A little about me,

On April 16th 2012 I decided to change my lifestyle. I was stuck in a completely vicious cycle of being a lazy couch potato. I have always been active throughout my childhood. I trained 6 times a week at one point with my gymnastics team. My mother & father are keen runners, my dad cycles 30 miles a day to work & back, my younger brother is an ambitious football player, diver & free runner. Fitness has always run in my family.

At the age of 16 I decided, I didn't want to continue with my gymnastics training. After making this decision I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands; free time which I was enjoying far too much. I spent my new found free time eating, & watching television; not the most productive decision of my life. Without even noticing, over two years I gained two stone.

When I was 17 I started a mission to get fit by signing up to the great north run; a half marathon - 13.1 miles. Both my mother & father have run these distances & it was them who inspired me to do so. I half-heartedly trained for this event, in a £10 pair of primark trainers &  no tracking device. This lead to me believing I was running 9-11 miles, but in reality I was running 5-7. Not ideal. I ran the race, & I didn't stop which I was very proud about. It took me 2 hours, 40 minutes. It was the longest 2 hours, 40 minutes of my life, & definitely the most painful! After this, I swore I would never, ever run again. Six months later, I started to feel clothes were getting tighter, and I was now buying size 12 tops instead of my usual size 8. I was getting very down & upset & I felt I couldn't control my diet, my exercise, or my appetite.

I have tried weight watchers & slimming world in the past & they have been sucessful. However I was never able to keep the weight off, as soon as I'd reached a mile stone, I was happier, but I also started to cheat snacking on the wrong things all the time. I had to tell myself that I actually enjoyed healthy food (which I did but I would always choose the unhealthy option). I realised that I was finally in the right frame of mind to actually crack on with this mission, & to change my lifestyle choices. This was the only way I felt I would be able to maintain my weight loss.

Almost two years on now, I have lost two & a half stone, but most importantly maintained that weight loss. I have gone from the girl at the gym who couldn't run five minutes on a treadmill to the girl who completed a whole marathon! Yes 26.2 miles! I did it & if I can do it, I truly believe anyone can do it.

I hope that my blog is able to to give people the motivation to lose weight, start exercising and become a healthier person! I will be posting about my journey to getting fit & healthy and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.