing classes with Adele for as long as she teaches. I'm so proud of how far I've come with my weight loss and fitness level. My general health is better than it's been in years."

Caroline's journey didn't stop at fitness. She also completed Her Smile's Makeup Tutorial, starting with education on how to properly prepare the skin before makeup even goes on, something she found genuinely enjoyable and, more importantly, something nobody had ever actually taught her before. Alongside this, she's continued using the skincare Adele recommends, noticing real changes in her skin over the more than a year she's been using it.

As Caroline says simply: thank you, Adele, for everything.

Caroline was dressed by the team at Saloon Designs in Braidwood for her turn on the Her Smile runway. If her story resonates with you, you might also want to read about the women who walked alongside her, including Margaret's story of deciding that fifty could mean fabulous, not frumpy. You can also see what 46 other women have said about their own experience with Her Smile on our client reviews page.

Ready to write your own story? Book your free spot at Spring Into Her Smile, running 26–29 August in Conder, and find out where your own transformation could begin. https://www.hersmile.com.au/spring-into-her-smile