The saying goes you can have results or excuses, but not both.
Reality was my enemy when it came to a lack of exercise and bad eating habits.
I'd had no fitness regime for some time, which was evident during my first assessment, monitored by Pete Mirrielees from Let's Go Fitness, just six short weeks ago.
To gauge my fitness level, Pete had me do a few basic but memorable exercises.
For example, the wall squat. Seventy-five seconds was my limit then, now my record is 195 seconds (sounds way more impressive than 3 minutes 15 seconds).
Likewise with full press-ups: I struggled to complete one when I started but can now blast out 10, and I can manage a prone hold for three times as long now.
Apologies or excuses weren't going to transform this mass, no magic pill or quick-fix diet, nor was there anything I could do to prepare for the onslaught ahead, except show up four days a week and sweat it out for 60 minutes and stick to the healthy nutrition plan set by Nick McCallum.
The devil on my shoulder would make an appearance every so often, trying his best to derail me: ''you don't have to work-out again today'', ''you are still injured/sick/tired''; ''you're working too hard, have a break'', ''don't be so hard on yourself!''
But there was to be no wimping out.
But I definitely did push through a transition period.
My sessions in the fitness suite were usually preceded by a two-hour countdown of annoying mind-chatter and a sense of dread.
Now every time I climb the stairs, I leave behind the stresses of the world and go home feeling empowered, enormously pleased to have dedicated only a mere 4% of my day to making a huge contribution to how I would feel throughout the remaining 96%.
People are noticing changes too, but it was the comment that ''you seem really happy and alive'' that has resonated with me most.
I've lost 4kg and while I may not be ''there yet'', I am closer than I was six weeks ago!
- Christine O'Connor
