About us

Before (May 2000): 84kg, 30 cigarettes per day.	After (May 2006): 57kg, GB International Athlete

Making the change from a lifestyle you are accustomed to is not an easy thing to do. No matter who tells you that you need to do it, the impetus and motivation need to come from you. It simply isn't good enough to wish you were thinner and fitter. Getting to the state you find yourself in now has required time - so reaching your weight and fitness goals will need more than a week's fad dieting.

A typical day for me started with a cigarette and strong coffee. Breakfast, if I had it, consisted of croissants (with lashings of butter and jam of course) or a fry up. If I could have two helpings of something, I would. On other days I would be consumed with guilt about how fat I'd become, how much I'd eaten or how drunk I'd got the night before. I would try not to eat anything all day, maybe some fruit, but by supper time I was so hungry I made up for it in fine style. Everything was out of control.

So, how did I drag myself out of it? Initially, I wanted to get back into rowing having taken it up at school as a means to avoiding hockey, but I was afraid that I would be laughed at or that my bum wouldn't fit in the boat. I began slowly by walking and swimming (after battling the humiliation of getting into a swimsuit) and built up to running. I also ate more sensibly - I didn't starve myself, or banish wine and pizza. I was simply more balanced about how and what I ate and excercise was the key.

That was in 2000. By 2001 I had competed with my university at major regattas and the following winter I decided to try for the lightweight category at the British Indoor Rowing Championships. There I made the top ten. I decided to learn how to scull, to fit in with my teacher training, and I entered my first regatta in the autumn of 2002. I won and from there I went on to become British Universities champion in the double sculls in 2003. I went to my first Great Britain trials for the 2003 - 2004 season and I made the Great Britain team, winning a bronze medal at the Lucerne World Cup, before competing at the World Championships in Banyoles, Spain. Since then I have continued to broaden my knowledge and interest in sport, making the British team again in 2005 and in 2006 achieving a world ranking of ninth in the lightweight single scull at the World Championships at Dorney Lake in Eton.

To lose weight you need to consume fewer calories than you expend; a simple formula but one that people can't seem to get their heads around. Working at a desk will not require the calories of a professional athlete, so how can you justify doughnuts and cake at work, followed by pizza and ice cream that evening?

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