My weight loss journey

After a recent post on my Instagram about my body transformation, I was absolutely blown away by the positive response it received. I was overwhelmed by everyone's kind words which actually made me feel quite proud of what I've achieved. After the post, I've felt compelled to write about my weight loss journey, to share with you all my personal story. Since sharing I've been inundated with emails, comments, DM's etc. asking about advice so I've decided it would be easier to write this blog post.

Three years ago. You could say I was a bit of a wild party girl who loved nothing more than a vodka in one hand and some sort of food in the other. Now I'm not talking about a bag of cashew nuts, lets try more along the lines of a bag of chips. Yes! This was my lifestyle and this was what my diet consisted of. Fitting into a size 12, (most definitely still a healthy size) was the biggest that I had ever personally been. I had always maintained a size 8 and so I started to become very aware of what damage I was doing to my body through this type of irresponsible living. The scale wasn't lying to me. I had to face up to to wrong choices I was making. 

I was at a time in my life that binge drinking away every single weekend just did not appeal to me in anymore. I had partaken in my fair share of partying and was more than ready to leave 'the party scene' behind me. I swapped my cocktails for water, drinking 2-3 litres minimum per day. You've seriously no idea just how amazing water can be for promoting weight loss, aiding healthier skin and increasing energy levels too. (You may have to pee a zillion times a day but definitely worth it, trust me!!) I'm not saying you have to give up your weekends completely, of course I still enjoy a night out like the next but for me personally it played a huge part in how I lost 2 stone.

People never believe me when I say that I love food and when I say love food, I mean I think about what's for dinner when I'm eating breakfast. Nor do they believe that I eat plenty of it too. That's the thing though, you do not need to stop eating you just need to change your eating habits. To start off you can introduce can little changes in your diet that you won't even notice. For instance, I used to take two heaped tea spoons of sugar in my 3-4 cups of tea everyday. This really was not necessary so I cut it out completely. Not a drastic change no, but I guarantee that it helped contribute to helping me loose some pounds. Take a look at your daily diet and see is there any minor changes that you can make like refraining from adding salt to your meals or maybe by cutting down on your portion size. It's an easy way to start so try it out, you won't find it too difficult I promise. 

For breakfast, like ritual I would dig into a box of wedges with a rather large dollop of mayo. Sounds disgusting, right? That's because it was!! Thankfully I've discovered porridge since then and can't go a day without starting off the morning right having some oats with a little honey for sweetness. I now snack on a banana before I reach lunch time instead a bar of chocolate. My dinners? I actually started to cook instead of picking up my phone to ring a Chinese I picked up the saucepan and chopping board. I'm by no means a food guru but by choosing home cooked stir fry's or some meat and veg I quickly started to see noticeable changes.

A gym bunny was never a tittle I could bestow upon myself. The thoughts of walking on a treadmill to nowhere was never appealing to me and believe it or not I just didn't have the confidence or knowledge to use most of the machines. So, I decided long ago that the gym really was not for me. However, I did find something I enjoyed and got my fitness in by walking, a lot!! I love to be outdoors and I love how much it can clear a fuzzy head too. A couple of months back I tried something new in terms of working out and that was training at least twice a week with the guys down at CPfitness. An amazing, professional team of coaches who provide a fun and different way to get fit. I was incredibly nervous to start and thought I'd hate it but I couldn't have been more wrong. 

Like everyone though, I do lack motivation every so often and indeed I think it's time I repaid CPfitness a visit. If you're feeling unhappy with your body and know that you want or need to make changes then start off with the little changes that will eventually kick start off the bigger ones. I do not in any way condemn a size 12 but for me personally, I feel happier and healthier through the lifestyle changes I've made.

My weight loss journey is of course one that is my own and I know every single person on this planet is different from the next. The above is what worked for me over a period of 3 years. No matter what way you choose to introduce changes into your life, just make sure that they'll ultimately lead to the growth of both your happiness and confidence. Set yourself a goal and go after it with full speed!!!  

So guys make sure to order the slim lime tonic on Saturday night and delete the dominos app. immediately!! 

And remember, love the skin you're in!

Ashley x