At the start of 2018, I made a decision that I wanted to lose weight. Over the previous year, I’d put on quite a few kilos. I’d had some success with calorie counting in the past but knew that that was really only half of the story. I realised that my aversion to exercise had to change and booked a Kick Start session at Basic Fit Utrecht Europaplein.
The morning that I went to the gym to meet Diederik from Quality Life, I didn’t know what to expect. After a relatively brief introduction where Diederik gave me an overview of the types of packages and training they offered, we got to work. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that first session completely kicked my butt. Despite this, I decided to sign up for the Shape Project. This combined weight loss with nutrition and strength training to work towards the shape I wanted to be in. Losing fat and replacing it with muscle and learning to eat in a way that served both those goals.
I didn’t realise that strength training would have such a massive impact on my life. My body feels stronger, my skin feels smoother and I am so much more toned. I’ve been able to be more physically active than ever before – cycling nearly 80 km in one weekend felt like nothing only a few weeks ago. No wonder really after training my legs and calves in the gym 2-3 times a week for nearly half a year! I never really thought of myself as very unfit before. I walked a lot and had picked up running the year before but the difference once I started strength training was amazing.
This has been the biggest change for me. I don’t care about the weight on the scales anymore – I care about how I feel. I want to feel fit and energetic. As soon as I stop eating right or go to the gym less often, I notice that the old nagging pains come back. I’m 33 years old now, and I want to be able to say that I’m in the best shape of my life in 2019. I will keep going to gym even if life gets in the way or I skip a week or two. And, instead of my goal being just to lose weight, I will aim to do pull ups and break my previous personal records!
I am so happy that I have fallen in love with strength training. I cannot recommend it enough – apart from physically feeling fitter and stronger, it gives me such a feeling of strength knowing I was doing something so good for my body! I’m determined to keep going and am looking forward to making this year the best year yet. Quality Life has been instrumental in helping me get here.
