Before I joined PW, like most people, I had tried quite a few different types of exercise and diets but nothing had really worked, not for any length of time anyway.

I generally enjoy most sports and used to keep quite active, but a knee injury from rugby that required surgery in 2018 put me out of sports and exercise in general for quite some time; this affected both my fitness and weight.

I then joined a local sport centre that offered fitness sessions but despite having a variety of sessions available it just wasn’t for me and I found I was paying for it but not using it!

I then thought I had found the answer with cross fit which I joined in 2019 but despite enjoying the sessions I found the mentality of AMRAP (as many reps as possible) meant that I spent more time out injured then I did actually doing it!

Read more about Spotlight Sunday: Steph Dewar! “What I have now isn’t a diet or a gym routine it’s just my lifestyle and I wouldn’t change it” …

I am 44, had 4 kids and work full time. My journey started in 2014 when I saw myself in a holiday snap and was shocked at my size. This is a picture of me at that time:

I was nearly 14 stone, a size 16, a drinker, and a smoker. I felt really sluggish most days, I was short of breath walking up stairs and I wobbled when I walked.

I made the decision that I was going to lose weight.

I tried all sorts of diets; Slim fast, Weight Watchers, the one with red and green days, but nothing worked consistently.

Read more about Spotlight Sunday: Sue Fenwick! “Today I feel in the best shape of my life, have such a positive outlook on life, and I’m a role model to my kids” …

Like most people I’d spent Christmas over indulging with the mindset that I’d lose it all in January. Trouble is I’d said that for, perhaps, the last 6 Christmases and never lost it in January so year upon year I’d added to my weight.

I’d start a diet lose a few pounds, feel amazing then congratulate myself by “treating” myself to cakes, wine and any other thing I could convince myself I’d earned, thereby undoing all my good work. By the time I’d repeated this cycle twice a year I’d be thoroughly fed up, give up entirely, and hooray it’s Christmas again… I’ll worry about it in January.

This January it was a bit different.

Whilst browsing Facebook to kill the time, because, let’s face it, what else is there to do in January… I’d see my friend Tania pop up checking in at PW Physique and Fitness. My initial reaction was… she’s mad who works out at 5:45am and seems happy about it!! Surely that won’t last!

But day after day I saw these check-ins and I became curious and started asking questions, and all I got was glowing reports of this amazing place with the most amazing trainers and the people that went there.

Six short weeks later she posted her success story and that’s when I realised that this was something I had to try so I got in touch with Anthony and booked my taster session.

Read more about Spotlight Sunday: Krissi Binder! “For the first time since I was a teenager I didn’t need to hide behind a sarong or baggy t-shirts I was proud of my body.” …

Occasionally after we’ve dropped Sir Maxalot off at nursery, me and Nic nip to a cafe on the way home to grab a cuppa and plan out our work day. Nic’s cafe of choice between here and nursery (and, more crucially, because it’s open at that time of the morning!) is Costa.

Now, you may not know, but you can actually check out the nutrition information of all the drinks at most of the major coffee shops… and it makes interesting reading!

As a general rule, the fancier the drink, the more calorific it becomes, and when I say calorific, I’m talking in excess of 500 calories and 50g of sugar… that’s nearly 13 teaspoons!

And this is before you’ve bought a custard cream that’s the size of a small hatchback! (Seriously, do they have a lab where they capture and perform experiments on biscuits?)

Here’s something you can have instead to get in your coffee fix, get it for less than 300 calories, and swap out all that sugar for a bonus hit of protein:

Read more about Your Coffee is Making You Fat (Try This Instead) …