My story...
I cannot remember a time when I was not overweight. My love of food has always been a priority for me and there didn’t need to be an occasion to indulge in my favourite things. Somehow exercise came way down on the priority list and whilst I knew what I needed to do, there was always this thing called will-power that got in the way.
Having tried many weight-loss schemes (do you want names? Slimming World, Weight Watchers and even hypnotism) nothing seemed to work for me and I would lose interest after 2-3 weeks. A gym membership was paid for 2 years and whilst I did initially go on a regular basis, I didn’t actually reap the benefits of a weight loss goal. The monthly direct debits continued making each appearance rather costly in actual terms. The whole sweaty atmosphere of lycra and posing in mirrors seriously didn’t appeal and therefore came to an end.
A year ago I was socialising with the girls and the weight-loss topic arose. A friend spoke of a personal trainer she had recently began working with and recommended I check the company out. I have to be honest; I was in no way interested at this proposition at all. However, for some bizarre reason the next day I looked up the details on Facebook for Primal Human Needs.
Why did I message? I guess for the following reasons...
1. I was struggling with pins and needles in my legs on and off.
2. I was keen to lose some weight
3. This was something totally new for me, it was outside in the fresh air and I was not competing against others or feeling that I was holding people up.
My main concerns were:
Liam had probably never worked with anyone as unfit as me before and would shout and holler at me just like in an army training setting. This would no doubt involve total humiliation!
I could not have been any further from the truth.
He was calm in his approach and totally understanding in my goals and frustrations with weight.
At our meeting he came up with this fasting approach whereby I had a daily feeding window between mid-day and 8pm resulting in fasting for 16 hours a day.
How on earth was I going to do this?... Surprisingly I started it immediately. Was it hard? Yes for sure, the first few days I was a little tired and possibly moody (although I would not want to admit this to hubbie of course!). I signed up to 20 outside training sessions, 2 hours per week.
After the first week I had lost just over 7 pounds and couldn’t believe my luck. Yes I had given up breakfast and late night snacks but I could handle that for these results ☺
Liam’s enthusiasm and patience was extremely admirable. He understood my frustrations, adapted the sessions for my ability whilst challenging me at all times. Not only that, he was keen to discuss the impact of the exercises on my body.
He will tell you himself, I am not the easiest person to work with and have a rather sarcastic dry sense of humour. I had never enjoyed exercise so how was I somehow enjoying this?! I am still unsure to this day!!
The key thing is he had changed my thought process. I was no longer looking for excuses to break the cycle. The weight was shifting and I could see my fitness improving, so much so that when he told me he was going overseas I was gutted. What was I supposed to do now? It would have been easy to give up but no I didn’t and needed to continue my journey.
I still follow his eating guidelines today and continue personal training with another equally positive trainer and one year on have now lost 5 stone.
I even attended one of Liam and Emma’s Fit Camps recently in Monmouth in the most horrendous weather conditions ever! I did it to prove a point. I wanted to prove my weight-loss (as I was unsure if he truly believed my messages!) and maybe more importantly I wanted to demonstrate that I now had the confidence to join in a group session and did not feel threatened that I would get left behind. We were all totally drenched by the end but I loved it... Who would have ever thought? Having never met Emma before she was so welcoming, passionate in her delivery and really pushed me to the max.
Thank you Primal Human Needs you have truly made a difference to my life and long may it continue! xx