I feel so confident in my body, so much so that I shared my bikini pictures!

“My problem before universal fitness was a lifetime of dieting and unhealthy relationships with food and my body, High cholesterol, Black and white thinking about exercise and food: “I’ve missed a day of training this week so I’ve failed”, “I’ve had a muffin for a snack so I’ve failed my diet, may as well eat crap for the rest of the week and start next Monday”. Excluding whole groups of foods from my diet – mainly carbs. Religiously seeing food as either good or bad.

It was affecting my mental health to a point of developing an eating disorder and worsening other mental health conditions. Having high cholesterol also was a big wake up call, as well as generally feeling unfit and unhealthy.

Getting back into a routine of exercising and eating regularly after missing sessions due to illness, work or other commitments. Travel- I live on the other end of Stoke and don’t drive so I have to catch two buses to get back home from the sessions! After a few weeks or so I settled into this routine and now I’m fine.

My cholesterol has gone down to a healthy level. For the first time, I feel so confident in my body, so much so that I shared my bikini pictures! But most importantly I enjoy exercise, it gives me a great sense of achievement and I don’t see it as a punishment or a chore anymore. Eating disorder and other mental health issues are under control now.”