Peachy Client Serena has been having 121 Online Coaching over the past 2 years. Throughout that time not only has she lost over 20lbs and dropped a few dress sizes, she has also completely changed her habits and the way she treats and values her ‘self’. From the first time we spoke I knew Serena would challenge me as a Coach, she struggled with low self-esteem, lacked confidence in her self and her abilities and, just like many other women had coping strategies that revolved around alcohol and food. Serena needed much more than just an exercise program and guidance around food, and that’s what I love doing, exploring clients habits, thoughts, feelings and beliefs, then opening new doors to possibility. We worked together delving deep into the “why” but also on the “what next” and “how” to cope better….I honestly could write a book on how much I have loved coaching this wonderful, beautiful, kind-hearted human, but I will pass that book over to her, as her recent journey is probably the most profound. On a final note, Serena, I am so incredibly proud of you and I am so lucky to have coached you through this time, over to you Serena…
Angi had very subtly suggested from time to time that maybe I should consider taking a break from drinking at the weekends to gain some clarity on just how it was affecting my health and weight loss goals. So many times I said I was going to and then FAILED.
One day I sat and wrote down all the key things I wanted to achieve in my life. The things that I had been dreaming of and talking about for years, I wanted to get to the bottom of why I wasn’t achieving them. There was one common denominator for them all and that was binge drinking and the knock-on effects from it.
I had lost a fair amount of weight already whilst coaching with Angi but I had hit a brick wall. I was fine Mon – Fri and then come the weekend it would ALL go out of the window.
I would bank calories all week and felt hungry and miserable doing so, just so I could have a good knees up at the weekend. However, I was never really 100% honest about what I was consuming whilst drinking – mainly because I couldn’t remember how I got home let alone how many drinks I had thrown down my neck. I tried tracking drinks – it usually worked until about the third. Then, of course, there would be food on the way home or when I got home, and my decision-making skills at 3 in the morning never tended to lean to the healthy side of things – kebab meat and chips, extra garlic mayo?? GET IN MA FACE!
My sleep would be rubbish not only on Saturday night but the following night as well and in my hungover state, I would do nothing all day apart from eating salty carby foods. Mondays I would never be able to train as I still felt less than 50% of my usual self. It was mentally and physically very unhealthy and going against everything I had learned and was practising during the week.
I finally committed to a 30-day break from alcohol.
During this time I became obsessed with finding out why I had become so dependant on my weekend binge. Why did I keep going back to it, when it only ever led to the negativity, why was it so hard to change it?
I was so desperate to know what made me ‘tick’.
Who I really was and what I could really achieve?
I read numerous books, listened to podcasts daily and tapped into the ‘sober curious’ world on social media platforms – and the stuff I have learnt about that and myself has been just fascinating!
30 days turned into 51 days because before long I was feeling the best I have felt in my adult years both mentally and physically and I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to my old ways.
I have lost 7lbs during this time and I haven’t changed a single weekday habit just cut out my binge drinking which in turn has led to increased motivation to train and get my daily activity (neat) up.
There have been no negative aspects of cutting back AT ALL and if anything my social life has improved. Aside from one little minor blip, I have now been alcohol-free since 14th September, I plan to see out the rest of 2019 SOBER, SLIM AND most importantly HAPPY ?
