Getting Off the Couch and Coached

I first started running at 15. I didn't start for any of the usual reasons: I had a fast metabolism and living in the country side had to walk or cycle everywhere anyway. At the time I thought I was in shape, of course I was fit. Wasn't I one of the best in the class at the bleep test?

The reason I started running was for our dog. Which is as good a reason as any. See you have to start somehow. So whether it's to fit back into your wedding dress, see more of the countryside, save yourself from a heart attack or just keep your canine pals toenails from getting too long... just get out there and start.

So it started out as a means to keep our German Shepard active, fast forward one month and I had graduated from running up and down our yard (about 50m in length) to running an entire mile. I ran everywhere, thinking I was just about the fittest person I knew.

Welcome to Bodycoach

If you'd told me ten years ago that I'd be a Health Coach...I might have laughed in your face. See health was never important to me. I started smoking when I was 13, I ate junk food on a daily basis, and I was always fatigued and depressed, never having any drive to go forward in life. Looking back, I feel that this is something a lot of people can relate to. You may not have been born chewing carrots and running laps...but, it's never too late to start.

At my lowest point I was 18 and a half stone, walking made me sweat uncontrollably. I can vividly remember being on holidays in Spain one year and our villa was on a hill, I decided to go for a walk, the walk lasted 3 minutes because I couldn't go any further. As in I actually couldn't, not I didn't want to, or I was tired. I was physically unable. That was not just a scary thought, but a realisation I had to face.

At about the same time my father was diagnosed with Cancer for the second time. My family all lead very poor lifestyles, there was no education on nutrition or exercise. I was surrounded by illness, poor health, lack of fitness, and depression. Basically, I didn't know any better. I grew up with a lifestyle that was slicing