Testimonials

One word to describe how I used to feel, SHIT! Always tired, drained, just shit. I had no energy and couldn’t be bothered doing anything. I’d occasionally go out with friends but mainly all I did was work! I was never not social, I would always still catch up with friends but I could never be bothered and didn’t have the energy to, I would force myself to go and there’d often be occasions when I would bail because I was just too tired.

I used to suffer from bad back pain. Every morning I would wake up and stumble to the bathroom to have a hot shower. That shower in the morning was the only thing that would loosen up my back and enable me to stand up straight and start my day.

I only ever felt comfortable in leggings, I had plenty of jeans in my wardrobe that were from 5-10 years ago but they were all way too small for me. I could sit here and list about a dozen or more reasons why I decided to change my life… but the simple fact is I just wanted to be happy again. I could envision myself in the future sinking deeper and deeper into this life of sadness where I stopped doing the things I love, and stopped being an active member in my own life. I was sick of saying no to everything. I was getting so many incredible opportunities in my booming career that I didn’t have the energy to care anymore and started seeing everything I once loved as a chore.

I found myself so ridiculously addicted to takeaway food that I would drive through KFC, Hungry Jacks, Red Rooster or McDonald’s 2-3 times… sometimes 4-5 times a day…. every day, not even realising. One day I just snapped and decided to get control back of my life.

I came to Assist in April 2014 with the goal of losing 30kg’s of body fat by Christmas. I sat down and had a chat with Annette and remember her asking me to write down on a scale of 1-10 how committed I was to achieving my goal. I wrote down 10, then when she asked me verbally I said 8. Annette asked me why I went from a 10 to an 8 in under a minute, I felt I was really committed to the exercise but not the nutrition ‘because that was my lifestyle and I needed to have that convenience’.

Round 1 of my first 12 week transformation program was a lot of learning, I learnt what a metabolically precise meal was and the basic guidelines I needed to follow. In week 1 I definitely wasn’t consuming 6 meals a day, and even for the initial 6 weeks I really had to think about applying everything I was learning. But from week 7 onwards it became easy.

As an incentive my trainer got me to each week put money I would usually have spent on take away each week into a money tin, at the end of 12 weeks I hadn’t caved to eating take away once! I opened my tin and had saved $709.75!!

Upon completing my first 12 week program I felt good, I had so much energy. I was still a bit nervous about nutrition and that I would go back to old habits and having takeaway but a week into my second round I still hadn’t caved and was confident that I wouldn’t. I wasn’t going to waste my last 12 weeks of hard work.

I found doing a second consecutive round of the 12 week challenge beneficial for accountability and found that it made sure I kept up with my good nutritional habits. After completing round 1 still not completely sure whether I would go back to old habits or not, round 2 really cemented everything in and gave me confidence that this was now my way of life. 

Training and eating this way is now just habit and I don’t even have to think about it. Nutrition during the second round of my challenge differed to the first as I started experimenting with foods a bit more. We looked into what foods work for me in more depth and which foods in particular were slowing me down from my goals.

The first 12 weeks I stuck to making the same sort of things where as now I will try different foods, still follow the principles but adapt recipes to what suits me. I find now, especially after the second round, everyday tasks are a lot easier to complete. My strength and technique has improved during my sessions.

I still remember the first time I went to do a split squat I couldn’t even do one and just completely fell to the floor and now I can do 2 lots of 15…but I still hate them! As well as my PT sessions I also attend bootcamp and group conditioning sessions ran by Assist PT. Every session leaves me walking away dead! I find being in a group environment more motivating as I always want to try and keep up with the person next to me and I work a lot harder when attending group than if I was to do cardio on my own. My fitness has definitely improved since starting, I am stopping less for rest and completing more of the exercise during each round.

After completing two consecutive rounds of the challenge, what has changed? Everything! My eating habits, my exercise, my energy, my skin is better, just everything.

After 24 weeks I am yet to have takeaway food!! I’ve got so much more energy, each morning I wake up and literally jump out of bed, my back pain is non existent and my quality of sleep has improved dramatically. On days that I wasn’t working I used to wake up at 12-1 in the afternoon, where as now I am getting to sleep earlier and will be wide awake from 8.30am with lots more energy!

When I wear clothes I don’t have to worry about sucking in my gut or opting for something looser and can happily say I now own several pairs of jeans and other pants other than leggings (to the surprise of a lot of my friends).I was always the type to act confident but now I don’t have to put it on, I do just have more confidence in myself. This is my lifestyle now, I either keep going with it forever or it’s been a waste of five months. I just know I won’t give up, I’m too stubborn.

I’m currently down 20kg of body fat so aiming for another 10kg by the end of the year. I have signed up for the Melbourne Colour Run, which is a 5km run, I’m not a runner, I have never been a runner but I entered because I wanted to do something different and be more active. I think its good to have as a different goal rather than just the fat loss number’s, I don’t want to get to the 30kg’s and think what now? I want to make sure I have other things I can concentrate on and keep me going forwards. Those two are my main goals, I have several. I also would like to go overseas next year, but rather than just going and lying on a beach (which I’ll be doing as well) I want to be able to do something active, I would love to hike in Peru or something like that!

I think the accountability for my nutrition was the main aspect which assisted me to get where I am now.  Continually improving with weight training and cardio is what is going to keep me on track and ensure that I keep hitting my goals. All aspects can always improve, fitness, strength and there’s always more depth and  changes we can look and go into with my nutrition. I think I am just looking forward to getting fitter and stronger!!

Ebony reached her 40kg goal, hiked in Peru and went skydiving after reaching her goal in 2017!

Read more about Ebony’s journey to 40kg here!

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