Gym Virgin Diaries: We're Talking Confessions and Inspirations

Our guest writer Simone is at the half way stage of her Gym Virgin Challenge. Today she makes a confession, and talks about who inspires her.

This week’s article is a story of two halves.  And the first part isn’t good news I’m afraid.

Last weekend I moved house and I found the whole thing very emotional. Between that and the feeling of being ‘on holiday’ in my new place, the healthy regime has gone out the window. Now, I could lie about it and tell you everything is fine, but I promised you at the beginning that this would be a warts and all story - I want to give you a true account of what it’s like for an average girl to battle with her weight and health.

And I suppose the fact that I have fallen down, is something that can happen to us all. I’m refusing to weigh and measure myself this week as I don’t want to let, what is most certainly a weight gain, depress me and stop me getting back on track. I haven’t been able to work out as regularly as before as I’m now living quite far away from the amazing Go Gym and my trainer Owen. But I am heading back there tomorrow, and I’m really hoping that they will manage to motivate me to pick myself back up and continue on the path to health. I really was feeling quite great before this stumbling block so I just need to get my mojo back.

Right now I’m just feeling crap, bloated and sorry for myself, with the vicious circle of comforting eating starting to raise its ugly head again.  But it's not all doom and gloom because the second part of this week’s story is a very inspirational one.  And one that I hope will inspire me (and you) to get back on that horse.

A couple of weeks ago I met a lovely girl called Jessica Byrne in Go Gym.  The guys wanted to introduce her to me as they felt that she was a great example of someone who has already walked this path and is now at the finish line. I asked her to share her story with me so that I could share it with you, and she has kindly obliged.

Jessica’s story will sound familiar to a lot of us. Her 20s were spent in a state of permanent diet - living on lettuce and Diet Coke to quickly drop a stone and then gaining it back (and some extra for good measure) when her body rebelled against being starved. When she met her now financé Aidan, she was slim but quickly gained the ‘love stone’ from all of the cosy nights in and eating out.

After one day breaking down in tears at the thought of staying on this endless cycle of gain and loss forever, Jessica finally gave in and agreed to let Aidan (a personal trainer) help her. Jessica stepped straight into a world of dead lifts, leg presses, and being allowed to eat carbs again. And lo and behold her weight went down (and her bum kinda moved up). Jessica is now full of confidence and very proud of her body and muscles. She worked hard for them and earned them the hard way. The best part is that Jessica now no longer weighs herself at all, ever.

She’s a great example of the current trend ‘Strong not Skinny’, which is really just a message to us girls, that you can be thin but still have a high body fat percentage and be unhealthy. We also need to understand that due to the lack of testosterone in our bodies, women will not ‘bulk up’. We will tone and get muscle definition but we won’t get ‘big’.  One point that Jessica wanted me to get across is that although muscle is inherently perceived as masculine, she has never felt more feminine in her life.  So bravo Jess, and here’s to all us women out there, no matter what size or shape, let’s just try and get strong and healthy, and stop letting the media feed us stereotypes of how a woman should look.  Hear us roar!

Do you know someone that inspires you? Or can you identify with Simone's comfort eating? Tell us in the comments!