Sunday 30 December 2012

What a difference a year makes

Many times over the years I have tried to lose weight. If there was any diet out there, I have tried it. Been there, done it and got the t-shirt. They worked for a short while, but no sooner the weight had come off, it would pile back on again. I would say that I have spend hundreds of pounds over the years, on personal training sessions, hypnosis, bootcamps, weird diets, the list goes on. Getting into London Marathon was the time that I thought I would shift it, how could I not with all that running? But I piled it on during training, and I ended up looking like this:


I was looking through all my London Marathon photos the other day and to be honest I was shocked at what I saw. I know I have lost a lot of weight this year, 32lbs to be exact, but I had no idea how bad I looked! Considering the event that I was about to do, it is no surprise that I didn't achieve what I wanted to on the day, it makes me really embarrassed to see this photograph, but we have to accept these things to move on. Now I can use it as motivation to never get there again, my official before photo, well, one of the many, this is another, and it's a shocker!!


That me on the right with my wonderful sister, and was taken at my best friends engagement party 3 years ago. Now that is somewhere that I don't want to be again!

When I had completed London Marathon, I knew I desperately needed to do something about my weight, so I got in touch with the only Personal Trainer that I have really trusted and knew reasonably well, Oli Thompson at Peak Fitness in Warwick. Oli and I fought for a few months whilst I was trying to get my diet together and into a different mindset of training, but we both stuck with it and soon enough the results started coming. I think the main issue was that I had no set goal, I had toyed with the idea of attempting a 70.3 distance triathlon , more half marathons and other ridiculous challenges, so much so that I forgot the main goal, to get onto shape. I realised that I risked doing exactly the same as I did when training for London Marathon and putting on weight. Once I had accepted this and forgot all the other stuff I was able to focus on what I needed to do, how I needed to change my diet and what to focus on during training sessions.

I think the main thing that has changed over the last few months is my attitude. After my abysmal attempt at a sub30 5k you would have thought the world had ended, but a talking to from my sister Helen bought it home to me, whether I got a sub30 or not did not determine the person I had become, my attitude and determination towards the transformation that I had started determined the person that I had now become and I had to keep focused on what I wanted to achieve - losing weight. The sub30 would come, it just wasn't my day, and like Helen said, maybe speed just isn't my thing,  but endurance is.

A couple of weeks ago was Regency Runners Christmas Party, so was a chance to get dressed up, which I love to do, my false lashes can never be too long! I had a great night, and was shocked by the other runners reaction to how I looked. One girl, Michelle, who I ran with a few times during training for London Marathon and I'd not seen since didn't even recognise me, I was asked on numerous occasions where my bust had disappeared to and told I looked like everything had been sucked in and lifted up, and in a photograph taken before I left the house I almost look as if I have a jawline! I must admit that it was a great boost in confidence going to Christmas to see that all the hard work over the last 6 months had paid off.


I had set myself targets for the end of December which were to get that elusive sub30 5k, something that maybe a little ambitious and I don't think I am going to get but I still have 2 days left to try for it so I have to do as I'm told by my running mentor and run like I mean it! The second was to drop 6lb on December, again something that I am not going to make, but I'm still taking a positive from it that I am still coming out of December 2lbs lighter than I went into it, considering my usual December involves at least 6 dozen mince pies and 4 tins of Quality Street my self control over the festive period was brilliant, only cracking for dessert during Christmas dinner and 7 single Roses in the evening. I have kept my training up throughout the month, I have missed a couple of active recovery days over the month but I haven't missed a strength session, and have upped the weights that was set at the beginning of the month by Oli so I am hoping that when it comes to weigh in my muscle mass will have increased and that my body fat percentage will have gone down. The third target that I set myself for the end of December was to complete 6 full press ups, which I completed 2 sets of yesterday, hooray!

Overall I feel so much better, it's a good feeling to know that my clothes fit and I have even thrown some clothes out for being far too big. Today I not only bought a new coat, but I bought it from GAP, somewhere that I have never shopped before (mainly as they stock size 4, which I don't understand) and I didn't have to just settle for the coat that had the biggest size, I could chose from many and actually instead of needing the XL it was the L that fitted and to be fair, even though that is still a really big size, it is huge steps considering that in January I was wearing a size 18 which was too tight, and now I am comfortably wearing a size 16 and I can see my curves coming back, I have a proper waist and the relentless squats that Oli has put in my programme seem to be doing my bum some good, peachy!

I have such a long way to go on this journey so I mustn't get complacent, I have to keep focused as I go into the New Year and I know I have the support to do this with family and friends, Oli, Paul aka  @TheIron_Bear and all the lovely people that I talk to on Twitter who are going through their own journeys, it's good to know that you can lean on complete strangers for support, they never judge you, just give encouragement and I can't thank them enough. 

So, looking into the New Year and 2013, I have to set myself some targets to meet:
  1. Reduce my body fat percentage to 25%
  2. Enroll in Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training
  3. Run a sub30 5k (I won't let this one go!)
  4. Shrink to a size 12
Ok, lets go....

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I'm a fatty trying to get to be a thinny!