One to watch

Picking yourself up after a long time of self-sabotage is really REALLY hard

 

I’ve been a self-saboteur for years and I seem to attract kindred spirits into my membership who have been through similar struggles to me

 

-Body images battles

-Emotional eating periods

-Binge eating coping behaviours

-High stress levels

-Avoidance behaviours to cope with stress and anxiety

-Being an emotional crutch for everyone else, and then having no one left to confide in

 

One such kindred spirit is my long term member and I’m even happier to say, now long term friend

 

Moira Page

 

Moira’s story is pretty cool actually, and I’m going to tell you all about her so that you can see that progress doesn’t always come easy…but when it does come…we work hard to keep it because we recognise it’s worth for our health, our happiness and our wellbeing!

 

Moira is a BUSY lady, she has a pretty impressive profile running a small accountancy business with fingers in LOTS of other pies (that’s not a pie joke – seriously!!!!!) amongst which includes being on the board for England golf as the first woman from Leicester to even be represented up there (impressive huh!)

 

Moira has also had what we could call a long term up and down relationship with food and bodyweight

 

Moira doesn’t mind me sharing this with you (I asked her and she said she wanted her story to inspire others if possible!) 

 

This actually tends to happen a lot with busy people who are very giving with their time and energy (those who just can’t say no to others often at the expense of their own stuff)

 

Moira’s inspiration for getting fitter and healthier comes from seeing her parents struggle physically as they got older and wanting to avoid that inevitable struggle herself which she knew would come if she stayed unfit and overweight

 

It’s fair to say that Moira hasn’t always been unfit and overweight, as a pretty epic golfer, and with a general love of being outdoors and walking, it was only in more recent years as the work and travel demands piled on, that so did the lbs

 

There is usually a turning point in one’s climb up the scale numbers and when Moira hit the heaviest she had ever been, something clicked and she knew that something had to change

 

This time things would be different 

 

In previous weight loss attempts, some successful, some less so, the focus had been on dieting pretty hard and cutting out the enjoyable stuff for periods of time … but we all know what becomes of dieters who then begin eating ‘normally’ again…..they rebound and they rebound hard (ok I know it’s not ALL dieters that this happens to, but it’s definitely a lot of them!)

 

When Moira came to me, she would be the first to admit that her head was still in the dieting game, she wasn’t ready quite yet to find her own personal balance that meant she could……

 

-Eat chocolate every day, if she wants to

-Eat out and have dessert, if she wants to

-Drink wine with her neighbour, if she wants to (you know, back when we could do that!)

-Log calories OR NOT, if she wants to

-Drink hot chocolate, if she wants to

-Have a coffee and a slice of cake, if she wants to

 

So despite getting on like a house on fire, sharing a love for strictly come dancing and pride and prejudice, we didn’t have a roaring success for the first period of working together, things went well when life was more steady, but as soon as there was a busy period with high levels of stress, the good habits went out of the window and a spiral back into over eating and under exercising began

 

Since January 2020 things changed again…something in Moira clicked again and those habits that we talked about over and over began to show up in her reports to me

 

-Going to bed a bit earlier

-Having a more consistent wake up time

-Drinking more water

-Drinking less coffee and pepsi

-Walking more

-Working out more consistently

-Saying NO to people (occasionally – we’re still working on that one!)

-Having the fridge stocked with tonnes of veggies

-Taking more down time to relax and unwind

 

These things on their own might not make that much difference but over the period of almost a year, the results speak for themselves (see the graph below which shows weight loss and inch loss since January)

 

 

I think you can agree that this is pretty impressive (almost 30kg!)

 

One of the things we use to keep accountability levels a bit higher is choosing a physical challenge that we complete together as a team. Last year we did the Macmillan Mighty Hike, and this year we did the Lake District Triple challenge (mountain biking, kayak around Coniston Water, and then climb a mountain)

 

Not only are these challenges tough and push BOTH of us to be better, especially with showing up consistently for walks and training and nutrition preparation, they are also ENJOYABLE as we get to spend time doing something together and working collectively on the continuation of confidence building, fitness and well-being – which now feels like more of a lifetime goal, rather than a means to an end!

 

Moira would the first to say that it’s not been easy every day

 

Life has a way of challenging you and it will test your mettle, your resolve and it will test HOW MUCH you want this

 

It’s not about wanting it ENOUGH, it’s about doing what is needed CONSISTENTLY enough to get the graph going in the right direction

 

Moira doesn’t always go to bed early, she doesn’t always eat the veg, and she doesn’t always get the step goals that we have…but she does do this MOST of the time because in reality, with all things considered and the curve balls life decides to throw into the mix, that’s all that we actually need!

 

Some of Moira’s top tips that have helped her include:

 

-Keeping Lindt dark chocolate balls in the fridge and when a chocolate fix is needed, spend 15 minutes melting one in your mouth (this is my favourite one!)

-Book in friends to go on walks with, the accountability is much higher

-Carry water around with you, if it’s there, you’re more likely to drink it

-If WFH have a fruit bowl in your office (and don’t buy the biscuits!)

-Having that challenge in your diary so that when you feel like giving up, the accountability of the challenge keeps you on track!

 

We hope that Moira’s story has been an interesting read for you, and that you’ve found some inspiration or motivation for taking the next steps in your own health, well-being and confidence!

 

You can get in touch if you would like to talk more about your own goals and the changes that you might want to make

 

Drop me a line here -> https://www.rossellfitness.co.uk/strategy-call/

 

Whatever your next steps are, we hope that they bring you some confidence, some energy and some motivation to keep working for your health and well-being.

 

All the best

 

Nicola AND Moira

 

That’s us climbing our mountain >>>>>>