The above picture made me laugh so much when I saw it, as it is exactly what has happened to my health and fitness over the past three and a half years!
When Dave and I met in November 2013, we were both in peak physical condition after spending time focusing on our physical and emotional health (independently) over the Summer.
Finding happiness with each other appears to have enabled us to develop some significant winter insulation, presumably because Winter is Coming. I keep telling myself that it will all come to fruit when Jon Snow sends me Marching Orders to join him beyond the wall, though alas I feel that this may just be wishful thinking.
Here are some pics of me when Dave and I met...
At this point, I had spent a number of months dreading the thought of going home alone after a relationship breakdown and instead, I went to the gym every day. I didn't really do anything with my diet and was still drinking a looooooot of alcohol, so this did seem to be the effect of gym work and visiting the spa there to relax after each workout session. I think it's safe to say that stress levels (and specifically cortisol) can significantly impact a person's health and fitness.
Not only have we been eating everything in sight, drinking all of the booze and generally being terribly unhealthy; we have both also had incredibly stressful roles which have seen our weight sky rocket recently.
AND NOW FOR THE TRIGGER WARNING. If you don't want to see a size 18 body partially clothed, it's probably best that you don't continue to read on. Not to protect your delicate sensibilities but because I would rather somebody with such attitudes wasn't reading my posts 🤣
So here's where I am at now... (Complete with brilliantly sunburned tops of thighs after a suncream and swimming costume misdemeanour on the beach last week.)
I have gone from a Size 10 to a Size 18. Today, I measured all of my statistics and will post them here with what I am doing to change my situation. This will give me accountability for what I am doing and will hopefully be something that other people can use to help themselves too.
Weight: 15 stone 2 (I should probably point out here that I am 5 foot 9).
Chest: 41 inches
Waist: 35 inches
Hips: 46 inches
So, what am I going to do? I have bought myself a new food and exercise diary that I am going to complete every day.
I am planning all of my meals in advance and we have just done a healthy food shop (vegetables, meats, slow release carbs like sweet potato and brown rice and healthy fats such as avocado and nuts for snacks).
Today, I am going to start a Vinyasa Yoga course of exercise as my muscles are incredibly tight so I am going to work on loosening these up before I jump into a full exercise regime and injure myself!
I'll post an update of my daily habits, food and recipes and weekly updates of my weight and measurements. Please comment if you want to join me on my challenge and let me know how you're doing in the comments.
And remember: You can do this!
🙌🙌🙌