By Liana Jacob
MEET the British mum-of-two who had no self-control with food during her pregnancies and felt so uncomfortable with her husband looking at her that she crash-dieted until she shed three dress sizes.
Customer service representative, Kimberley French (30), from Bournemouth, UK, began developing an unhealthy relationship with food during her pregnancies to her son (4) and daughter (1) that led her to gain three stone.
Her lack of self-control, saw her reach her peak weight of 13st and a UK dress size 14 to 16, and eating her weight in 3,000 calories of junk a day.
To change this she focused purely on cardio at the gym while consuming 1,200 calories a day in an attempt to re-shape her figure the way she liked it, however, this led to what she describes as āskinny fatā.
Her hatred towards her body and shape motivated Kimberley to re-examine her exercise and diet regime and she adopted a more enthusiastic approach to weight training, low intensity steady state (LISS) cardio. She started consuming 2,000 calories of healthy food a day instead.
Sixteen-months after changing her diet and exercise regime, she is a healthy 10st 8Ibs and a UK dress size eight to 10.
āGetting pregnant with both babies led me to me putting on three-stone in weight both times as I had no self-control with food,ā Kimberley said.
āI hated the way I looked; overweight and wobbly. Then I lost all the weight in the wrong ways and still hated the way I looked.
āI wanted to make changes because I was unhappy and unconfident. I didnāt like my husband looking at me and I wanted to be a happy mum for my babies.
āI did lots of cardio and ate less to begin with, but didnāt realise at the time that this wasnāt the right way. I then joined a gym and started to weight lift.
āIt has massively changed my life; Iām so confident and positive now. I enjoy fitness so much and couldnāt live without it. It makes me feel good and strong.
āI feel happy to be me now. The best Iāve ever felt in my life. I feel confident and sexy.
āIāve started eating five high protein meals a day and Iāve started weight lifting instead of constant cardio. I still do light cardio too, though, but I enjoy it now.ā
The changes she had to make to get the results she craved was the hardest part.
But the process has been worth it, as Kimberley says she has received an overwhelming reaction to her pictures on Instagram; with one receiving over 6,000 likes.
āThe hardest thing about losing weight was doing it the wrong way and putting myself through torturous cardio and low calories. I would definitely do it differently if I could go back in time,ā Kimberley said.
āPeople say I look incredible now and have done so well in such a short space of time. My transformation picture has had a massive hit on Instagram and Iām so pleased as it holds a very important message.
āI want as many people as possible to know that crash diets are not the best way to lose weight and shape your body. Weight training has made me the way I look today.
āIf you are just starting out then be brave and step into the gym; your confidence will grow like mine did and youāll branch out and try new exercises.
āDonāt give up, as progress takes time and patience, but if you put in all the hard work, you will get results.ā
For more information visit: https://www.instagram.com/kimfrench87/