My Fitness Journey So Far....
My fitness journey started way back after I left university. I had gained a lot of weight due to an unhealthy lifestyle; bad food, too much alcohol and very little exercise! I started going for runs with my friends and going to an aerobics class; I really enjoyed both and have never looked back. I entered a 5k race, then a 10k and then a half marathon.
Over the years I went to boxing classes, body pump, spinning, went to the gym and continued running till I hurt my knee and my doctor advised me stop! In the run up to my wedding I started doing weights and was in the best shape of my life on the day but I had spent nearly every evening in the gym plus a very limited diet which wouldn't have been sustainable long term. When I fell pregnant with my little girl I got really bad sciatica which forced me to stop almost everything, even walking was painful! I hated not being able to move the way I wanted to but was pretty strict with my diet and didn't gain too much weight. I did however have a baby who didn't sleep day or night so I walked around in a daze for a long time, willing her to sleep! I struggled with the fact that I couldn't fit my workouts back in to my days as I was so tired and had a very demanding baby. All I really needed to give it was time, which I did, and after about 9 months I started exercising again, doing dvds at home and found the body coach workouts on youtube which were short and I liked. Then I fell pregnant again and the sciatica returned! I gained more weight during my second pregnancy than first; partly as my little boy was a much bigger baby but I was also way more 'relaxed' with food and discovered I loved Magnum ice creams! After he was born, I took my time, didn't put too much pressure on myself and eased myself back into exercise slowly.
I started with walking, something I have always done and enjoyed, then I started doing short online workouts. I realised that I was more out of shape than I thought but I did like the online training format as I could pause when needed, essential when little people are around! I was already following a few fitness-related people on Facebook and dipping in and out of their workouts when one of my Facebook friends started following Beatrice.
After looking at her page and watching some videos I decided I would too. I guess I thought a fellow military wife was someone I could relate to, along with the fact that she was a mum so can understand the struggle exercising with children. I started doing a 12 days of Fitmass programme in which Beatrice introduced one exercise per day over 12 days. I really enjoyed it and I've never looked back!! I loved the online videos, thought Beatrice was very friendly, helpful and encouraging and I enjoyed the exercise. After completing this I then signed up to the Operation Drop-a-Size programme and have been working with Beatrice ever since. I complete the workouts via the online app when my little ones are in bed and submit my feedback to Beatrice who tailors the workouts to me and changes them every month. For me it works perfectly, it takes dedication but I can pause the videos when I need to and the workouts are short which keeps me interested! Beatrice also answers any questions I have regarding both exercise and food, suggesting lots of delicious and tasty recipes to try as well as the best food to eat when I am struggling! I've still got work to do but I am toning up, losing weight and so happy I found Beatrice when I did 🙂
Lynne Wood