Helen’s tips for success • Dare to dream – imagine yourself looking fit and hot whenever you can. • Plan everything – have your training times worked out and your menu planned ahead each day. • Don’t let yourself be tempted by anything – if it’s not in your nutrition plan, it shouldn’t be in your mouth.

I joined the Royal Australian Navy at the age of 17, straight out of school. I am 150cm tall and weighed 49kg. I had grown up on a farm with my small family. My mum taught my sister and me to eat healthy food. Most nights we had meat and three vegies. I didn’t know what it was like to have pizza delivered; we never had soft drink in the house and we only had dessert if ice cream was on special at the supermarket.

All this changed rapidly when I left home. I suddenly found myself being offered three hot meals a day with a choice of three different desserts after dinner. As I was quite an active person, this didn’t seem to affect me until I got a little older.

Now I am in my early 30s and in the first few weeks of this year I found myself sitting on the lounge watching daytime TV and wishing I had abs like the girl in the Ab King Pro commercial (I knew buying that machine wouldn’t work!).

I like to work out and have always had great shoulders, but I found myself increasingly unhappy with my waistline. I wasn’t hugely overweight, but I disliked the way I looked.

My training over the years has been very haphazard; sometimes I would ride my bike to work every day and participate in the military fitness classes three times a week. I would do this for six months and then I would stop. I would convince myself that I was too busy to ride or work out. I then decided 2010 would be my year to get abs.

While waiting to receive the personal training program I had signed up for with Ideal Bodies Online, I started their generic nutrition program. I stuck to it for the two weeks before my program started and I lost two kilos in those first weeks.

When I started my program I loved it. I think my military training has made me very good at following instructions and sticking to the rules. It was great to have a professional program to follow that I didn’t have to think about.

Having access to a Defence gym was also a great help. I could use it any time I liked and for free. The Navy has a great policy that allows us a few hours each week to exercise during work time to maintain our fitness.

Over the first four weeks I followed my program to the letter. I felt so good. Everyone was telling me how good I looked and I had already made it half way to my goal weight. My husband was so supportive throughout my program. He would continually tell me how good I was looking and kept me motivated.
I don’t think I realised how unhappy I was with my body until I lost the weight. I feel so good, have so much energy and want to get out and live life.