Where it all began...

My journey with health and fitness has ebbed and flowed over the years, but it's something I've always had an interest in.

Coming out of high school, I found myself with free will and disposable income to burn - which I did... on alcohol and aaaaall the food. I had no idea about calories, macros or how they impacted your weight. Of course, I knew there were 'good' and 'bad' foods, but my 'what I want to eat' was stronger than my 'what I should eat'.

On a Friday night, my bestie and I would get Shanika's (a local Italian Restaurant) for dinner - like a big container of creamy pasta, each - eat the entire thing plus a 300g block of Marvellous Creations! For context, that'd be over 3000 calories in ONE MEAL. That is wild to me now.

I was playing Netball, but outside of that exercise wasn't a thing so it's no wonder I got as big as I did.

I had always been the larger one in the family, never wanting to do dancing because I didn't feel comfortable in a leotard... And of course I was the one who went through the hole in the trampoline, and broke the extremely weathered rope swing - which we still joke about to this day.

Before my 21st birthday, I decided I needed to lose weight, and that was the start of my transition from binge eating to a toxic cycle of restriction and all the fads on the market.

I did Weight Watchers, Paleo, Keto, 1200 Calories, Low-Carb, Skinny Tea, 30 Day/8 Week Shreds - I've still got all the e-books... over 25 of them!

Then I met and became friends a local PT whose bootcamps I started attending. I did a challenge with her, she taught me the basics of macro tracking, and I got myself down to 67kg at my lightest and was the fittest I'd been.

And when I say my confidence sky-rocketed, I mean it! However... I still thought I could lose more, only to look back at photos years later and think 'damn I was tiny. I wish I looked like that now.' I vowed to myself that if I got myself back there, I'd be damn appreciative of what I'd achieved.

10 years of weight fluctuations, before the turning point!

Over the next couple of years, those new habits and way of eating slowly slipped away, the weight started coming back and then my first boyfriend entered stage right. We did join a gym, and started getting back into fitness, but as the old saying goes 'you can't out-train a bad diet' and our diet was just that - bad. So, by the age of 28, I was right back where I'd started... then, COVID-19 hit.

I was living alone so like many others, exercise became a big part of lockdown. I built out a little home gym, tried to stay on top of what I ate (still in a toxic way) and was going out for a daily walk so this stage of my life wasn't all bad for my journey but what really kicked me into gear, was a move from the country - where I'd grown up - to the city!

This was such an exciting time for me, living somewhere completely new, knowing no-one. New apartment, new job, new location with so many fitness options... I started at a local gym before moving on to BFT. You know how when you first start out, you think classes are going to be too hard so you think you can do your own thing and see results? That was me and spoiler, it doesn't work.

I loved the group classes and started feeling fit again. A year later I moved on to another BFT, then we were introduced to this new fitness race that was coming to Australia... and that was where my love of HYROX began!!

Stay tuned for Part 2...