Lifestyle: Health and Fitness Journey

Some of you may have read my post about my relationship with food and how it progressed from going on drips to eating healthy. This is a sort of continuation and an expansion.

My (initial) fitness journey started in 2013 with my first trainer, Chris at the Olympia Transformation Gym. I was skinny-fat and I just wanted to tone up and gain muscle. I did it for a couple of months, but I wasn’t mentally there yet. I saw my trainer once a week and did HIIT once a week too. I did see results quickly but I just think my head-space was somewhere else. So, I do not really consider this as the beginning of my fitness journey –  probably just a test run.

During my only relationship my weight started to increase. I stopped checking the scales when I was around the 98kgs mark, but I know I went over 100kgs – this was my heaviest. Lucky for me, I am 184cm tall and I used the illusion of double layering everything. It’s a great trick haha!

Then I went home, got back into HIIT and lost a lot of weight. Then came back to do my postgraduate degree, in which I gained it back quickly. This was largely due to portion control and fast food – I would order a take out for two but finish it on my own and acted so blasé about it. I was quickly returning to that 100kgs mark!

What prompt me to change was the stairs at a club that my best-friend and I go to every other Sunday. Once I reached to the top, I was PUFFED! And my cute ass was acting like it was nothing, you know how some of us act, right? “Nah, I’m all good. You good boo boo? You look a lil out of breath there, we can take a seat?” While smiling, trying to look composed and cute then whenever I looked away, I took a couple of deep breaths haha. That was when I knew it was time to change, because I never was and thought I would be that unhealthy.

That’s when I got back into my home training, and I messed up my lower back by doing squats without tensing my core. Saw a massage therapist and was advised to see a personal trainer. I was hesitant at first, because I do suffer from social anxiety and I was one of those people who had this misconception about the gym. Plus, wearing shorts? Single layered? God no!

My best friend tried to get me to join his gym, my housemate tried to suggest me some trainers and to join her gym, but all I could think of was returning to Olympia Transformations Gym. Went there and found that it expanded, which freaked me out a bit but the owner, Greg was very calm and had a good vibe about him. I showed him all my old stuff from Chris, and he went through that, told me they upgraded and we did a body scan. The body scan revealed EVERYTHING about me. I was at the obese range, and it didn’t show because I was tall and dressed well to hide it. The scary part was that my visceral fat was high, and I was advised to act on it ASAP. Hearing this scared me!

Ryan was recommended to me. I was hesitant at first with my XL t-shirt and long ass shorts (I made sure didn’t go above my knees haha). But boy, didn’t this evolve to one of the most extreme love-hate relationship. It’s all love now though haha, we have become great friends!

First day, and it was legs. Some of us Africans are blessed with a good ass, but them legs? Not so much! So, I was stoked into growing my legs and firming my butt. But I wasn’t ready for what Ryan had planned, and his beautiful smile was GONE! He went all commando on me, and it was all ‘come on, you can do it, last two’. Then he had the audacity to add the cross trainer in-between sets. Like who does he think he is? Then at the end of the session he wanted to fist pump? Hell no! Yes, I winged a lot in my head during that period. But I was giving that exhausted smile, similar to the one at the club but with a lot of sweat, like a lot!

The next day I was sore, but I felt great about it. It was a feeling that I missed, and I knew that I worked hard. Two weeks flew by and I had my first scan and if I recall I gained 1kg of muscle and lost 1kg or more of body fat. Ryan was shocked, and I didn’t know why. Apparently I was doing extremely well, and those results were hard to achieve.

9 months later (the image was taken 2 months ago), and I still can’t believe that I stuck to this and its become a habit. I wear shorts (and even roll them up while doing deadlifts), train on Fridays by myself, and have made friends in the gym. And I hang out with body builders too y’all!!!

Anyways, I just had my scan on the 17 February 2020 and I was AMAZED! I went down 3% body fat in a fortnight, and gained 2kgs of muscle mass (making it a record!). Fucking unreal! But the shocking thing is that since I began I have lost over 10.9kgs of body fat, went down 10% of body fat (I am at 20% now which is a month before my goal date), and down 5 levels of visceral fat. For the first time, my scan said that I am healthy and in the normal range!

If you want the best of the best (to my knowledge), and join a gym that has the exclusive feel where everyone gets a long and has this family vibe then I suggest you should join Olympia Transformations.

Also, if you want someone who is funny, passionate and pushes you to do your best then I suggest my trainer: Ryan Hurst … Book in quickly because he has a few spots left!

Thanks to all of my family and friends who supported me!

Here is a lil video for y’all to see what it is like (ignore my slow-mo drinking water scene haha)

https://www.facebook.com/OlympiaTransformations/videos/267043307600085/