YOR BEST BODY

8 weeks ago I signed up for my first Yor Best Body 8 Week Challenge (obviously!!), I told myself I was doing it to help my good friend and Yor Health Rep Mel Goldman, it was easier to think of this of a favour for a friend than as something for me, because I thought - based on the way I had lived life to date - I would let myself down, I didn't feel like I deserved to completely change my lifestyle, I believed I was just average and weak when it came to making good food choices, avoiding large drinking sessions with my friends, and certainly not hard core enough to train hard. I also did not believe I could look or feel any different physically, but more importantly to me - emotionally. According to most people in my life my "before" was fine, so many people told me I wouldn't want to lose any weight I was thin enough, I almost got the impression people felt it was stupid of me to attempt this, and was also told I had no chance of curbing my insatiable sweet tooth, all of this from my always loving nearest and dearest. So with the faith of some and a whole load of self-doubt I came up with the story that I was in this to help a friend, this was somehow more acceptable to the doubters (and me). So with that story out there and in my mind I clocked on at 64.1kg, popped through my order of fibre, digestive enzymes, super greens and probiotics (I was stoked because I managed to get 3/4 of this as my three for FREE!), and posted my pictures.

I had previously inconsistently been taking those particular products late last year, but stopped for the 6+ weeks prior to starting this challenge, taking them had been such an eye opener for me. I am a mega sceptic when it comes to products that make large promises in terms of benefits, as most people are. I had often had family and friends complain to me about bloating in the past, and felt sorry for them as I never suffered from bloating, (well that’s what I thought anyway....) turns out when I initially started on the 4 products, I was actually bloated ALL the time and didn't know any different. I could not stop raving about how light I felt!!!

Anyway fast forward to Jan 12 and it was time to focus. Well kind of.... I am a self-saboteur from way back - I often joked that if I didn't try then I couldn't fail. I have always had exceptionally high expectations of myself and contradictorily had and exceptionally low opinion of myself; considering myself to be lazy, useless, unreliable and pathetic. This is something that I had been working on with professional guidance, and there was a small part of me that thought perhaps whilst on this journey (to help my friend Mel) I might be able to use my Yor Health products to help curb my sugar tooth, get my insides running the way they're meant to and use the challenge time-frame to help support myself whilst I commenced weaning my anti-depressant medication (as directed by my GP). With those thoughts also circling hopefully – I continued to doubt my commitment, I still took my products daily, went through the motions of exercising 6 or so times a week in a group training setting, tried to clean up my nutrition a bit, but wasn't honestly feeling a whole lot different. I was doing what I had said I would; well to a degree, if I was being honest I was only ever working 80% capacity, because the fear of committing 100% and failing was crippling.

The pivotal moment was when I was encouraged by our personal trainer to weigh in and re-measure, it was just over 6 weeks down the track, I had been trying to avoid the scales and had been noticing my jeans were fitting with less muffin top, but nothing dramatic. So I wasn’t overly surprised when I only weighed in 1.5kg lighter (62.6kg). I was however BLOWN AWAY by the fact that I was down 98cm globally!!!!! I was in shock!! I hadn't been under 63kg for about 10 years, which was nice but still only a 1.5kg loss – I told myself that could simply be down to drinking less water that day, the 98cms was slightly harder to discredit, I try to convince myself that he had made a mistake, but the proof was in the progress photos. So something in me clicked, I starting really tapping into the online Yor Community support (set up on Facebook by my amazing friend Mel), I began to lap up the love and support from my training buddies and started to actually listen and BELIEVE them when they were saying how well I was doing. I had 2 weeks left and I could now see that by knuckling down on my nutrition, and training for quality over quantity I might actually become a story that could inspire someone else full of doubting, negative self talk to have a go, to test the water and see what they are made of.

The last 2 weeks have flown, I lost another 2.8kg hitting my target weight of 60kg AND shed another 24cm!!! I can’t believe it. I am so proud and amazed by my physical results and I am so very grateful for all the love and support I received on my journey. For me the biggest impact this challenge has had on me and the way I live my life from here on out is the realisation this wasn’t about the 4kg and associated centimetres I set out to lose; it was my mental state I wanted to work on, I wanted to tackle my demons. I have learnt how to develop control over how I think and feel about myself. I now have the confidence to recognise and congratulate myself on my small wins, which take me closer to my life goals. I have learnt to have faith in my ability to train as hard as was physically possible for me; not the girl or guy next to me, I will no longer compare. I have learnt how to find something other than chocolate to reward or console myself if such situations arise. I now believe I can step away from my mindset of believing if I don't try I won't fail; because I know that that leads to a life time of existing, not LIVING - and I only get one go at this life, and I want to live it with passion and drive, not with melancholy and settling for the norm or the average. I want to fulfil the quote; “I want to inspire people, I want someone to look at me and say because of you, I didn’t give up”, and more importantly for me I want to go one better than that and inspire someone to BEGIN.