100 day challenge to lose weight: Why I needed help

As promised I am going to take you step by step through my own 100 day challenge to lose weight, get fit and look toned and in-shape for the first time in many years. But first let me give you some background:

During my childhood and teenage years I was never still, I would always be outside "playing", riding my bike, I was in the junior school cross country team and for a short period of time the mixed soccer (football) team as well. As I moved into High School (Middle School) I did a lot of gymnastics, played in the netball team and because we weren't on a direct bus route, or had a car, cycled to and from the home games, played hockey and did a lot of track and field. Through senior school, track and field, tennis, badminton, volleyball during lunch breaks and a million other kinds of sport. If I could have a go I did. And then came work - things were a little different once organised sport was no longer part of my daily life I had to find ways to stay fit. Tennis was the main way of course, cleaning house and doing the gardening and then i took up aerobics - which was OK until I tore the cartilage in my left knee - an operation to remove part of the damage came next and the damage was done. Now I wasn't exercising very much, eating the same amount and then I added a part-time degree to the mix - culminating in falling pregnant during the final year (which I did part-time for 5 years).

Over the last 20 or so years I have lost weight, gained weight, lost size and gained fitness, but I have never been able to get back to the athletic figure I once had. And I kept being told that it would never happen - your body slows down when it ages, your metabolism disappears and don't ever attempt to do anything strenuous because injuries take forever to heal.

I have spent years in various gyms across the state where I live but not getting very far and every time the fall off the wagon was even more spectacular than the last.

And then I had the fortune to do some work for a boutique personal training organisation - Efit 121 - and the best news - they were just down the road from where I lived. Why were these trainers going to be any different?

The answer believe it or not, lay not with their training program (which I have found to be amazing) but with their complete approach to size reduction and health and fitness. Hilary is a three times body sculpting champion in the over 50's category.

So when she agreed to take me on, I was over the moon.

What follows is my progress through my own 100 days challenge to reclaim "me".