| About Jennifer |
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Hello - I’m Jennifer, I just want to introduce myself and tell my own story to you, so that you can see for yourself how I am going to be able to help you achieve your health goals. I am not your average Personal Trainer. You know the type, slim/strong, fit…born that way...
I was always an incredibly skinny kid. But growing up, I hated sports at school! I was the girl on the bench with a fake sick note. Don't get me wrong, I have ultimate respect for those naturally supercharged upbeat individuals who make a successful career from inspiring health in people. But unless a person has been really forced to discover fitness and learn to love it, I just wonder how they can ever truly empathise with a person who struggles to lace up their trainers, who genuinely doesn't like salad, or who truly believes they need a bottle of something every evening to wind down after a stressful day at work. And these are the trials and tribulations real people need help with solving. I was brought up around food, my family was full of love but we lacked common interests. Eating was something we could all enjoy without arguing about it! Weekly rituals included Restaurant meals on both Friday and Saturday nights, huge whole-day five course Sunday lunches, visiting cafe's, baking, vending machine treats after extracurricular activities and a Chippy tea every Monday. As I grew older my mother decided to build a career for herself, enrolling in college when I began secondary school. I soon discovered I had a free run in the kitchen...and I certainly made the most of it! When I got home from school I’d make myself my favourite “snack” of · an enormous fluffy white bread roll stuffed with: · two fried eggs, Then of course, I’d have my evening meal with the family a an hour or so later. Sometimes mum would give me something to tide me over “whilst dinner was cooking” (!!). By the end of high school I was a size 16+ and weighed around 15 stone by the time I came back from an Italian holiday.
Then one day I literally realised just what I had done and a flip just switched. I cut out everything – surviving off three scrambled eggs and (just one!) Kraft cheese slice per day. Oh, and I made sure I burned 1000 calories on the crosstrainer at the gym every, single, day! I found social justification, support and encouragement on pro-anorexia websites and kept a daily journal of my food (or lack of) and my ever increasing cardio exercise for many many years. I soon got down to 6 stone. And a while later, just 5 stone 10lbs.
At this point, I couldn't figure out whether I was fat or thin, I didn’t know! I had an extremely distorted body image. I struggled to see myself properly, or to eat properly, having developed an intense fear of food and a deep loathing of my body and its refusal to play by my rules. Living an anorexic lifestyle is extremely difficult. Most social occasions revolve around food and you become completely isolated. I lost all of my friends. Upon attending university, I wanted to get out there and make friends but the fact was I was so wrapped up in the ‘importance’ of myself and my insane thoughts and routines that I just couldn’t relax, I couldn’t study, I couldn’t socialise. I would attend maybe one in ten lectures and would always sit at the back wearing a hooded eskimo style winter coat even in the middle of summer. I couldn’t bear to be seen. I would get to class first and leave last because I honestly believed that my body was physically deformed and that it was only a matter of time before somebody was bound to notice and ridicule me if they saw me standing up. University enabled me to completely isolate myself and indulge in my self-obsessed fantasies and destructive behaviours. I locked myself away, restricting my intake, forcing myself to exercise, abusing laxatives on a weekly basis, often taking class A drugs and consuming vast quantities of alcohol as an escapism technique or simply to avoid eating...not as a social activity! I had none of the fun times everyone else was having.
(One time I DID go out. My waist was smaller than my head! Lol) For 8 years I veered between starving myself and stuffing myself, a constant mission to achieve an impossible (and pointless!) thin-ness ….despite measuring just 22 inches around the waist and with 16inch thighs. I would look in the mirror and see “fat” looking back at me. I was doing hours of cardio a day, but my metabolism was now ruined, in reality I was now simply skinny fat - my body had "eaten away" all my muscle and I just had flabby skin, some essential fat necessary for survival and bone. But I HATED that fat. And if not surviving was what it would take...then... I didn't care. Pretty soon, after years of prolonged hunger…the backlash began. My body craved food. ANY food. EVERY food! I suddenly became out of control, my body began making up for the years of starvation by excessive overeating at every available opportunity – completely against my own will!! I would then attempt to counterbalance this by meticulously planning and executing periods of fasting and "purging" (getting rid) to compensate for the insane amount of guilt I experienced as a result of these crazy uncharacteristic binge episodes. I even went as far as to buy entire cupboards full of food, just to chew it up and spit it out!!? My body was crying out for nourishment, forcing me to put stuff in my mouth, but I couldn’t bring myself to swallow it. If I did, I would compensate by swallowing handfuls of laxatives and spend the next 48 hours writhing in pain on my bathroom floor...retching and shaking, with my body trying its hardest to get rid of...nothing! I now appreciate this phase for what it was – over eating had become an innate and automatic systematic survival impulse. But at the time I just thought that I was weak and pathetic for not being able to “resist temptation". I would punish myself further by self harming. Cutting my skin, etching marks into my arms and legs to remind myself of each of my failures. (Crazy!! I cant believe it now!) My weight yo-yo’d between 7 and 10 stone for the next 5 years. I hated myself the entire time. I was either too fat or not thin enough. I was either eating too much or thinking about food too much. What a nightmare! Exactly 12 years after it all began – I realised had to put an end to the mental anguish I was putting my mind and my body through, not to mention my family. I had no friends left. It was now a fact that I was no longer able to eat any food without gaining weight yet starving myself certainly wasn’t working anymore. I felt like shit. I thought about my behaviour - I couldn’t possibly imagine having to keep up that restrictive lifestyle up forever. I couldn’t picture a future hating and avoiding food so much when it was always going to be a necessity in my life and in the lives of people I cared about. You cant just give up food like you can give up alcohol or drugs. You have to learn to manage it. I wasn't able to hold down a relationship or even contemplate having a family of my own whilst setting such an example to any future children I might have. I considered my options. I was referred treatment through the NHS, but the thought of waiting lists, passive counselling and high calorie weight gain shakes terrified me. I had heard of a link between metabolism and muscle mass, and this interested me, it made sense that the reason I always saw “fat” and never “slim and toned” in the mirror was the fact I had completely starved off my muscle tissue! My metabolism! I had not actually been “cursed” with a terribly slow metabolism…it was my own doing! ...And I had to power to turn it back around! So I spent the next 3 years with my nose in text books really learning about food and fitness so that I was able to undo the damage I caused my body. I discovered many wonderful things, I read about how much the body really needs nutrition. (After a decade of believing I was an scientific anomaly - “humans need 2000 calories per day? Rubbish! I eat less than 300 and I am just fine!”) I finally understood the difference between "calories" and nutrition. I worked out that I had literally created a massive deficit of quality and functionality within my very cells that would take years to correct. I chose bodybuilding training in January of 2009 as a positive route to recovery. I needed to build back my muscles, my metabolism. I gave myself a goal to compete in a figure competition before I was 30. By 2010 I had managed to rebuild my body and my metabolism, I was able to lift rather heavy things and eat upwards of 2000 calories per day without getting fat! Miracle!! I was also doing very little cardio, I taught a couple of 45 min spin classes per week. (compared to three hours on a treadmill every single day!)
I spent £5000 getting qualified as an Exercise and Nutrition Specialist. I turned my Retail career around to focus on my new love of fitness and made my health and happiness my priority in life. This quickly turned into me making my clients health and happiness THE priority in my life. I live for my job. I am so lucky to have been through the shit, so that I can help them out of theirs :) Speaking of shit, I hadnt had the last of it. Probably the biggest lesson I have learned since recovering from my "ALL or NOTHING" Disorder, is the one of PATIENCE. I approached my bodybuilding with the very same attitude, and managed to gain three stone of muscle in 12-18 months.
Unfortunately, as you can imagine, my chronically underfed spine and musculature had issues with this! I managed to earn myself a 24 month Chronic Thoracic Spine injury. Unable to stand up for any length of time, never mind train, never mind personal training or teaching classes....the worst two years of my life! This lead to my attending many courses on Corrective Exercise, rehabilitation and learning the importance of balance. And now, here I am! A little bit broken, but a LOT wiser.
(held together with tape and three physio sessions per week for two years!) I’ve seen both sides of the story as far as diet and health (physical and mental) goes, I have learned about metabolism, effortless fat loss, creating a strong and functional body, balancing the mind and all I can say is: You CAN turn it around. And I can help you do it.
Qualifications Personal Training
People are my Specialist Areas! I just love being in a position to help people through their own health boundaries. My mentor told me once "You can learn fitness but you can't learn personality or empathy - and you have both". That made my day :-) Coaching. This is where my approach differs from that of other PT's, I simply believe that 99% of Personal Trainers only train you for 1-3 hours per week, depending on your budget. What about the other 160+?? What about your food? What about your mind? What about your stress levels and family responsibilities? All these factors impact your commitment to fitness. It is therefore vital, in my opinion, to Coach rather than Train a client. I consider my best feature my genuine personality. I am honestly interested in people and their individual stories, and I usually have a huge smile on my face, especially when teaching classes! I have a real passion for helping real people achieve their physical potential. I love nothing more than meeting with potential new clients and listening to their needs. Each person has a unique story, their own set of circumstances, a schedule to consider and other commitments and responsibilities to factor into the solution to their problem. I work with individuals on their own terms to really get down to the cause of issues halting their current progress. I prefer to work over a longer period with clients to really make sure new habits become a lifestyle for life. Spinning. I LOVE teaching spinning classes! The first class I ever took part in myself was in 2008, it was just a 30 minute class and I nearly collapsed! I’d never experienced anything like it! Luckily, I have the kind of attitude which defies to admit defeat. I kept going to classes and got myself qualified to teach. Now I instruct 8 classes a week around Winsford and Crewe and enjoy every minute! Check my schedule to find out when and where I am next teaching! My Personal Goals I am currently working towards competing in a Bodybuilding Fitness Figure competition. This is a goal of mine due to my history of weight struggles. I would like to prove that anyone can reach an impressive level of physical fitness no matter their past. So far I have made good progress but regularly come across stumbling blocks in my training and diet! My journey is further detailed in my Blog here on my website. Likes ALL music especially Reggae and 70's Rock. I love my nephews, going on rollercoasters, eating Indian Food, Swimming, Spinning, Weight Training and Smiling. Dislikes Seafood, Cold Weather, Bad Time Keeping, Feeling Hungry and Gossip Magazines.
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