christuckmystory

Feb 2011 I was sitting on my sofa working on my mentorship homework for Dax Moy. Part of the mentorship program was to tell everyone ‘Your Story’ so far…..who are you? how did you become you? what are your beliefs and why?

So here goes….I hope you have a spare hour…..have you got a cuppa in your hand? herbal tea of course! and are you comfy??

Here is my story so far……

Hi my name is Chris Tuck. I am a 42 year old mother to Ben aged 14 and Charley aged 9 and partner (hubby) of 27 years to Phil. I am a holistic fatloss and fitness coach and formally a chartered management accountant (a title I still hold!). I have always strived to lead a healthy lifestyle and it is my passion to help people do the same. This has culminated in my existing services, offering healthy solutions to fatloss programmes in addition to various community classes including Zumba and Pilates.

In early 2011, I had the first of two surgeries to remove bone spurs and loose bone particles from my left hip joint. My education and experiences (which include a catalogue of other surgeries that can be attributed to nutrition and hydration) have lead to the realisation that surgery was not the only option left to me and going ahead with it was a mistake.

As a result is now my quest to help others facing surgery explore their alternatives, ensuring that surgery truly is the last resort. To that effect, I am launching my own practice offering a personalised, holistic service that incorporates the essence of my healthy solutions programmes with Kinetic Chain Analysis to address issues of body dysfunction allowing a person to literally reclaim their own health!

I started my fitness career in 2003; I was 33 years old, had two young children and was working as an accountant at the Priory Psychiatric Hospital.

Working full time was not an option with a young family (Ben was 5 years and Charley only 4 months!), long hours and stress were not conducive to a well balanced home life. This is something I learned back in 2001 when I had a breakdown after being unable to cope with juggling my workload, family life and being bullied at work, Now with two children to consider I knew something had to change for the sake of my family and my own health.

For that reason, I requested a part time position after my maternity leave. A job share was ruled out, and so the company offered me the role of “Specialist Accountant”. This proved to be the major turning point for me. I discovered the role created for me meant I would not be using my skills or my knowledge but I was just not prepared to work full time again.

I had come to a crossroads and I knew I needed to do something different; I needed to be something different.

The traumatic experience of my childhood left me with an uncompromising need for stability and security in my life.

(In my first 16 years I moved home about 8 times, moved families twice, lived in a tent in Wales for 6 months and ended up in the local homeless unit 3 times. We moved schools many times; sometimes we did not go to school. We were malnourished, beaten and much more. School kids could be really cruel went you went to school smelly and with holey clothes.
My childhood was the pits; emotionally & physically damaging… especially for my siblings. I became the ‘mum’ to my 2 brothers and 1 sister).

Since the beginning I used education as a means to escape the poverty of my upbringing. By educating myself, I could earn enough money to provide a roof over my head, put food on the table and have enough savings in the bank to not have to worry about bills etc. (This was the main incentive for branching into accountancy in the first place, even though I did not have o’ level Mathematics.)

So, although I wanted more time with my young family, it was equally important to me to earn the same money that I had earned before.

I thought about my other options… I had always enjoyed Fitness as this was a major coping strategy/outlet throughout my entire life. I used to go every other day and either do classes, go to the gym or go running. Exercise had always been a stress relief from studying, work and my past.

I decided that the answer lay in finding a career that involved what I loved doing – fitness. I did my research on the internet and asked the Fitness Instructors I knew at the classes I attended for advice. I knew that I had to look for a reputable company to qualify with and eventually I discovered the YMCA Exercise to Music (ETM) course and booked myself on it. Education had gotten me out of ‘my previous life’ and it would again.

So at 33, with a 4 month and a 5 year old, I embarked on a completely different career path. My husband and friends thought I was utterly bonkers to even consider a change in career. The ETM course cost £750 which seemed like a fortune back in 2003 (after all the money I had already spent on my accountancy career). It was also extremely challenging trying to organise childcare so I could attend courses at weekends when my husband was doing shifts (he is a police officer).

During my training, I was a stone overweight and not very confident. Getting up in front of people took me out of my comfort zone. There were moments when I felt completely overwhelmed and one time when I went to teach the group on the course a 10 minute warm up, I forgot everything that I had planned and practised and just burst into tears in front of everyone. This to me was a sign of weakness and that I was a failure. However something kicks in every time and I just don’t quit…

Towards the end of my training, my maternity leave came to an end. I decided that with my new career still in its infancy, I would still need the security of my part time income for now and so took up the accountancy role offered. This added another dimension of complexity to my hectic life, but made me even more determined to get to the point where I would be able to let the accountancy go!

Whilst at work one day I had an inspirational idea: to provide the patients at the hospital with a physical education programme. I spoke to the clinical nursing manager, who agreed to support my proposal once my training was complete.

Once qualified, I also applied to many gyms for classes, but I was told I would need to get experience before I could cover a class. Therefore my only option was to set up my own class. My first class was a circuit’s class which I took over from Bob at the local rugby club.

In the beginning my aim was just to run fitness classes, but this did not fulfil me. I saw clients come and go with niggling aches and pains, injuries, health problems and fat retention issues, many of whom would ask for my advice. I was frustrated by my lack of knowledge, expertise and experience. I felt that I was not providing my clients with a full service. I wanted to be able to advise clients on nutrition and to help prevent their aches, pain and injuries from happening in the first place. I wanted to impact my own, my family’s and my client’s health.

I decided to search out solutions to these challenges.

I wanted to be able to provide a complete service and by this I mean looking at all the facets of health and being able to influence all of these areas (Mindset / Lifestyle / Hormones / Exercise / Nutrition).

I had only been working on one area and that was exercise. I had gone from teaching high impact to teaching more mind and body classes – Pilates, my knowledge and skill set had been increasing since 2004 and yet my own mobility had been deteriorating and I could not understand why.

I always thought that if you moved more and eat correctly that this would result in improved health and weight loss.

I did the YMCA nutrition course and tried to implement calorie control techniques in my first fat loss club, but it did not work – I was extremely puzzled!

Also I had grown up listening to the media and having attended WW twice myself after the birth of both my children in 1998 & 2004, I had believed that low fat and low sugar was the way to go. I ate low fat yogurts, margarine, pasta, lots of fruit and salad, but no veggies because I could not be bothered to cook them.
I was on 18 points and was actually starving myself to get down to my ideal weight of 9 stone! I would eat the WW bread 1/2pt per slice (tasted like poo) and I cut out bananas because I was told that they were the cause of my plateau! Something in my brain told me that I needed to eat more and that if bananas were wrong for me but chocolate and alcohol were ok if within the points limit then there was something drastically wrong!!!
I really thought I was doing the best for my health and it took me a long time to come round to a different way of thinking. I thought I knew best!

I was upset because my clients did not get the results that they wanted and that I could not help them. I realised that the calories in v calories out method was a load of rubbish and I felt a fraud for trying to deliver it.

I knew that I did not have the complete picture but I did not know what was missing. I abandoned my fat loss club after 3 months and just went back teaching exercise sessions.

Meanwhile, things with my mobility were getting worse…

I was extremely frustrated with my own body and I felt like I had followed up every lead and seen everyone’s recommended expert to try and sort out my own problems and I was not getting anywhere! So, I continued to read other books and e-books on nutrition but most of these came from America….Craig Ballatyne, Jesse Cannone and David Zinczenko author of the The Abs Diet. I read, digested and wrote articles for a local magazine about what I had learnt but on the whole, the nutrition side was put on hold for a little while.

I meet up with Jenni Clarke at Rachel Holmes workshops and she told me that YMCA Nutrition course was not all what it was cracked up to be that there was more to it. (This was the first time I heard about Dax Moy’s philosophies…)

Rachel Holmes had launched her nutrition/diet challenge to Instructors and I joined this. What she was informing me to do made sense but seemed too restrictive so I did not see it through at the time. Again nutrition was put onto the back burner.

I spoke to Marvin Burton who had trained at the Gray’s Institute in America on Rachel Holmes workshop and that’s when I learnt more about biomechanics and I signed up to do Pilates Level 3 to learn more so I could help myself and my clients.

I was referred to a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon for pain down the left side of my body (in my groin, left knee, tight adductors left hip, tight iliotibial band left knee, tight left tendio Achilles with throbbing and aching in the left heel bone). This was the start of the degeneration in my left hip but this was not picked up at this time. Instead, he merely suggested further physiotherapy.

I had spent thousands of pounds in the last four years on sports injury and sports massage to try and get to the bottom of my symptoms that had been constantly just shifting up and down the left side of my body. I tried many different experts physiotherapists, osteopaths, podiatrist and my doctors. No-one came up with a proper diagnosis for my symptoms and this includes the well known Crystal Palace treatment centre. No-one looked at the Kinetic Chain or Bio-mechanics.
The Podiatrist wanted to give me orthotics but they made my heel stick out of my trainer!

So I just got on with life, putting up with the increasing pain and keeping mobile through regular physio for maintenance.

In Apr 2010 I was going to be 40. I wanted to mark the occasion by doing something special. I applied to do the 2010 London marathon running for a charity. I started my training in Oct 2009, running 3 miles, 5k’s, 10k’s, half marathons and then longer runs. The longer runs were agony, and I could not walk for a few days afterwards. I am wincing writing this!
Did this stop me training? Stupidly no! I was more determined than ever to get through as much training as my body would allow, not realising that I was putting my body through untold stress and exacerbating my symptoms.

In Feb/March 2010 I found Chris, the head physiotherapist @ Physioactive. He assessed me and after a few sessions and told me that the cause of my symptoms was my hip and that it was a mechanical problem not muscular. He told me that I needed further specialist investigation and referred me to Mr Kavarthapu at Kings College Hospital. He also advised me not to run the marathon. However I had done many hours of training and I raised a lot of money for charity so I did not want to let anyone down including myself.

I was so pleased that I had been given a ‘diagnosis’ and that I was seeing a top specialist to sort my problem out that I thought I might as well carry on as normal. I felt I was doing the right thing, not giving into the pain, keeping mobile. With hindsight I cannot believe how naive I was and how readily I accepted the ‘diagnosis’. It just all seemed to make sense at the time.

I ran the marathon in 4hours 43mins with dodgy hip and lots of pain.

Between Apr-Aug 2010 I became more and more immobile and the pain became unbearable. I was still teaching fitness at this time and did not believe in taking drugs for the pain. Instead I let the pain tell me when to stop and rest. Unfortunately I seem to have a high pain threshold so I just kept on going!!

After x-rays and MRIs I was told I had multiple bone spurs, broken bone and osteo-arthritis in my left hip joint and 1 bone spur on my right hip. I had two options- leave it be and suffer the pain and deterioration or have surgery which would rectify the problem. My hip would be surgically dislocated, the bone spurs smoothed off and broken bone removed. I would have two pins put into to stabilise the trochanter and then it would be just a matter of time to allow the healing. 12-14 weeks post op I would be fully mobile and functional. I was young fit & healthy so the op and recovery would be a breeze.

Again I was relieved that I had a proper ‘diagnosis’. The scans showed me the problem and to fix the problem I needed surgery. I asked what had caused it and was told wear and tear. Again I just accepted this but I did not get an answer to what caused the problem in the first place.

Nutrition, posture and supplementation were never mentioned as a cause or a cure to my problem by any of the specialists that I had seen over the years.
In hindsight, I realise that my bone spurs could in fact be partly attributed to a nutritional imbalance: too much acid from fruit and too little alkali from vegetables.

I have had a lot of opportunity for reflection over the last few years and I now realise that my attitude towards my diet was also tied to my childhood:

My step-dad had an allotment. He grew his own veggies and always ate butter. I really hated the bloke and anything that he said was good for us I poo-pooed out of principle.
My mum used to cook the veggies for so long that any goodness was gone by time it came to the table!
My mum did not buy a lot of fruit because we could not afford it.
Meal times were difficult, when he came home from the pub, the meal would often end up on the floor or against the wall. We all used to shovel our food down as quickly as possible so we could leave the table. He used to try and pick arguments that would end in tears. Even to this day I eat really quickly and often eat on the run!
I always felt that people who could afford to buy fruit and veg from a supermarket were rich and that we grew our own because we were poor and I don’t think that this has ever left me – even though now I know different!

It has taken a long time to understand just how powerful the relationship between our past experiences and food can be. I have recently attended the IPC 1 course by Dax Moy which explores & helps remove people’s brakes/ barriers that stop them achieving their goals.

I wanted to be in the best shape possible for my surgery. Proper nutrition would benefit me especially pre & post surgery. I needed to find out more… I had already completed the YMCA’s Level 3 Nutrition qualification but I knew that this was not the full story!

On the work front, I heard about Paul Mort and his ideas surrounding Bootcamps from Jenni Clark. She was a massive help to me in sharing her nutritional information and I am indebted to her for getting me started on this whole journey.
I enrolled myself on Paul Mort’s mentorship programme because I wanted to start something different for 2011: a boot camp with a difference – Nutrition, exercise and a result’s based business. I started this in July 2010 and intended to launch after my surgery in December. In August 2010 I put myself through my 28 day Fat loss programme based on my CLEAN principles and protocols.

At 9st 4lbs I was not looking to lose any weight but I really need to improve my energy levels, sort out my digestion and just become healthier. At the end of Oct 2010 in between bootcamps I had a rectal prolapse sorted again as well (this is another article!!).

At the end of the 28days I lost 8lbs and 8 inches I was astounded, I had so much energy, I felt alive and my pain was manageable.

I realised that I needed to roll out my programme sooner than Jan to gather some social proof of real cases not just me. So I held my first Fatbusters Bootcamp in October and the results were staggering!! Since then I have been working on my Fat Busters Fat Loss and Fitness programme and it has developed for the better in so many ways, I am really proud of it.

Both Paul and Jenni told me about Dax Moy’s ED Nutrition Workshop being held in Dec 2010: this seemed to be the next logical step in my quest to understand more about the interaction between health, nutrition and exercise for both my own health and my plans for my business. I booked on to it and it blew me away!

After this course I knew that I could help my clients more by enhancing and expanding upon my current knowledge; I took the decision to invest and study for more advanced knowledge and skills by becoming a Kinetic Chain and Fat Loss & Fitness Specialist.

The YMCA taught me to eat low fat, cut out saturated fat, eat whole grains, 5-7 servings of fruit and veg per day, (I ignored the veg bit and ate lots of fruit!) again hindsight and education is a wonderful thing.

Dax Moy told me many things that day, which made an awful lot of sense – dotted my I’s and crossed my T’s. I was in awe of his knowledge. Dax told me that health began and ended at the cellular level and that all symptoms can be alleviated through nutrition and corrective exercise.

This got me thinking about my symptoms, my brain was whirring… I bucked up the courage to talk to Dax for a few minutes during a break. I asked him if it was possible to reverse my bone spurs through nutrition and he told me yes. I told him about my impending surgery and he gave me this analogy.

Dax said ‘If a door did not close properly, what would you do?’

I said plane the edge of the door off to make it fit, a few people were nodding their heads.

Dax said ‘Why not look at the hinge, and see what is causing the problem? If you tighten the hinge then the door would close properly’

He went on to explain that surgeons and doctors look at the disease and address the symptoms, they never look for the cause. The cause will always be there until it is addressed.

I remember Dax saying that sometimes surgery is necessary but in most cases nutrition and supplementation will heal the body.

At this moment in time I was waiting for my surgery so it gave me a lot of food for thought. It all made perfect sense to me: don’t have the surgery find the cause of your problem and address through nutrition and corrective exercise. Again with hindsight and more knowledge this message is loud and clear. Back in Dec 2010 I was so far down the line with my ‘diagnosis’ and imminent surgery, I stayed on this path. A decision I personally now regret….but professionally it has changed my career path.

My op was cancelled and rescheduled 3 times during December. I was devastated and I am not ashamed to say that I fell to pieces. I was very depressed over Christmas and the New Year.

At the back of mind I kept on thinking on what Dax had told me…..I made an appointment to see one of his team on the 29th Dec. Even though what he said made sense I was still sceptical but I was prepared to find out more, I thought nothing ventured, nothing gained. Unfortunately this appt was cancelled and so I saw this as a sign to go ahead with the surgery.

I was mentally and physically exhausted and in pain… so much so that I needed to share how I was feeling. I made a video of my feelings at the time, even though I am embarrassed by it, it is a true reflection on how I was feeling. My pain seemed to elevate with my poor mindset. I felt negative about everything and I had to force myself to eat nutritionally. I did eat more junk food than normal for me and it exacerbated my poor mood and pain. Deep down I knew that I was sabotaging myself and that eating well was in the best interests of my healing and my mood.

My surgery finally took place on weds the 5th Jan 2011, 7 days before the launch of my first proper Bootcamp. I was determined to be up and out of hospital by the weekend so that I could start my first bootcamp and not let myself or my clients down.

The food in hospital was not great but I was only in hospital for 2 nights because I was up and about and showing independence (later to be my downfall).

I was under strict instructions not to exercise but was encouraged to be mobile. I did not realise that the op I had was a major one and that I should have taken it easier. I thought if I was able to do it, I should do it. Getting back to normal would get me through the recovery.

Now I was no longer jumping up and down: I was resting on the sofa, using both crutches, using the mobility scooter to get out and about and not driving. But I was getting up at 5.30am 3 times per week to teach bootcamp, pilates and my general fitness classes from a seated or standing position (I had a cover teacher for Zumba).

I rested on the sofa during the day but working on the laptop. With hindsight this was not resting but at the time I thought this was fine.

I now realise that I was running on adrenaline, I was stressing my body big time. I was not taking any extra supplements or painkillers but I was maintaining my CLEAN eating and making sure I eat good quality protein and often.

Whilst I recuperated I decided to look into how the body works and finally find out what caused my problem and how I could fix it. I remembered what Dax had said at his Nutrition workshop and I booked myself onto his KCA level 1 course in Feb 2011. This was 4 weeks after my surgery.

What followed was mind blowing information and my second ‘aha’ moment when I realised that I should not have had my surgery! Every time Dax talked about the body’s own healing powers given the right nutrition and exercise I would become upset because I could not believe what I had done to myself. If I had known what I had learnt over these two days I would not have had my op, which was major invasive surgery. I would have had a KCA done on me and gone down the corrective exercise route.

My checkups reinforced the realisation of what I had done:

@ 2 weeks there was no healing – saw member of team – slight bend in pin no 1.
@ 8 weeks there was some healing – saw member of team – not as much healing as expected. I asked for clarification of what I should and should not be doing. I told them what I had been doing and they said carry on.
@ 9 weeks I started seeing Julie @ DM studios and we started on corrective exercise to improve my mobility, started taking supplements mainly magnesium and calcium.
@ 12 weeks there was no further healing – saw member of team referred to Mr K – pin 1 bending more – physio and more use of my muscles in general had led to muscle being too strong for the bone, reason for slow bone growth? not explained. Again I asked for clarification of what I should and should not be doing. I told them what I had been doing and they said carry on.
@ 16 weeks there was no further healing – saw Mr K and referred for corrective surgery

I was utterly devastated; I burst into tears and again was low in mood for about a week. Julie was a rock to me throughout – there were many times when I would turn up to see her and I would just ball my eyes out! With a few wise words I got back on track.

After KCA 1 and my experiences so far I realised that I wanted to be a Health Coach and practise health as my religion! If I could help just 1 person going through an un-necessary procedure then I would be truly happy. I wanted to preach health through nutrition and corrective exercise.

Although I was not in full health myself I decided to embark on a year of educating myself whilst I recuperated. I looked at what I needed to do, what courses I needed to go on, how much it was going to cost. I booked onto KCA 2, the Internship, KCA3 & 4, another nutrition course and ICP2 (bold is still to do).

Dax really fired me to learn more and become something I can be proud of, enjoy and find rewarding.

So whilst I was ‘healing’ I was learning so much. I found the KCA practical’s difficult due to not being able to stand on my operated leg. So I watched and learnt.

When I found out about my 2nd op I just carried on with my plans to get me through. Due to my inactivity I started to lose muscle tone and people started to make comments about my weight. I was watching my weight because I did not want to balloon up but I can honestly say I was looking after myself well. Carrying yourself around on crutches for months on end is hard work! I was eating CLEAN 80/20, taking my magnesium and calcium, keeping mobile and doing my physio.

My consultant told me that 2nd time round June 10th we needed to be more cautious. He said when he operated again my trochanter was a mess. He had to replace both pins with ones double the previous length and inject a bone graft as well.

I would need to rest for 2 weeks completely bed rest, wear a leg brace for 24/7 – this drove me up the wall but I stuck with it! I’m not a very good patient!!
I would need to walk around with the leg brace on for a few weeks, walk for 15mins at a time 4 times per day, I could not manage this….it was too exhausting. I used my mobility scooter for the first 8 weeks
I was not allowed to drive for 8 weeks

@ 2 weeks there was some healing
@ 4 weeks more healing
@ 8 weeks lots more healing, got rid of the leg brace,
@ 12 weeks down to one crutch on short journeys and driving my car short distances. There had been a lot more healing, but not healed completely
@ 16 weeks- 29th Sept I was hoping that my trochanter was fully healed and that I could get back to full mobility and health, but it is still healing.

There is so much I want to do professionally and personally. I just know that if I concentrate on too many things at once I will be stressing out my body too much and healing will not occur. I cannot risk this.
This time I have been more careful, more aware, I have been more tired. I have listened to my body and slept when I needed to and put my business second to my health.

My business idea is still to be a West Wickham’s Leading Health coach (Fat Loss & Fitness). My beliefs and values are to help people in any way I can (including Fat loss, Fitness, Fun, De-stressing, Fantastic workout), and to sort out their dysfunctions.

The purpose of Fat Busters is to educate everyday people to live a fuller, happier and healthier life, by adopting the principles of the Fat Busters C.L.E.A.N. programme into their everyday life.
I help men and women 40+ who are looking for healthy solutions to fat loss, to live C.L.E.A.N, become lean, stay lean and improve their health, all for the long term. Through education,taking consistent and persistent actions to reach their goals.

CLEAN Principles

Clear mindset
Lifestyle choices
Endocrine & Organ function
Anatomical Alignment
Nutrition & Hydration

My promise is to: ‘Drop a Dress/Trouser size in 28days by adopting the CLEAN principles or your money back guaranteed.

Live C.L.E.A.N, become lean, stay lean.

Mindset Protocol (Clear Mindset)
This has been a relatively new thing for me. I always wondered why some people can lose or stick to a plan and others can’t. I know how exercise and eating well affects me when I am not able to do either. So not eating well and not exercising is not an option for me. It is part of my lifestyle…….unlike my hubby who can’t seem to even want to try.

I want to be able to help people like my husband. I did IPC1 with Dax and this again opened up my eyes to different methods of trying to get clients to adhere to my program.

I know and believe that mindset is crucial in clients achieving their goals. They need to be ready to make a change. They need to have multiple goals, they need to know what is involved, they need to know the price toi be paid and they need to take the action necessary.

As a result of IPC1 I get all my clients to review their current goals & re-set their goals if necessary before each boot camp. I have had 1:1 meetings with some of my clients to come up with strategies to get them to where they want to be. And I have ½ way mentoring calls with all current clients to iron out any problems that they may be experiencing.

Exercise Protocol (Anatomical Alignment)
I believe that inhibitory stretches & glute activation before mobilisation is the way to a safer exercise session.
I believe that short burst of intense interval training (working at their own level of ability) is the best method for fat loss.
I also believe that posture awareness and stress relief is just as important to all clients.
I am going to ask my clients to exercise 10mins in morn and 10mins in evening as well to maximise results and learning patterns.

My Fat Busters program offers 3 x 45mins sessions of intense interval training with optional extra homework, a pilates session per week and a therapeutic body massage per package.

Nutrition Protocol (Nutrition & Hydration)
I believe that my clients should detox for 28 days when they first come to see me so that their bodies have a complete break and new habits can be formed within that time frame using my CLEAN nutrition programme based on the ED Level 2.

I believe that they should either use the WAVE and fasting in month 2 & 3 with a cheat meal once per week or continue with 28 detox with a cheat meal once per week.

I believe that once they reach their desired weight/body shape that they should adopt the 80:20 principle to maintain.
Every 4th month everyone needs to re-boot and do a 14 day detox.

Currently:
I am working towards offering my clients the full integrated package to maximise their health. In 2012 I will be opening my own practice! I will be looking at their mindset, their lifestyle, their stress levels, their exercise regime, their posture, their fat loss etc.
I am incorporating Internship and KCA skills and knowledge into my Pilates sessions
I am working on building up my zumba classes (putting other instructors in place) because this is what clients seem to want. They want to have fun, have a workout and de-stress.

I am setting up a business that is an alternative to visiting the doctor’s surgery. Taking control and responsibility for your health, prevention is better than cure! I am building and gearing my business towards this by reading books and going on courses to equip me with the knowledge and expertise I need. I am implementing little changes continuously to make my service a quality and unique business.

2011 has been a complete roller coaster for me. Even though I have not been at full physical health and at times mentally strong I have achieved so much and on the way to becoming the person I want to be. A Holistic Fat Loss and Fitness Coach/Expert who can & will change & influence client’s life’s.

I have learnt not to accept one view on things

I have learnt that surgery and medication to mask symptoms is not the way to go to improve health

I have still got to find out what has caused my bone spurs but after some research I believe that I have had excessive calcium in my body due to a lack of magnesium and other vital minerals for a long period of time

I believe that my gait and my posture have been wrong for a long time which has caused my joints a lot of unnecessary wear and tear. Even though previous experts have told me different.

A Kinetic Chain Assessment, corrective exercise and nutrition will tell me the truth of the matter. I could have done this without surgery, without the complications, without the stress, and loss of earnings. If only I had known where to look and what I was looking for in the first place.

My experience, motivation, new skill set and knowledge will make this happen for others and I cannot wait!

I knew about eating well through my catering qualification, I knew that a lack of food (from childhood) was not good for your mental or physical state.

I knew that if you do not look after your health, you have nothing… there were times when I suffered Bulimia when I became too stressed, there were times when I had mini mental blips that I turned to fitness.

When I was off work for those 6 weeks I walked every day for miles with my dog to clear my head and get fresh air.

When I worked with the Priory patients and we talk about their situations we walk.

I knew and now absolutely know that eating CLEAN and fitness is the key to health and I will deliver this message to anyone that will listen and take action.

My hubby due to his job shift work and medication has not been a happy well person for the last 8 years. He has high blood pressure, psoriasis, type 2 diabetes, kidney stones, he has been depressed, he is very negative and does not like change. Life is hard work for him, for me and my family.

Currently with my hip and trochanter I can’t walk or get away from my current problems so imagine how am I feeling – I cannot turn to fitness so I am putting everything into this program and concentrating on the future when I am mobile and will become a Health Coach.

All I know is that I can do anything that I put my mind to and there will be more sacrifices made along the way but ultimately I just want to be happy and believe that when I can help my family, my clients I will be happy and when I become a Health Coach I will be fulfilled!!