THIS IS my last Tantrums & Trainers column. And it's strange, because even though I've been documenting my fitness progress on a weekly basis, it still seems like a lot more than 18 months since I first slogged up that hill to my personal trainer's house, filled with trepidation and wishing I was still snuggled under the duvet.
Back then, I could hardly walk the length of myself. I'd never lifted a set of weights in my life, nor gone running, and certainly never worn trainers – except, perhaps, for medicinal purposes.
Back then, if you'd told me that by May 2008 I would
have lost more than two stone and gone down three dress sizes, I'd probably have laughed in your face.
Not that it's all been easy. I am not a natural athlete, and there are still times when I absolutely loathe exercising. I have had several injuries and illnesses during that time, all of which have set me back, and there have been points when I have simply rebelled, avoiding my trainer for a couple of weeks at a time and making up excuses – both to her and to myself – about why I couldn't make my weekly session.
But I've got there – although where exactly "there" is, I'm not sure. Am I a size 8? No. Do I look like one of those dancers from the Eric Prydz video with the legwarmers? No. But one of the things I have learnt along the way is that I don't want to, either.
Getting fit, and falling off the wagon, have taught me to be more comfortable in my own skin. I'm never going to be a skinny minnie, I'm always going to be built the same way, and finally, at the age of 30, I'm happy with that.
One of my prime motivations for getting fit was a holiday in Portugal with friends, where everyone went off sea kayaking. I stayed on dry land, feigning a cold, in truth concerned that I wouldn't be fit enough to keep up with them.
Those days are gone. I can now wear clothes I never dreamed I'd be able to wear, take part in any activity going and have an inner confidence I think I've probably lacked in the past when doing both.
Really, then, I'm rounding this column off on a high. I've recently upped my personal training sessions to twice a week. I eat more healthily than I ever have, and know just what I'm putting into my body. Last night when I got home from work I went for a 20-minute run.
So thank you for reading, thank you for your support, and thank you for sharing with me your own efforts to get fit, lose weight, and stay healthy.
Really, you can do it all without the tantrums or the trainers, but sometimes, a little bit of both works wonders.
The full article contains 492 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
