Testimonial: Liz Davies

Dear Heidi,

I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to FastTrack Fit Camp for your combined encouragement and support that I have received during the last 2 months, plus also for the additional nutritional advice I have been following from you since the end of April 2011. I enclose some pictures that show what a difference a year can make, with significant changes to my shape being made since I started Fit Camp just 2 months ago.

I am now 46 years old and I have struggled with my weight for the last 25 years, yo-yoing between size 14 and size 24 at my biggest; mainly staying at the high end of the scale. I have tried various diets including Weight Watchers (red & green days), Lipotrim (the doctor put me on this – it is a total food replacement diet of 450 cals a day), Slimming World (summer 2010) and then I followed The Biggest Loser diet (Feb/Mar 2011). WW did nothing for me apart and I felt humiliated each week when I didn’t lose weight, I did lose 6 stone on Lipotrim in 5 months back In 2006, then put it all back on and more over the next 2 years and I finally I lost 2 stone at SW in 3 months last year, then stopped losing altogether. The “final” push was to follow The Biggest Loser diet in which I lost another stone, but again came to another plateau and couldn’t lose any more.

For me, all these diets had several things in common :

• I lost some weight, but couldn’t keep it off and usually ended putting it back on plus more
• They all banned or severely restricted certain foods, including “good” fats and oils and left me constantly hungry
• I felt, looked and was unhealthy – various ailments kept me going to the Doctor, mainly around my digestive system
• I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer in 2007 & that kept me off work for 2 months – not long after I came off Lipotrim
• I learnt nothing about long-term healthy eating and I craved the restricted foods eg cheese and chocolate
• I did not get any fitter and I consciously avoided any activity that required even the smallest exertion like walking to the local shops( it’s actually quicker for me to walk to Morrison’s than it is to drive now)
• I learnt that none of these programmes were working for me on an ongoing basis and I would have to change tactics in my need and desire to get fit and healthy once and for all.

I joined the local gym, St. Crispins, under the GP referral scheme at the end of last year and also started going to Zumba classes. I was getting fed-up again as no matter what I did, I could not shift the weight and I was still a size 20. Through talking to others in the gym and at Zumba, while starting to do really low impact exercises, I discovered that I could take fitness classes at the gym eg body pump to tone up etc and through that I met Heidi. I was getting fed-up again as no matter what I did, I could not shift the weight and I was still a size 20.

In April, Heidi set me up with the healthy food plan, that is recommended by FastTrack Fit Camp, which allowed me to eat normal food again. I was delighted to be able to put items like butter and good oils back into my diet. I lost a stone in 4 weeks through May 2011 and felt on top of the world. My skin started to glow, my hair was shining, my tummy issues settled down and I was never hungry!

I joined Fit camp in June and have completed 2 cycles so far. I have already lost 9.5 inches from my body (6 measurement points) in just 2 months and I am now in a size 16 and still heading downwards. Interestingly, my weight has actually stabilised at the moment. This would normally have stressed me out but Heidi has been using a bio-impedance measurer on me that proves I have lost pure body fat in the same period and am gaining lean muscle instead.

The dreaded scales are no longer dictating my life and I feel that I am finally in control of my health and fitness routines. I have far more energy, am more alert and people remark how I am always smiling now. I can walk into Wokingham in about 25 mins whereas previously I would always drive. It used to take me an hour to walk round Dinton once and at the end I would be thinking I needed oxygen, but now I can go easily walk round twice in 45 minutes, whilst holding a conversation and not be out of breath at the end. Fit Camp and the total regime (food and exercise) has given me a new lease of life and the knowledge and tools I needed. The forum has been brilliant and is an inspirational source of information & support.

I am now looking forward to continuing the whole programme when I get back from my hols and to maintaining a stable, fit, healthy me. I also know that if I waiver, Heidi, Vida and the Fit Campers will soon help me get back on track.

PS – also thanks to Heidi, I qualified as a Zumba instructor in June 2011! If you had told me that a year ago, I would have thought you were mad.

I hope that others who have similar desires find the courage to follow my example and sign up to FastTrack Fit Camp. Thank you for helping me to change my life.

Liz