This is a super long blog post, so bear with me…
Ok so I’ve been keeping this under wraps, mainly because I was scared, I didn’t want to put it out there, because I didn’t know if I could do it or not.
I was worried about what people would say, I was worried how I would feel about myself and what it would do to me, my body, my mindset, my health…
And because I’ve been through this rollercoaster personally in the past of feeling ashamed, I was worried “what would happen?” “Would I screw myself up by doing this?”
So here’s how it started…
I often get the following comment thrown at me…
“Well it’s ok for you, Mandy, to be in shape, you don’t understand what it’s like to be really overweight / in my situation”.
Here’s the thing, I do and I have.
If you know my story of me dealing with body image issues and being overweight and emotional eating, hating myself, low self-esteem… You also know that it lead me to becoming a Personal Fitness Trainer many moons ago.
So I decided earlier this year that I was going to do an experiment, as I’m upgrading my Ultimate YOU Members to Private Group Coaching based specifically for fat loss and lean muscle.
I wanted to prove just how effective nutrition and exercise, designed specifically for fat loss and lean muscle could truly transform your body.
I wanted to be on the same page as my clients when the coaching began. So I could go through the same “stuff” (struggles, emotional stuff, head games, feelings of unworthiness coming up) that they were going through.
Because I’ve been through this before and from years of experience with my own body, with training clients and via my education and research , I know how to train, eat and apply mindset to get out of that, back on track and get results.
So I made the choice I was going to “let myself go”.
I’m not kidding.
And it’s been shitty to say the least.
I haven’t told anyone. Not even my hubby. I know he’s wondering why the hell I’ve let myself fall off the wagon. I think most “partners”, probably wouldn’t be game enough 🙂 to approach that subject. LOL …
My hubby is an emotional / stress eater and his family has struggled with obesity, including himself in the past. So he’s pretty aware of how commenting on things like that can affect a person. So it’s not surprising he hasn’t said anything.
I didn’t want to share this with him – or anyone – in case I changed my mind.
Not even my business mastermind group knows. No one, until today.
I got scared a few times and started exercising again and fixing my nutrition, as I had made this decision while doing a 60 Day Challenge… Not the best time, obviously, to make a decision like this. 🙂 (Luckily I had finished creating all the test runs and my own training for the Rock Your Shorts program.)
But then I thought: NOPE, I can’t back out now, I have to do this.
I want to prove to myself, and to my clients and subscribers, that being out of shape, feeling crappy, is not only fixable, but doable and show you how to change it in a way that’s mind blowing…
Coming from a body that’s out of shape, not one that’s already in shape. Share your journey and show you how to absolutely kick butt with your efforts to get into the best shape of your life.
Letting my nutrition slide and emotional / stress eating…
I’ve had a lot of stress on my plate, both my Labradors got really ill (I love my Labs, Arnie and Louie, like children), and for a week or so we actually thought were going to have to say “good-bye” to “big yella”. I was devastated. Thankfully Arnie is slowly recovering.
We had also made the decision to sell up everything and move town. We were only days away from doing so and it all fell through due to issues with the house that we were intending to purchase. It was a blessing though that we found out about it beforehand.
And I had my shoulder injury (from saving my dogs from being bitten by a snake) along with an old pelvis injury playing up (from the motor cycle accident I was in years ago). Which I’ve found frustrating.
And there were some other issues that cropped up, I won’t get into them here because I want to stay on topic and show you how “letting myself go” affected me, my body and “quality of life”.
Now usually when you’re going through stuff like this, and you want to keep your nutrition on track, being prepared makes a huge difference. Right?
Normally I would have food prepared and wouldn’t think twice about it, would just eat what I prepared to ensure I was consuming great nutrition… and because I really enjoyed it. Because once you become accustomed to consuming healthier meals you actually do really enjoy it.
I still did all the food prep for Arnie and Louie, but let it slide for myself, as much as I possibly could.
Here’s the thing, once you get used to NOT having your nutrition on track, and let the mindset slip a bit, even if you have some food prepared…
You don’t want to eat it. You’d rather eat crap. You start to crave eating crap, because it seems faster, easier and it’s addictive.
The side effects of letting my nutrition slide…
At first I didn’t notice it too much, but into the second week I was feeling it BIG TIME. By the end of the third week my bodyfat started increasing along with muscle loss.
A month in, I was experiencing more headaches and migraines. Along with feeling really bloated. And I was experiencing digestive issues.
My body doesn’t deal that well with eating wheat / gluten. I started swapping my healthy meals around for some toasted sandwiches to see what would happen. Ugh!
My energy levels started to deplete big time. I felt exhausted… sometimes when there was no reason to be. Which made me feel like I was being “lazy”.
I wasn’t drinking enough water. Which of course encourages dehydration… and you’re not flushing the crap out of your system as regularly either.
My sleep suffered… I didn’t want to get up in the mornings. And I couldn’t sleep at night. I increased my coffee intake slightly to try and keep awake so I could get through the day. And keep up with my workload.
I love my work, so I didn’t want that to suffer.
Besides at the end of the day this is an experiment…
So I didn’t want it to get in the way of working with my clients.
Cutting my exercise right back…
I reduced my exercise right back. There were a few occasions, I freaked out a little, and decided to get back into training again, but pulled myself back from it after a few training sessions each time, because I needed to go all out with this experiment.
With the “not so hot” nutrition, issues with sleep, and feeling lethargic, as the weeks went on cutting back on exercise started to not phase me. In fact, I was caring less about it the more I said “no” to it. And allowed myself not to exercise.
My flexibility decreased, my strength went caput, and I felt like I was “lugging” my body around, rather than moving freely.
Oh and another thing…
I found myself feeling guilty here n there for thinking about getting into shape, for wanting to look and feel better, while all the stressful stuff was going on… because I felt I should be putting all of that first, and putting my own issues last.
Body fat, body image and feeling ashamed of my body…
I started feeling ashamed of my body. Even though this is an experiment and I know I can turn this around and can totally kick ass and get myself into great shape… it really scared me to see how my body had changed.
I didn’t want to go out or do anything where I had to show my body.
I could feel the rolls of fat on my stomach, y’know when your tummy hangs over your jeans, shorts etc and it’s really uncomfy.
My sports bras feeling like they’re crushing my ribs, they’re so tight.
And my lower abs looking like a “bum bag”…
It’s shocking to see how much “damage” you can do to your health, your body, your confidence in such a short time.
The experiment isn’t finished yet…
I still have another 10 days – or just over that – to go of this experiment and I can’t wait to finish it.
I have to say I’m sooooooooooooooo ready to get back on track. I’m not enjoying feeling like this. But I absolutely have appreciated the experience of it. Big time!
The biggest thing that has pulled me through this has been… mindset.
Even though I’ve felt like this, I have GREAT MINDSET TOOLS that I can put into place, so I DON’T spiral out of control.
…PLUS I know how AWESOME it’s going to be…And the impact it’s going to have on me and my body when I start this new group coaching program… I’M SO EXCITED!
Just like my group coaching clients I’m going to be following it, and absolutely kicking ass. Showing and proving the true effectiveness of it.
How do I know this?
Because I have absolute faith in my ability to do so.
Over the following weeks, the Ultimate YOU Membership will be upgraded to Group Coaching.
Clients will continue to have access to all the current content as well as the NEW Group Coaching program.
There’s going to be a considerable price rise, obviously, as I’ll be dedicating a heck of a lot of my own time into helping my Group Coaching clients.
Go ahead and take a look what’s available now… and you’ll be bowled over.
Now add on my NEW Group Coaching onto that. I know! 🙂 AWESOME!
If you know you can do this…
If you’ve experienced any of the above struggles that I’ve shared with you…
If you know that it’s time to make changes to your health, your body, your mindset and your self-confidence…
Then hurry on over to the Ultimate YOU Membership and get access for the current membership price before the upgrade.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.
See you there!
Lots of hugs
