A quick interview with Sylvia Frank, 5th Place Women’s Weight Loss who lost 15.9kgs in the New Year 2016 Challenge!
Q: Give us a short history of your journey to health and fitness before the challenge.
I have been classified as morbidly obese since I was 12. I have done every fad diet known to mankind and even had my jaws wired together to try and lose weight. I hated exercise and never did any at all! I went through my entire life feeling sorry for myself but never taking responsibility for the fact that I was the reason that I looked and felt the way I did.
Q: What prompted you to join the Ultimate You Transformation Challenge?
I saw sleekgeek posts on a friends facebook page and started stalking the page regularly, fantasising about what it would feel like to be one of those successful and fit people that I envied. Then one day it dawned on me that I had managed to do wonderful healing things for all my foster children, I had done whatever it took to uplift them …but I had never bothered to fix myself! I realised that the people who posted their successes on Sleekgeek worked hard to reach their goals. So I decided to do the 30-Day REBOOT Nutrition Challenge. I was loving the 30-day challenge so I jumped right in and signed up for the 8-week Ultimate You Challenge.
Q: Give us a quick overview of the nutrition and eating plan that you followed during the challenge.
During the challenge I stuck mostly to the foods on REBOOT. I also cut down on the fruit I was eating in order to lose faster. I logged my foods on MyFitnessPal so that I would become more aware of the amounts I was eating.
Q: Give us a quick overview of the training and exercise plan that you followed during the challenge.
I walked a lot and exercised at the gym, gradually building up my strength.
Q: If you could give 3 pieces of advice to future challengers, what would they be?
- JUST DO IT, or do you really want to spend the rest of your life unfit and unhealthy. YOU can be your own hero.
- Start REALLY NOTICING how often you make excuses and remember that every time you say BUT your BUTT grows bigger… just like Pinocchio’s nose grew when he lied!
- Get it in your head that eating clean and exercising are self-loving behaviours, not punishment.
Q: What did you find most valuable about your experience?
During this challenge I learned that I really do care about myself and my health, I learned that I am capable of so much more than I dreamed and I learned that you need to do the work if you want the end results.