If the word 'fitness' offends your eyes then please feel free to give this post a miss, I won't be offended I promise! I personally know its not for everyone from past experience. And to those interested - its a waffle, just a pre-warning!
Starting from the very beginning - I'd lost a hell of a lot of weight from high school to college, not intentionally... I think it was just a mixture of getting braces, not eating anywhere near enough and the stress of juggling college and a part time job. When I look back now it was far too much of a drop in weight but thats with the knowledge and goals that I currently have in mind.
If you recall any of my previous posts you may remember that I had started to dabble in the field of fitness around summer last year. I joined the gym and started attempting to eat what I considered at the time to be 'healthy' - this to me basically meant not eating takeaways or chocolate, not actually making a diet change - oh the health! When I seen that I wasn't actually progressing in any way other than maybe getting a bit fitter it's fair to say it didn't take long until the gym membership was cancelled and the bad eating habits returned. Come Christmas time following months of eating whatever the hell I wanted I did start to gain a little bit of weight which was a shock to the system after being so small. Rather than taking a charge of my health I'd just binge eat on chocolate, biscuits, anything sweet or remotely bad for you and then sit and hate myself. This carried on for a while until I booked my holiday to Ibiza and decided I wanted to feel comfortable in my body whilst strutting round in a bikini.
I re-joined the gym and started to do endless cardio and really cut down what I ate - I still wasn't eating properly as this time I'd gone from eating everything to eating practically dust. CLEVER. My moods were horrendous, I felt tired and dizzy all the time but I was seeing a difference as the weight started to shift and that was enough motivation to keep going for me. I managed to do this until my holiday and yes I finally felt comfortable in a bikini and yes I still had an amazing time but I still feel like I stepped back and didn't allow myself any indulgence for the fear of getting 'fat' which is stupidly sad.
So that leads me to where I'm at now. After following some amazing, inspirational fitness girls and guys such as Zanna Vandijk, GraceFitUk, Two Peas in a Bod aka Chessie and Steph, Gains4Girls, Carly Rowena, The Lean Machines, The Body Coach - SO so many to even mention - I realised that there was more to being 'skinny'. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be fit. And most importantly I wanted to finally love my body! Lifting weights seemed like a key thing all of the fitness bloggers I admired had in common so I've gained a little knowledge in the field of lifting. I've decided to start taking my nutrition seriously to reach my goals and for the past month or so me and the family have been eating recipes from Joe Wicks', aka The Body Coach, LeanIn15 books for tea - making sure I'm fuelling my body in the right way. Resistance training using Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body guide on 3 days and HIIT training/weight lifting on the others.
Finally, I can say I feel as though I'm slowly but surely seeing results. I'm getting arm muscles which is beyond me because previously I had no upper body strength whatsoever. My calves, hamstrings and quads are getting pretty solid and my abs are trying so hard to pop to the surface. Most importantly I've allowed myself to eat properly again - yes I do eat healthily 70 or 80% of the time but I now realise that treating myself every now and then won't hinder any of the progress I'm making. Life is about balance and enjoying your bloody self in the process!!! I'm not perfect and I'm starting to accept that it's okay, nobody is.
Waffle over. I hope you're still here hahaha! And more over I really hope that this post enlightened you - I know many girls in the same boat so if I can help even one person with my story then I've achieved more than I could ask for!
Any comments, questions, recommendations are always welcome and taken into consideration so feel free to get chatting to me! If you want to speak to me on a bit more of a private level (which is understandable if you'd rather not share personal stories) feel free to email me ca.cotgrave@sky.com or to DM me on twitter - chloecotgrave.
All my love,
Chloe xo
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