I began dieting as a teenager, which led to a decade-long vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting. I was always striving to lose a few extra kilos, and when I finally did, I would lose control again and binge on food I knew was not good for me. Throughout this period I also suffered from bulimia. A few years ago I realised I needed help to overcome this, and with the assistance of Karla Cameron from Life After Diets, I finally stepped off the dieting bandwagon.

Unfortunately, I was still heavily into the party scene and my excessive drinking was adding inches to my waistline. I piled on more weight while travelling and working overseas, and when I came home I found I couldn’t fit into most of the clothes in my wardrobe.

Over the past 18 months, I have reduced my alcohol intake, stopped smoking and cleaned up my diet. Exercise has begun to feature more in my life and I have slowly noticed that I can fit into more of my clothes again.

In July last year I was amazed when I ran my first 10km race in under one hour, and this prompted me to look for a new challenge. I picked up a copy of Women’s Health & Fitness and was inspired by the monthly BodyBlitz winner.

It reminded me of the way in which I had marvelled at the transformation of the Grand Champion, Penny Mackinnon, a few years ago. I remember thinking at the time that there was no way that I could do the amount of exercise she had done in a week, as I had always felt that my fitness was my weak point.
Feeling empowered that I could achieve just like all the other winners, I enlisted the help of a PT and read all the previous monthly winners’ stories to get insight into how they had achieved their body transformations. I also devoured all the information I could on fitness and nutrition.

Structuring my new exercise regime was challenging at first. I live in a rural area so most days I was driving two and a half hours just to get to and from work and the gym. I would leave home at 6am and not get back until 9pm some nights, and then I still needed to spend time preparing all my food for the following day. Those first few weeks were exhausting.

Thankfully, I was soon quicker at preparing healthy, balanced and nutritious meals. Dinner was as simple as steamed fish and bok choy, which could be prepared in less than 10 minutes. I adjusted to the early morning starts and I now find myself bouncing out of bed to get to the gym for my morning sessions. I also quickly adjusted to carrying around a small cooler bag with all of my daily meals, and I did not worry if people judged me for eating from Tupperware containers at social gatherings. I also did not drink any alcohol for the 12 weeks, and I only ate out once.

I had read many times that the greatest changes to your body occur in the final weeks. This knowledge kept me motivated during the weeks when I felt my body was not changing. At one stage, I did not lose any weight for four weeks. I have learnt that the scales can be deceiving, so I tried my best to ignore them.
By week seven, my old binge response flared up in response to my attempts to control my diet. I even ended up at McDonalds, a place that I had not been to in years. At that point I had to confront a pretty harsh reality about the role that food has played in my life, and the comfort that I get from eating junk and processed foods.

It would have been really easy for me to give up on the challenge at that point, but I was committed to seeing it through. I wanted to work through the issues that were coming up and I knew that persistence was more important than perfection. So every time I fell down, I picked myself up again and kept going.

I started making the focus of my social interactions about connecting with friends while doing fun and active things, instead of food and drink. I even celebrated my birthday with a weekend festival of activities, which included dancing, a girls sleep over (minus alcohol and sugar) and a day out at Wet ‘n’ Wild on the Gold Coast. So many people commented how great it was just to get out and enjoy some old-fashioned kids fun.
The benefits I have gained from undertaking the 12-week challenge are incredible. I am the strongest and fittest I have ever been. I can do push-ups on my toes, something that I had only ever dreamed of doing before. Exercise is now well and truly part of my life, and I love moving my body and finding fun ways to be active. I have endless amounts of energy and I don’t groan if anyone suggests an active social activity.

Nutritionally, I now know what is good for my body and what is not, and I am far more in tune with what it needs. As a result I still carry my cooler bag with healthy meals for the day, as I prefer them to the junk food that is available when I am out.

It is still a journey for me to work through my emotional eating habits, which means identifying my real needs instead of simply turning to food. I have also loved being able to go shopping for new clothes, as most of my wardrobe is now too loose for me.

Finally, I would like to thank the team at Spirit Gym, Byron Bay: my PT Ash Griffin, Pilates trainer Shayna Zweben, masseuse Jerus Fry and receptionists Sam and Ania. I could not have made it through the 12 weeks without their expertise, support, encouragement and words of wisdom.