Sharyn | Assist Personal Training

Sharyn - Business Owner 4 Year Transformation

24 weeks after starting Sharyn was a Finalist in the MP Challenge, running without pain and Type II Diabetes gone…but that’s not all!

Understanding your “why” and having an emotional connection to it is vital if you want to make a permanent lifestyle change. In 2011 Sharyn shared her why:

I want to live and not just be alive, with the shame of what I have become gone forever.

I think of the things I used to be able to do that are now distant memories. Shopping for clothes has become an emotional roller coaster with guaranteed devastation. The mass of fat taking over my body has become an obesity problem. Confidence has steadily declined as the contours of my face disappear.

Through bad habits, ignorance and excuses I unwittingly abuse and jeopardise this life I cherish. How do I implement sustained changes as a foundation for living where excuses become distant memories, and my body is testament to health and vitality? I want to relearn from the beginning, no excuses and no limits.

I want to emerge from the ‘mass’ and then shape my body it into its peak condition. I have seen older women looking fit, strong and fabulous, even in bikinis.
I want the benefits of health and vitality to be the ever present force behind everything I do. I want to be blown away by what I can achieve.

This is one hell of an inspirational story!

Sharyn met Annette in 2010 in a commercial gym before Assist PT opened in Lilydale. She did a few PT sessions with her, went away and applied the things she had been taught and always looked on to watch what she was doing with other clients. Within a couple of weeks Sharyn decided to invest in a journey that would begin to change her life…..in the short space of 12 weeks!!

Suffering with severe knee pain and type II diabetes, in a plateau with her weight loss, caught in an unhappy work environment, unable to move about freely, the list goes on. Sharyn listened and applied all she was being taught. She transformed her life, became a national finalist in the Metabolic Precision Transformation Challenge in 2011, gained confidence, left her day job, went on to work as an Admin Manager in a gym, turned into a bit of an adrenalin junkie after freeing herself from the body and lifestyle she had been trapped in for so many years and then started her own photography business!

After 12 weeks of seeing Annette, Sharyn shares, “Annette not only exemplifies body transformation but enthusiastically imparts holistic knowledge about eating, training and the attitude necessary to emerge from the lifestyle of lethargy to the frontiers of boundless vitality.

Annette’s attention to correct technique is very reassuring and gives me confidence to give it all I have got. So far I cannot believe the transformation I have experienced. Now I’m putting together the elements for permanent vitality and health with the benefit of Annette’s personal training, guidance and encouragement to undertake the metabolic precision transformation challenge. If you want to feel better than you can remember, be able to do more in a day than what you can remember and begin to feel comfortable in your own skin then find an expert like Annette and just take the first steps. In 12 weeks I have lost 13 kg and about 80cm of my circumference all round. Best of all I am still going strong and have revised my initial goal of losing 20kg (which is a matter of when and not if) to having a body that I could not even have dreamt about.

They say things happen for a reason but with all the reading I have been doing lately I believe we attract things and people into our lives as and when we need them.  Since we started our program in April we have achieved so much, physically it has been fantastic, but the emotional side of things has been a far greater journey. A huge weight has been lifted and I now know what I am capable of whatever I set my mind to.”

Sharyn in pink, 2 knee reconstructions, Type II Diabetes, 95kg at 46 years of age. Sharyn in green, one year later suffering with chronic knee pain, Type II Diabetes at an all time high and 74kg at 47 years of age.

Sharyn at 47, 24 weeks later, running without any knee pain, diabetes gone, 63kg and finalist for the National Lifestyle Champion in the MP Transformation Challenge in 2011.

“Your messages of encouragement are not just from my trainer but from someone who truly cares. Your genuine joy when I achieve something makes me want to push it harder.   You truly have an amazing gift for what you do and you have made a huge impact on my life and probably many others.   Thank you is not enough. The overall experience of training with you is amongst the best experiences of my life”

Sharyn lost 106cm in her first 24 weeks of personal training. Since May 2011 she has lost over 17kg of body fat and gained more than 6kg in lean muscle. Now she lives an incredible lifestyle!

A couple of years later, Sharyn shares, “Who would have thought that just over 3 years ago when I started my weight loss journey that I would end up where I am today. I am a totally different person. The decision to join a gym to get fit after losing some weight was the best decision I ever made. Annette and I have a love hate relationship to this day. Now training with Annette at Assist PT Studio provides me with a more personalised service and the interaction between other clients sharing their successes as well me as sharing my own creates a nice vibe. It’s far more enjoyable and not having to wait for equipment too as this makes the workouts flow so much better.

My journey began as weight loss and fitness but it’s now far more than this. Its all about mental strength and resilience. The ability to be able to adapt to changing conditions and life events. The power of the mind to overcome perceived problems will continue to be a work in progress as I learn new things everyday.

Two years ago when someone said to me you must be so happy now that you have lost weight I realised that I really didn’t feel happy. I actually felt I had lost who I was. My kids were almost grown up and no longer needed me like in the past, I was not happy in my job which had huge amounts of stress.

It was during this time that Annette actually recommended several things to me. Gym time was my me time, no work discussions allowed and we achieved so much! Who would have thought that exercise was the way to save my sanity. It was also at this time the Annette suggested I have a chat to Tracy Wood, a life coach and my mental health journey progressed. My mindset allowed me to achieve so much both within the gym environment and in my personal life. I now had a different focus, the challenge shifted from being a total physical achievement to mental fitness. It was about finding a balance between training and living, after all what’s the point in spending your whole life in the gym?

I was also asked if I could do any job in the world what would it be, in a heartbeat my answer was photography, I have always loved taking photos and toyed with the idea of starting my own business many times but never had the courage or believed that what I did would ever be good enough. Exercising both my mind as well as my body was just as important now. I finished my diploma of professional photography and began working for myself. I left my previous employment because of stress, there was a huge realisation that life is way too short to not enjoy what you do. The ironic thing is my next job was as an admin manager in a gym, and I have now moved on to manage another gym. This for me is a great place to work as I can openly share my journey with others and show that it is possible to achieve amazing results at any age. I am proud to say I am 50 years old as I am so much fitter and healthier now than I was at the age of 35 or 40.

My weight, fitness and motivation goes up and down but the difference now is I know why and I have the tools to stop it. I can be heavier on the scales than I was a month ago but my size is smaller, so the non scale improvements are just as important as anything else. I know what works for me after trying a few different types of training and now it’s so sustainable as a lifestyle that I finally feel in control of my food and exercise for the first time in my life. The comments from people like “oh you’ve kept the weight off” and “You still look great” still to this day it makes me wonder what people expect, am I supposed to put it all back on? Hell no, I worked too hard to get it off and it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

I still to this day work with my coach and I have good days and bad days but I have set tasks for myself that take me way outside my comfort zone. I have done things I could only ever have imagined, like climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Jungle Surfing in the Daintree, Sky Diving over the Yarra Valley, getting my first and second tattoo and running my own photography business. I am happy and I feel great, especially when others tell me that I have motivated them in some small way to start their own health journey. I have made an amazing number of friends through this process and life is so much more interesting now.

The team at Assist PT do amazing work and both them and Turning Point Now (Tracy Wood) have changed my life. I recommend them both to everyone I meet. I am still a work in progress and will continue to improve both physically and mentally. I no longer just exist, I am Living and loving life everyday!!

Thank you Annette for believing in me and investing your time in me. I will be forever grateful to you”