Confessions of an Ex Diet Queen

Guest Post by Lisa Bullock

I have been the Queen of Diets – been there, done that, tried it, ‘Rapid, Extreme, Booty Burning, Solution, Weight Loss, Transformation Blah Blah” – every ‘shiny diet toy’ under the sun!  Did I lose weight? Yes.  Did I keep it off? No.  None of them were practical, long term programs that could help me effect permanent change.

I was a skinny child and never had an issue with food until I moved out of home and started eating junk food.  Yes, I know, it’s astonishing!  Who’d have thought!  I was also incredibly ignorant about all forms of good nutrition.  But let’s be blunt here, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that scoffing hamburgers several times a week is not a good thing for your health or your waistline!

I figured out that I needed to reduce what I was eating to lose weight, and when it came time to drop a few pounds to fit into my wedding dress better, I did it and I lost 9 lb.    I lost weight, I gained weight and within 2 years I was back on the diet bandwagon with a large US diet company that had “systems”.    Now they tried hard, they had education sessions and spoke about good calories and fibre and drinking water.  And I lost 20 lb.  For a while.

I struggled seriously with my weight through two pregnancies and it was only because my son was a voracious feeder that I dropped my pregnancy weight.  I was fine for a couple of years and then it all started to creep back!  My naturopath put me on a “healthy” diet of fruit and rice cakes – sounds delicious doesn’t it!  And I lost weight!  But I put it back on again when I returned to normal eating.   You’re getting the theme here aren’t you?

ANY diet can help you lose weight.  ANY!  But not many diets can teach you to eat real, healthy foods in a sustainable way that helps you lose weight and KEEP it off.

You need a combination of real foods, interesting flavours, a quantity that fills you up, and scheduled “cheats” or “treats” to allow for a psychological break.  And you need to be able to do that not for one day, or one week, or one month, but forever.

My midlife crisis hit with a bang when I turned 40 and through several difficult years I stacked on nearly 50 pounds.  I struggled to get the first 25 pounds off and then my body just shut down on me.  My body was on strike!  No more dieting permitted!

To this day, my body refuses to give up any fat stores easily!  But, somewhere in there, I was gradually learning how I should eat and what I should eat, and when I should eat.  A snails pace work in progress.  I had to learn to listen to my body.  But every time I’d get frustrated and angry that I was taking 2 steps forward and one step back, I was forgetting that I will still in front!  It’s not sexy to say that you’ve lost 5lb in six months but at least it was coming off! If I read one more diet ad boasting  that someone tried a “magic pill diet” and their weight just “dropped off and stayed off” I may foam at the mouth!  We all worked hard to get our extra pounds on, and we’re going to have to work hard to those pounds off.  There are NO magic pills!

And all the time I was slowly progressing towards taking responsibility for what I put in my mouth.  As a dieter, and a trainer, I have repeated/heard every excuse under the sun to justify being overweight.  Well suck it up princess, no-one pins you down and forces your mouth open and makes you consume fatty foods!  You did it yourself!  And no, it’s not your thyroid, and no it’s not even genetics!  If you learned to eat fatty foods at your mothers knee, then you can learn how to eat healthy foods and go teach your Mum!

All this went through my mind, as I worked my way up to trying Shawna’s 21 Day Challenge Diet program.  And one day I stood in front of the mirror and realised it was ALL my choice.  I could continue to fiddle around, wasting time, giving myself moments of gratification for longer term pain.  I wasn’t happy how I looked, I was ashamed that as a Trainer I couldn’t be a better role model either for my family or for my clients.  I hated having rolls around my tummy that got in the way of doing burpees (may not be your motivation, but it was mine!  I like burpees!).

I have 15 years of professional training and education and had read/tried/reviewed practically every diet out there and they all got me nothing.  I was going to say they gave me “squat”, but squats are good!  I like them even more than burpees 🙂

Shawna asked me to test the 21 Day Challenge Diet program along with another 20 or so random people across the globe.  We all met on the facebook community page and have supported each other since.  Since I don’t have another 30 minutes of your time, I will keep my raves short.  The Challenge Diet community is the SINGLE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE from any program I have done before.  Combine sensible, healthy eating laid out in an easy to understand program along with a positive, reassuring, affirming group of people who hold each other accountable without judgement and you have an awesome program that WILL get you results.   And you won’t necessarily get that culture just anywhere – we all came together with a single connection – Shawna Kaminski.  Because that’s her culture – we’re all positive and supportive because Shawna is positive and supportive.   You can read some of the comments and see how happy everyone is!

Bottom line, I dropped 12 pounds in the first week.   Since then my tangible results have slowed somewhat though I’ve lost inches from my waist and hips.

The INTANGIBLE benefits though are fabulous too, I’ve gained patience, and consistency and BELIEF that I can really change my body for the better.  Instead of always looking to the next shiny toy diet that offers 30 pounds weight loss in 20 days (like, whatevs!!!), I’ve found a simple program that offers sound nutrition that is easy to stick with, rewarding in terms of results and doesn’t just offer short term benefits but a permanent change.    I hope you’re ready to embrace this program because it WILL be the eating-plan that changes your body and your life.

(I’m a personal trainer not a model so don’t be judging the flip flops – comfort before style any day lol!)

 If you want to take back control of your body and feel happier in your skin then you need to check out 21 Day Challenge Diet TODAY.  I can PROMISE you that you will gain energy and lose pounds with this sustainable nutrition plan and great training.  The Community is here to support you and we look forward to welcoming you on board.

Lisa Bullock is a Personal Trainer based in Melbourne, Australia.  She’s run her successful fitness business for over 15 years and has trained over a 1000 clients helping them reach their health, fitness and wellness goals.  Married for 27 years and mother to a daughter (22) and son (19), she is a proud proponent of the philosophy “keep on keeping on”. She believes that consistency is key to achieving goals.  Lisa loves weight training with a passion; she’s boxed for over 12 years and sees no reason to stop soon!  She’s faced her own health and weight issues and come out fighting.  “I believe in training for the long haul” she claims, “I fully expect to be doing handstand push ups when I’m 60!.”

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