“I have always had a bad relationship with my weight, I was always a big child and grew up thinking it was in my genes and bullied. However looking back I realise I just wasn’t very active, I didn’t play football or run, I played a bit of basketball and other than that I concentrated on my art.
Moving into my late teenage years into my 20s I went out a lot, drank too much and when I went to uni I ate too much pizza! To be honest I don’t think I ate too badly. It was the portion sizes where I was going wrong.
I met my partner Emma in 2009, at that point she was on a weightloss journey and it motivated me to do the same, I went to the gym I looked at what I ate and I lost 7st. However, less than 2 years later I put it back on again, because I wasn’t in the right mental space of mind. I was being told I looked Ill, or people said they preferred the old me! I worked as a regional manager for many years, meaning I was always out and didn’t really plan my food properly and didn’t have time for exercise (well I didn’t think I had time!) and this led to me getting bigger.
Roll on a number of years and we get to March 2019, my mum had developed Cancer and my partner Emma was being tested for Cancer. It made me look in the mirror and I did not like what I saw…..25 and a half stone and ridiculously unhealthy. So I changed….
I decided to walk my dog for an hour a day at least, I looked at my food and I increased my water intake.
I used MyFitnessPal to track my food and set myself a goal. The weight started coming off, I felt healthier, my mind was more at ease and my confidence grew. I set a goal of 7stone in a year for my birthday and I achieved it by the end of 2019.
My journey continues to develop as I push myself more and more, the weight loss started slowing down and I knew I needed to do more. I sponsor Guide Dogs for the Blind, and they text me about a new fundraising event called #100forguidedogs, and it was based around running, cycling or swimming and it came at a time that I was thinking of starting the Couch to 5k running program. So I used that as a motivator and started running to raise money.
I have now completed not only a 5k, but I regularly run 10K and recently completed my own half marathon. I am now into a new stage of my journey, introducing cross training to bring in new exercise to support my running but to also lose fat and build muscle.
To date I have lost just over 9stone, 13” around my waist, 8” around my hips and 12.5” around my chest.
I feel more confident, I have a newfound respect for exercise, I enjoy running and I enjoy my food.
It isn’t all about diets or crash courses, it’s a lifestyle change, I still eat a pizza takeaway or fish and chips but it’s all in moderation.”
