December 5, 2025
My whole adult life I have been a yo-yo dieter who would join a gym because I was getting heavy, loose some weight quickly then stop because it wasn’t sustainable, and of course the vicious cycle continued.
10 months ago the reality of having a 6 year old daughter with cerebral palsy who needs me to lift, carry and transfer her from her wheelchair caught up with me.
As she gets older and grows, supporting her gets more difficult and I realised it was only going to harder.
That’s when I reached out to Tim and Laura at the Strength Studio. I knew I had to get strong to protect myself from injury.
Strength training has helped me in so many ways, naturally it has improved my ability to lift and carry my daughter but it’s the other benefits that have crept up and surprised me the most.
I have dropped a dress size without the self punishment of starving myself. I’ve increased my protein intake and make healthier choices but nothing is forbidden.
My mental health has improved because I allow myself to step away from my very challenging family life to work on myself. I don’t feel guilty because I’m becoming a better version of myself for them.
I love what I see when I look in the mirror, I’m 42 years old now and for the first time in my life I feel good in my own skin. I have muscles and I love them! In the past when I’ve started to see muscles appearing I have felt self conscious and moved away from exercises that were contributing to that because society told me skinny was beautiful so that’s what I tried to be.
Not anymore! I love my body and I love that I can see that my body is getting stronger. I need to be strong for my daughter but I also want to be a good role model for my girls. I want them to see that skinny isn’t the only form of beauty, being strong is beautiful too!
The big difference in my journey this time is that I didn’t join the gym to lose something, I joined the gym to gain something and I have gained so much more than I expected!
