Hi, I’m steph
I might come across as being outgoing and bubbly in all of my 'before' pictures, but really I was hiding so much from everyone.
Nights out and events always filled me with so much drea. Being young and not being able to shop in the same clothes shops as youur friends, not being able to wear the same style of clothes as your friends because at the time it was only really Asda and Tesco that catered for plus sizes.
Getting ready I would be in floods of tears to my mum about my size. I would eventually fix my makeup, put on my clothes and paint my smile on as if none of those feelings existed. I would go out, drink the night awayand try to hide the way I was feeling, but there would sometimes be comments about me bing the 'fat friend' or 'you dress well for your size' or 'you're still pretty for a bigger girl'. I would come across as being body confident when really I couldn't believe I had gotten myself like this.
Something had to change, and the only person who could do that was me.
I started off making small changes with my food and increasing my activity levels. Before long, I was noticing changes in my body and started to fall in love with exercise. I wanted to know why my body was moving a specific way, wanted to know the importance of nutrition, I wanted to learn as I was making progress. Before long I decided I wanted to do this as a career and decided to do all of my personal training qualifications. Was my weightloss journey easy? Far from it. The first time I ever tried to do a burpee I lay on the ground and cried because I couldn't get back up, but from then on I decided I wasn't going to let them get the better of me. There were so many times I was close to giving up, but kept pushing through realising that the other alternative simply wasn't an option.
Now don't get me wrong I still have body hang ups like everyone else, it's only natural. But when I smile now, it's a real smile, a smile that I'm finally happy within myself.
Being comfortable in your own skin is an amazing thing, and I love helping clients do this. It's not always about losing weight or losing inches, but also about feeling stronger, feeling more confident and being able to look in the mirror and liking what they see. Yes we can all change our bodies, but the most incredible thing is a change in mindset and actually beginning to believe in yourself.
I can genuinely relate to every single client that I work with because I've been there xxx