A little more about me,

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You want to know more if you got this far...

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Alifestyle has expanded from an online only nutrition business,

to now include face to face small group personal training,

it's my part time work but full time passion. 

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From an active upbringing, going for bike rides with my family, playing

representative basketball for Canberra through my teenage years, I left

home  at 18 to join the Defence Force, where I was faced with three

cooked meals a day. I didn't realise it at the time, but suddenly these

three cooked meals a day, plus too many snacks and alcohol I began

overeating and wasn't moving enough.

 

                In just 4 short months I had piled on a massive 16kg -

                my heaviest at 90kg.

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Over the next 5 years, I battled to lose this weight. I was always a size 10 growing up, now I was struggling to be comfortable in a size 14, wearing over-sized clothing to cover up my now larger body. I started low calorie diets and started going back to the gym, spending hours on cardio equipment and being too afraid to step foot near the weights room.

 

I also thought that if I spent an hour on the treadmil, then I was allowed to consume those calories later that day- I'd treat myself. What turned out to be a viscous cycle.

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I then yo-yo dieted, I lost 12kg, then I got comfortable and began a spiral of eating and less moving, before I knew it I had nothing to 'work towards' and I gained weight again... all my hard work disappeared I was back at 83kg.

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This is when I knew enough was enough. 

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My initial inspiration was from a friend at work, who just started her preparation for her third body building competition in 'fitness' category. I thought she was crazy initially! But after time, I could see what she was doing was working... I wanted in.

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A month went on, I was finding this new way of eating (we'll call it flexible Paleo) satisfying but still not very maintainable. Whilst I was eating a lot of healthy meals, lots of vegetables and no processed carbohydrates, it was restrictive and didn't work for me. During this period I finally got the confidence to match my new found eating habits with weight training. It was great, I finally found something which pushed me every session, I could see my own progress and it was very rewarding.

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I decided to stop following a Paleo style diet. And decided to go back to basics with nutrition, at the time that was including wholesome, natural and unprocessed foods. I stopped buying pre-packaged snacks at the grocery store and started making healthy alternative dishes, like vegetable lasagnas, banana muffins and home made dips (here started my recipe book!).

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It was then I decided to compete in my first every bodybuilding competition in Bikini division. I remember when telling family and friends, they were worried I was going to get 'too big', I assured them it was something for me to focus on and achieve, I wasn't going to get massive!

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So I used Instagram to track my progress, I started posting my progress photos to keep myself accountable and keep myself motivated by checking every so often for changes in my body. 
I put myself through an initial strict phase, which meant everything was fresh, wholesome, nothing from a packet. I preach this on my clients - initially you've got to make some changes to kick start your good habits. I find either becoming aware of the foods you're eating or eliminating them completely for a week is a great starting point.

 

It was working! -  I never starved!

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6 months later (April 2014), I successfully stepped on stage and

competed in my first ever competition -15kg lighter and at 16% body

fat - I didn't win or place. But that didn't matter - my success was I

never ate less than 1500 calories a day (stop doing 1200 calorie diets

people). I was very strict with my diet for 6 weeks during my 'cutting'

phase, however, I did ensure it fit with a lifestyle I wanted to have.

That lifestyle was training 5 or 6 days a week, drinking Beer on the

weekend, eating homemade pizza, eating out with my partner, friends

and family, and even enjoying ice cream. I did all of that half way

through prep on an overseas holiday! 6 weeks out from comp.

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Post competition I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the nutrition and

health industry. There were so many women around me starving themselves

to achieve a particular body, they were doing more harm than good.

I started my part-time study in Advanced Certificate of Nutrition and

Weight loss Counselling.

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I have maintained this lifestyle for 6    years now.

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I eat a well balanced diet and continue weight training both in the gym

and through Crossfit style workouts.

 

 believe a healthy diet consists of eating consistently well 80 percent

of the time and enjoying life the other 20 per cent of the time; eating

favorite foods and having beers of a weekend. I have developed

Alifestyle to help others, to promote healthy living, to show you to eat

more not less, to promote a healthy relationship with food and body

image and most importantly to give individual advice and support

to clients which become friends.

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I look forward to working with you!

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