It’s hard to believe that week 11 is here already! (I feel as though I say that about every week… But it’s true!) It feels like

It’s hard to believe that week 11 is here already! (I feel as though I say that about every week… But it’s true!) It feels like time has gone very fast, but when I look back to my first week and see how far I’ve come, it feels like quite a long time ago.

When I started this challenge, I was the absolute definition of unfit. I could barely do a half hearted push up, my heart felt like it was going to explode every time I walked from room to room or up a flight of stairs and I barely had enough energy to get through 15 minutes of a Zumba class. Not to mention that I threw up in my first class from the shock to my body! Nowadays, I’m still far from being able to run a marathon and I’m still trying to improve on my skills and techniques when exercising – I’m still very much a work in progress! There is still a lot of room for improvement, but I’ve found that there are so many things I can do now that I couldn’t do before. I can do push ups much better than I could at the start (still a bit clunky, but we’re getting there!); I can push myself so much harder in the high intensity classes and I feel as though I have so much energy to not only get through one Zumba class, but two classes back to back!

From a physical point of view, my skin feels so much brighter, it’s lost the greyish tone it had before and now has a glow to it! I feel more confident in my appearance, I have to get used to not slumping my shoulders anymore to conceal my heavy midsection and instead throw my shoulders back, hold my head high and look after my posture! Before this challenge, I was constantly holding cardigans, bags and books in front of my stomach to hide it as I walked around, and I keep having to remind myself that I don’t have to do that now which feels great! I’m enjoying strutting my stuff! I have a huge amount of clothes in space bags that I bought in 2012 on a trip overseas but haven’t been able to wear because I’ve been too big. This week I noticed that my size 18 jeans were too big and were becoming difficult to wear so I pulled out a pair of jeans that I bought back in 2012 and, just out of curiosity, tried them on. I truly expected them to be too tight and small for me but they were like Cinderella’s shoe and fit perfectly! They fit like a glove! That gave me the biggest buzz being about to wear them finally and to not just squeeze into them and have a muffin top hanging out over the waistband, but to fit into them as though they were designed just for my body. Incredible! I’m looking forward to going out and picking a new outfit – I’m so excited that I’m going to be able to pick something off the rack! My body shape was always different proportions before, so I found it really difficult to pick clothes in stores to fit me properly. Some would fit nicely around my arms, but would be too tight around my tummy. Others would be perfect around my tummy, but then be too loose and droopy around the neckline.

I never knew I could feel this amazing. I’ve always believed that it’s the person inside that matters and that you can be happy no matter what your body shape or size, and I still absolutely believe that! I have to tell you though how much happier and confident I feel now that I have more energy. I feel like I’m glowing inside as well as out!

Things I have learnt this week:

• Looking back over the past three months, I’ve realised how much of an emotional roller coaster this sort of work can be. You have so many good days but you will also have your not so good days. Sometimes it feels too hard and you want to stop but don’t give up! The good days will always outweigh the bad and when you look back at those times you’ll be glad that you didn’t give up! Don’t be afraid to ask a friend for support when you’re struggling.* Every achievement is something to be celebrated, no matter how big or small! Small achievements build up to be big achievements and before too long, you’ve achieved something that you may not have ever thought you could do! Celebrate something that you’ve done well this week… go on! Might I suggest a one minute dance party? Wherever you are now, on the train, at home, in the office… stop and throw on some music and have a mini dance party to celebrate you! It’s guaranteed to make you smile and feel pretty darn good inside! (It may also make you feel slightly silly but who cares? You’re doing it for you… Not anyone else!).

  Kylie x