I haven’t always been FitSista PT – My younger years were far from the Fit and Healthy Lifestyle I am so passionate about today!

As a child, I wasn’t sporty at all, I was overweight and I hated PE – I never got picked for any sport teams and I HATED wearing a PE kit!

During my teens, to keep up with societies ideals I tried every fad diet going to become slim, but it was probably due to the inspiration from my dad and older brother that I became interested in going to the gym and enjoying the ‘gym life’. I wouldn’t say at this stage I was a regular gym goer – I wasn’t fit or sporty and I didn’t have a great figure, but I came to enjoy the ‘buzz’ exercising gave me.

Of course, this fitter lifestyle was all completely forgotten about during my twenties, as my social life began to revolve around pubs, clubs, dating, eating and drinking.

But it was the year after my 1^st child was born and going from working full time and having a busy social life to suddenly being a ‘Stay at home Mum’ that a long-term change of habits came about.

During the first year of motherhood I’d become even more lazy, unfit, unhealthy and had put on even more weight than whilst I was pregnant. I looked in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw so I decided at that point I had to sort myself out before things got even worse. So, I joined a local Slimming Club. Looking back (and with the knowledge I now have) to what they advised me to eat to lose weight, the main principles weren’t good, however, I did lose weight steadily. I also started to run and this is where my passion for Health and Fitness all started……….

I had never run before, but I knew it was a great form of exercise and I also knew it burnt a lot of calories and at the time this was a good enough reason for me to start. Also, it was the only chance I got to have some ‘me time’ away from my baby and I figured out that the longer I could run for, the more time to myself I had! I also read a lot of Health and Fitness Magazines and tried to educate myself about how not just to lose weight, but to get fit. By complete coincidence about a year later I won a competition for a year’s free membership to a local gym. This was when I fell in love with ALL types of exercise (well maybe not Zumba) and made it part of my lifestyle, training regularly, eating healthily and constantly educating myself about everything I was doing. Even after having my 2^nd child I was straight back to the gym and lost the stone in weight I’d gained during pregnancy within a couple of months.

I was very fortunate to be able to have the time each day to do this, in-between bringing up my young family and as soon as my son started nursery I made the decision to become a qualified Trainer. I loved every minute of my training courses (I still do when I get ongoing qualifications) I learnt so much and was surrounded by like-minded people and as soon as I finished all my training courses I began my new career as a Personal Trainer and FitSista Personal Training all started………….

Tags: Advice, Exercise, Fitness, Health, Inspiration, Motivation, Running, Tips, Trainer, Weightloss