Starting a blog...
Okay so here it goes...
Excuse me while I learn about this new thing called blogging. I will probably take awhile to get the grasp of it. With my first post I thought I would try introduce myself, my story and why you should read what I have to say...
On my "about' page, I have kind of summarised my story of how I came to where I am now. I want to use this blog post to elaborate a bit on those details I shared.
So like I said, my name is Shannon, I'm 23 (born in 1993) and I'm from Durban, South Africa.
Growing up, I was labelled as the chubby kid.. see below (age 11):
Thus I gained quite a complex about wearing specific clothing like bikinis, or tight fitting tops but I still ate cake, chips, chocolates, sweets and whatever my heart desired...
Then at 15 years old, I started noticing I was having extremely painful and heavy periods where it literally felt like a knife was stabbing me from the inside out. After a few months of this I ended up going for scans and finding out I had ovarian cysts... the size of golf balls!
I was operated on and prescribed a pill in the hopes that they would not return (which they have not) - this was such a turning point for me because after this I decided to fully change my eating habits for the better. I began packing healthier snacks for lunch, making tuna salad for dinner and gave up bread, baked goods, soda and fried foods (recommended by the doctor).
Cutting out these few simple things resulted in a weight loss of 13kgs in one year. See image below (age 16):
I was able to maintain this throughout high school, eventually being quite happy with body in my last year of high school. This was quite a peak for me because I started modelling for photographers and gaining confidence in myself as seen below in my first photoshoot (age 17/18):
I then began varsity... my first year I did a part time certificate in Fashion Design which allowed me quite a bit of free time but after I completed this, I went into studying a Diploma in Fashion and Textile Design which was a full time course allowing not much time for health and fitness between stressing about assignments and late nights coupled with the toxic relationship I was in. Not to mention friends and the temptations of alcohol, partying and late nights out.
This was quite a dark period in my life, if I look back now, I realise how unhappy I was but at the time I was so stressed that you just try not to feel. At one stage I was so depressed and down about myself that I was having anxiety/panic attacks when I ate out and would end up throwing up anything I had eaten...
It was only in my final year that I managed to get out of the 5 year relationship that had gotten really bad emotionally - this blog is not about my relationship so I won't elaborate on this. By then, emotionally I was a wreck - I was so low on self esteem and slowly needed to put my pieces back together. Naturally I rebelled a bit and started partying with a close friend at the time just to try and fill this void that had built up inside of me. Gradually I saw this was definitely not the right path for me to be going down at all.
Then one night, while out with another friend, I met this guy, Zirk, (he was in a group of other guys) and according to him, we just clicked. I remember enjoying this evening so much that I told my friend to go home and I would find my own lift back to my parents place.
The next day he messaged me on Facebook and the rest is history... Below is one of our first pictures together:
During this time, I also managed to find a job designing seamless underwear... Finally my life was starting to have stability and structure again. Luckily this guy I had met was into his gym which lead to me getting my gym contract and starting to commit to some training in the evenings after work as well as restarting the healthy eating because the two go hand in hand.
Then about a year and a half ago, I fell extremely ill after him and I went on a hike. I had shivers, fever and was extremely nauseous. Thinking I had been bitten by something I went to the doctor who sent me home diagnosed with kidney infection. After 3 days of intense pain, nausea and not being able to keep food down, the doctor sent me for blood tests and scans... all of this to discover I had kidney stones!
Below image of us on our hike (January 2016):
This was the last wake up call I needed... I now knew I needed to stick to my health and fitness goals and start giving myself the attention I deserved. I needed to make the time for cooking proper, nutritional foods and stop making excuses to exercise. I needed to prioritise my health because you only get one body to live in.
We then moved in together last year May, making things a lot easier in terms of going to gym and cooking - although he does still enjoy his pizza and Mc D's. When going shopping, we just will not buy things that I do not want to eat (out of sight, out of mind) and so slowly the progress started again until I hit a plateau and could not get below 60kgs. I also started doing the Saturday morning parkrun 5km last October.
At the beginning of this year, one of the trainers in the gym and a friend of mine both approached me about joining his "10 week challenge" - he explained it was a competition but would be great for someone like me that wanted to push their fitness to the next level. During this time I had also decided to start running with the local running club to get in an extra 4km run on a Wednesday.
By this point I was training:
Monday - Challenge
Tuesday - Challenge
Wednesday - 4km run
Thurday - Challenge
Friday - REST
Saturday - 5km run
Sunday - REST
By the end of the 10 weeks, my weight was down to 57.5kgs and I had even pushed myself to do a few 10km races. I felt amazing - my body was able to do these new things and I was pushing myself beyond the limitations I had thought my body had. To my surprise, I ended up winning the challenge with 5% body weight loss which was such a confidence boost - knowing all my training was paying off.
Below image left is after and right is before the challenge:
Now I did not know what to do with myself... Where do you I go from this? The challenge is over and now I'm stuck with nothing to now work towards - naturally you start aiming for the next challenge. Wanting to now know exactly where I was with my body, I booked an assessment with a lady I know who owns her own gym (she is also an amazing person and competes in the fitness division). My 1 hour assessment ended up being over an hour and a half with us chatting about our health and fitness problems and her giving me advice and a new eating plan to follow. We also discussed going to watch a competition to see if this was something I would be interested in. By this stage I had also decided to start training towards my first half marathon.
Oh... we did end up going to watch a competition! I was so in awe of these incredible women on the stage and one of my friends from my first year in college even won her category! The build up was now there in my mind that I should just put my head down and now make this my next goal but was held back a bit knowing how much I have battled with my weight and fat in the past.
My body fat percentage was still higher than I wanted it to be (27%) so my aim was to now get it lower. The next 3 weeks went by and I was now running 3 times a week - getting in a 7/8km run on the weekend and following this new eating plan. I remember being so nervous to go back for my next assessment because I had a bit of a breakdown that week with having missed my plane to Cape Town for work. I somehow had managed to get my body fat down to 22%! (This was definitely a sign that if you want it bad enough then you will definitely see the results).
On 15 April 2017 at 4:30am, I started my first half marathon, The Dick King Half Marathon. It was on home ground (in my town) so I knew the route (I had managed 14km of it before) and I finished in 2h29m28s. Just being able to say that I had finished a 21.1km run had left me over the moon. I had been battling with my IBS muscle which was leading to knee pain but this run was completely pain free! A couple weeks later, I ran my second half marathon, The Deloitte Half Marathon, with my friend Robyn. I was on the ball!
Below is my first half marathon medal on the left and second medal with Robyn and I on the right:
During all this I even did another photo-shoot - I felt like such a beginner again having not done one in about 3 years but it ended up being fun and I am really happy with how the images came out. There is nothing like a photo shoot to bring out a woman's confidence.
Below boho themed photo-shoot images by Janvier o'Reilly:
Since the last half marathon, I have started on comp prep with a set eating plan and set training program. I'm going for my next body assessment at the end of this week and now I have even started a blog! Having been through so many ups and downs within my personal health and fitness has lead to me questioning foods, researching methods and following motivational people.
I'm lucky enough to have a partner who understands my crazy life of meal prep and long gym sessions and who motivates me when I'm having those down days or having cravings.
I do not proclaim to be an expert at all but personally would like to eventually study nutrition to be able to help other women who have been going through the difficult phase of making dietary changes in their lives. I really would love to share my thoughts, opinions, advice and motivational quotes to all the women I know and possibly even a greater platform. I hope you have gained something from reading my story.
Please keep your eyes peeled for my next post.
- Shan
Excuse me while I learn about this new thing called blogging. I will probably take awhile to get the grasp of it. With my first post I thought I would try introduce myself, my story and why you should read what I have to say...
On my "about' page, I have kind of summarised my story of how I came to where I am now. I want to use this blog post to elaborate a bit on those details I shared.
So like I said, my name is Shannon, I'm 23 (born in 1993) and I'm from Durban, South Africa.
Growing up, I was labelled as the chubby kid.. see below (age 11):
Thus I gained quite a complex about wearing specific clothing like bikinis, or tight fitting tops but I still ate cake, chips, chocolates, sweets and whatever my heart desired...
Then at 15 years old, I started noticing I was having extremely painful and heavy periods where it literally felt like a knife was stabbing me from the inside out. After a few months of this I ended up going for scans and finding out I had ovarian cysts... the size of golf balls!
I was operated on and prescribed a pill in the hopes that they would not return (which they have not) - this was such a turning point for me because after this I decided to fully change my eating habits for the better. I began packing healthier snacks for lunch, making tuna salad for dinner and gave up bread, baked goods, soda and fried foods (recommended by the doctor).
Cutting out these few simple things resulted in a weight loss of 13kgs in one year. See image below (age 16):
I was able to maintain this throughout high school, eventually being quite happy with body in my last year of high school. This was quite a peak for me because I started modelling for photographers and gaining confidence in myself as seen below in my first photoshoot (age 17/18):
I then began varsity... my first year I did a part time certificate in Fashion Design which allowed me quite a bit of free time but after I completed this, I went into studying a Diploma in Fashion and Textile Design which was a full time course allowing not much time for health and fitness between stressing about assignments and late nights coupled with the toxic relationship I was in. Not to mention friends and the temptations of alcohol, partying and late nights out.
This was quite a dark period in my life, if I look back now, I realise how unhappy I was but at the time I was so stressed that you just try not to feel. At one stage I was so depressed and down about myself that I was having anxiety/panic attacks when I ate out and would end up throwing up anything I had eaten...
It was only in my final year that I managed to get out of the 5 year relationship that had gotten really bad emotionally - this blog is not about my relationship so I won't elaborate on this. By then, emotionally I was a wreck - I was so low on self esteem and slowly needed to put my pieces back together. Naturally I rebelled a bit and started partying with a close friend at the time just to try and fill this void that had built up inside of me. Gradually I saw this was definitely not the right path for me to be going down at all.
Then one night, while out with another friend, I met this guy, Zirk, (he was in a group of other guys) and according to him, we just clicked. I remember enjoying this evening so much that I told my friend to go home and I would find my own lift back to my parents place.
The next day he messaged me on Facebook and the rest is history... Below is one of our first pictures together:
During this time, I also managed to find a job designing seamless underwear... Finally my life was starting to have stability and structure again. Luckily this guy I had met was into his gym which lead to me getting my gym contract and starting to commit to some training in the evenings after work as well as restarting the healthy eating because the two go hand in hand.
Then about a year and a half ago, I fell extremely ill after him and I went on a hike. I had shivers, fever and was extremely nauseous. Thinking I had been bitten by something I went to the doctor who sent me home diagnosed with kidney infection. After 3 days of intense pain, nausea and not being able to keep food down, the doctor sent me for blood tests and scans... all of this to discover I had kidney stones!
Below image of us on our hike (January 2016):
This was the last wake up call I needed... I now knew I needed to stick to my health and fitness goals and start giving myself the attention I deserved. I needed to make the time for cooking proper, nutritional foods and stop making excuses to exercise. I needed to prioritise my health because you only get one body to live in.
We then moved in together last year May, making things a lot easier in terms of going to gym and cooking - although he does still enjoy his pizza and Mc D's. When going shopping, we just will not buy things that I do not want to eat (out of sight, out of mind) and so slowly the progress started again until I hit a plateau and could not get below 60kgs. I also started doing the Saturday morning parkrun 5km last October.
At the beginning of this year, one of the trainers in the gym and a friend of mine both approached me about joining his "10 week challenge" - he explained it was a competition but would be great for someone like me that wanted to push their fitness to the next level. During this time I had also decided to start running with the local running club to get in an extra 4km run on a Wednesday.
By this point I was training:
Monday - Challenge
Tuesday - Challenge
Wednesday - 4km run
Thurday - Challenge
Friday - REST
Saturday - 5km run
Sunday - REST
By the end of the 10 weeks, my weight was down to 57.5kgs and I had even pushed myself to do a few 10km races. I felt amazing - my body was able to do these new things and I was pushing myself beyond the limitations I had thought my body had. To my surprise, I ended up winning the challenge with 5% body weight loss which was such a confidence boost - knowing all my training was paying off.
Below image left is after and right is before the challenge:
Now I did not know what to do with myself... Where do you I go from this? The challenge is over and now I'm stuck with nothing to now work towards - naturally you start aiming for the next challenge. Wanting to now know exactly where I was with my body, I booked an assessment with a lady I know who owns her own gym (she is also an amazing person and competes in the fitness division). My 1 hour assessment ended up being over an hour and a half with us chatting about our health and fitness problems and her giving me advice and a new eating plan to follow. We also discussed going to watch a competition to see if this was something I would be interested in. By this stage I had also decided to start training towards my first half marathon.
Oh... we did end up going to watch a competition! I was so in awe of these incredible women on the stage and one of my friends from my first year in college even won her category! The build up was now there in my mind that I should just put my head down and now make this my next goal but was held back a bit knowing how much I have battled with my weight and fat in the past.
My body fat percentage was still higher than I wanted it to be (27%) so my aim was to now get it lower. The next 3 weeks went by and I was now running 3 times a week - getting in a 7/8km run on the weekend and following this new eating plan. I remember being so nervous to go back for my next assessment because I had a bit of a breakdown that week with having missed my plane to Cape Town for work. I somehow had managed to get my body fat down to 22%! (This was definitely a sign that if you want it bad enough then you will definitely see the results).
On 15 April 2017 at 4:30am, I started my first half marathon, The Dick King Half Marathon. It was on home ground (in my town) so I knew the route (I had managed 14km of it before) and I finished in 2h29m28s. Just being able to say that I had finished a 21.1km run had left me over the moon. I had been battling with my IBS muscle which was leading to knee pain but this run was completely pain free! A couple weeks later, I ran my second half marathon, The Deloitte Half Marathon, with my friend Robyn. I was on the ball!
Below is my first half marathon medal on the left and second medal with Robyn and I on the right:
During all this I even did another photo-shoot - I felt like such a beginner again having not done one in about 3 years but it ended up being fun and I am really happy with how the images came out. There is nothing like a photo shoot to bring out a woman's confidence.
Below boho themed photo-shoot images by Janvier o'Reilly:
Since the last half marathon, I have started on comp prep with a set eating plan and set training program. I'm going for my next body assessment at the end of this week and now I have even started a blog! Having been through so many ups and downs within my personal health and fitness has lead to me questioning foods, researching methods and following motivational people.
I'm lucky enough to have a partner who understands my crazy life of meal prep and long gym sessions and who motivates me when I'm having those down days or having cravings.
I do not proclaim to be an expert at all but personally would like to eventually study nutrition to be able to help other women who have been going through the difficult phase of making dietary changes in their lives. I really would love to share my thoughts, opinions, advice and motivational quotes to all the women I know and possibly even a greater platform. I hope you have gained something from reading my story.
Please keep your eyes peeled for my next post.
- Shan
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