I had become that person I always dreaded: fat, unhealthy and miserable. Diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis a number of years ago, I had given up on myself once the weight started to creep on.  

I would go to the doctor, scared about my ever-increasing waist. I was told that as I have PCOS, I should expect weight gain and losing weight to be very difficult. So that was it. I had resigned myself to being fat.

My husband (a PT) and I opened Unique Fitness Studio, a personal training business, two years ago and the stress of running the business, moving from Canberra to Melbourne and the crazy hours we were working just increased my weight problem, and I was becoming very depressed.

It wasn’t until I tried to put on my jeans and almost couldn’t get them over my bum that I realised I’d had enough. I took Women’s Health and Fitness into the studio, showed my husband and asked him to help me. My husband agreed to train me but made me promise that I would train hard and not waste his time!

I trained six days a week with a combination of weights and cardio. Initially it was very difficult for me to come into our studio to train, because it meant training in front of our clients and I was embarrassed. But I managed to turn that into motivation – I wasn’t going to hide anymore.

In fact, the support I got from so many of our clients made me want to push even more, and I didn’t want to let anyone down, especially myself. I was a very fit person in the past so my passion for working out came back very quickly and I loved the buzz I was getting from training.  

I had been going great guns and really starting to see improvements about five weeks in, but with three weeks to go I caught bronchitis. It was a real blow because I felt I was so close and I had been hoping to increase my training in the last few weeks.  

I had five days off from training because I couldn’t get out of bed! But I was determined not to let it get the better of me. I just took one day at a time and pushed myself as hard as I could.

It was really interesting having my husband train me. Some people might see having a PT as your husband as an advantage. but I can tell you that’s not always the case. We met 10 years ago when I was one of his PT clients, but he hadn’t trained me for years and we were both a little scared of how it was going to go.

I think my attitude made it work. I was there to be trained, so I shut up, did what I was told and let him be the expert. I can only remember two small domestics on the gym floor! My husband is amazing and supported me the whole time.

Entering this competition, I never thought that I would get anything other than a thinner physique, but boy was I wrong! I feel stronger mentally and physically and I have learnt that no matter what I want to achieve, I can do it.  

I have re-learnt the art of patience and believe that having goals and a firm plan is paramount to success in anything. I’m not quite at my goal weight yet, but I know I can get there, and that’s what counts. c