Struggling with body image and my excessive weight was always a problem for me. Once weighing 19 stone, exercising was my worst nightmare and I even struggled with simple tasks such as tying my shoelaces due to my size.
I tried every diet in the book and even my family tried to help but nothing worked.
Weight watchers, slimming world, cleanses, juice diets but NOTHING WORKED! I thought it was impossible, and comfort eating was my go to.
Weight: 19stone. Clothing size: 24. Age:17.
After another countless Christmas, gorging on chocolate, biscuits and whatever else I could get my hands on. I sat their feeling sick, thinking about what I had just done. Flicking through the TV, hating myself, I found a documentary on diabetes. This was a huge eye opener for me as everything the documentary spoke about, hit close to home. I realised that this would be my future if I continued this way.
That year I made the only New Year’s Resolution I ever kept. I gradually started to lose body fat as the months progressed. I managed to lose 5 stone in 5 months, this was very quick. I noticed that my mood was suffering, I was becoming short tempered and found it so difficult to allow myself an extra treat. I would feel so guilty if I would have something that was off plan. After 5 months, I started to introduce exercise in my daily routine, this spurred me on to keep losing weight.
At the 7 month mark I was unrecognisable to my friends. After this huge weight loss in such a small amount of time, I struggled with body image so much over the whole year and still continued to hate how I looked. Losing another 2 stone, it put my total weight loss to 10 stone in a 1-year period. This was so damaging to my health and mind, to lose that much in such a short space of time affected me massively.
I used exercise as a punishment, forcing myself to do endless amounts of cardio to combat the meal I have just eaten. Trying to burn those calories I just consumed in fear I was going to pile back on all the weight. I had a bad relationship with food and exercise.
I was Bulimic. I had Anorexia Nervosa. I had Body Dysmorphia.
All these things, I suffered in silence and didn’t realise I had a problem. My family were so supportive and did everything they could to help me. I was supported and this made things a lot easier. I was able to eat more gradually and stop being so hard on myself. Now, I’m not going to say this was a short recovery. It took me around 3 years to accept myself and start to give myself a break as I realised there was no way that I was ever going to go back to the person I was before. Weight training played a huge part in my life, as I started to understand how my body moved and how strong I was from years of being overweight.
My journey is my own, I share my story to inspire others as well as show them that there is an easier way to lose weight, than the method I chose. I never want any of my clients to develop an unhealthy way of looking at food or themselves. This is why I teach my clients, there is no BAD food, all food is food and it is created to be enjoyed. We should eat in moderation and exercise for our minds as well as our bodies.