How Carrie Was Able to Balance A Busy Career, Family, and Fitness to Achieve Her Dream Physique
Meet Carrie
Carrie is a busy professional, a devoted family member, and someone who wanted to approach her 50th birthday feeling stronger, more energised, and confident.
Despite her best efforts, Carrie felt stuck. She wanted to make a change—not just to tone up and feel good in her clothes but also to have the energy to be present for her family.
But like many others, balancing life, exercise, and nutrition felt overwhelming.
Her Biggest Challenges
- Inconsistency with Exercise and NutritionCarrie found it tough to stay consistent. Life and sickness would often throw her off track, and weekends became a time of overindulgence, undoing progress made during the week.
- Balancing Enjoyment with GoalsCarrie didn’t want a restrictive lifestyle. She wanted to enjoy life—especially weekends—while still making progress toward her fitness and energy goals.
- Lack of a Clear PlanWithout a clear, tailored approach, Carrie struggled to navigate the ups and downs of busy days, leaving her feeling unsure of how to reach her goals sustainably.
The Turning Point
Carrie reached out after seeing someone she knew achieve great results working with us. She wasn’t sure if online coaching would work but decided it was time to try something different.
She wanted guidance that would fit into her lifestyle without sacrificing her weekends or family time.
Here's How We Helped
- Customised Nutrition and Exercise PlanTogether, we built a sustainable plan that worked for her busy weekdays while offering flexibility on the weekends. This eliminated the guesswork and made it easier for Carrie to stay on track.
- Simple, Repeatable HabitsBy focusing on clear, repeatable habits, Carrie learned how to make healthy choices consistently without feeling overwhelmed or restricted.
- Ongoing Support and AccountabilityWith regular check-ins and tailored guidance, Carrie stayed motivated and had the tools to keep going, even when life got hectic.
Her Results
Carrie’s transformation is nothing short of inspiring.
- Weight Loss: She’s down over 19 lbs and has completely reshaped her physique.
- Increased Confidence: She’s approaching her 50th birthday feeling strong, energised, and proud of what she’s accomplished.
- Visible Results: Carrie can even see her abs—something she never thought possible before!
- Lifestyle Change: Exercise, nutrition, and healthy habits are now a natural part of her life.
‘I feel younger, so much more energy and generally happier all round’.
Could not be prouder of the results Mike achieved in just 8 weeks.
A coach’s dream and showed nothing but total commitment to the process.
How you felt before and why you wanted to make a change?
Before staring I felt stiff, old, sluggish and fat. I wanted to revert back to being healthy and not feel so tired all the time.
What you were struggling with before?
I was stuck in a cycle of eating relatively healthy through the week but then binging on everything at the weekend…Thursday- Sunday!I was a too comfy and really lacking in motivation to make a change.
What has worked well since? Or contributed to your success?
A big part of my life is going for dinner and drinks.
Luke taught me to prepare for this by putting work in prior which has been a big help, it allows me to enjoy going out and not having to deal with it afterwards by doing additional exercise. Game changer for sure.
Simply walking and getting my steps in has massively changed the way I feel.
To be honest I used to laugh at people counting steps and I resisted Luke’s request at the start. I believed the calories burned were trivial but it’s not only burning additional calories, it’s getting moving and getting fresh air. I feel less stiff and old because of this and again has been a massive game changer.
Understanding how much calories are in everything allows me now to make more realistic choices, I don’t just say yes to everything put in front of me now!
And how do you feel now / main difference?
I feel younger, so much more energy and generally happier all round.
The Aftermath Of An Unsustainable Diet. My Experience With Restrictive Dieting & Rebound.
This is my totally honest and open account of my experience with restrictive dieting, and not just the diet itself but the rebound from weeks and weeks of restriction.
Why am I sharing my experience?
The diet industry is a multibillion-pound industry with notably a very low success rate, and it’s not just because of weight-loss, because so many of us can actually lose weight, but because those who do manage to achieve weight loss gain it all back.
Weight regain or diet rebound statistics don’t leave for good reading, and not only do 60-70% people regain the weight back many people go on to gain more weight than when they started.
With obesity on the rise who helping these people who are actively trying to make a positive change to their health?
Why are these statistics not changing? Why is the diet industry failing people?
According to the British Nutrition Foundation 25% of men and 20% of women in the UK are considered obese, and a further 42% and 32% respectively were overweight according to BMI measurements.
The diet industry is a money-making monster, and it’s seems common knowledge that diets in general have a very low success rate.
Which means the big winners here are the companies taking a slice of the billions spent by unsuspecting people simply trying to change their body because they aren’t happy with it.
Toxic companies selling quick fix fad diets endorsed by B list Love Island celebrities that do nothing other than harm to both our wallets and our mental and physical health.
I massively underestimated the fall out from a restrictive diet and what I thought would turn in to one day of eating what I wanted soon turned into an entire week and then rolled into two weeks before I managed to curb what felt like uncontrollable binging.
It was a few days after I had finished my transformation, I had a lightbulb moment and realised what was happening.
So this is why the diet industry is worth absolutely billions?
I’m getting a small taste of it and if I’m not careful il be another person contributing to the statistics.
Being a personal trainer and coach, I take pride in supporting people, there is nothing that fulfils me more than supporting people to a healthier more confident place.
And this experience albeit leaving me in tatters mentally, has completely opened my eyes to the struggles millions of us have each year.
It has been an invaluable learning experience for me and has done nothing other than reinforce my belief that food restriction of any form simply doesn’t work and can have a hugely detrimental impact on your mental health, how you feel about yourself and your confidence.
Restrictive dieting is damaging on so many levels, there is not long term
What is the solution?
Well, it’s not in the quick fix section in Holland & Barratt or last year’s Love Island Instagram page.
It requires a degree of knowledge, education, self-love, self-belief, discipline, and dedication to change.
Long term sustainability is key which means if you can’t wait for your diet to be over you are in trouble?
First, we must recognise that losing weight is really difficult, your body will aggressively defend its energy reserves at the first sign of weight loss.
This doesn’t mean it’s impossible just a little harder, especially since you can get a McDonalds delivered to your door without moving nothing other than a finger.
My Journey Of Overcoming Limiting Beliefs & Confidence
It’s been almost 6 months since I scribbled down my vision for 2021.
Committing to changing my body was right at the top!
Being totally honest, and putting myself out there, I needed to make a change.
With the opening and closing of gyms, in and out of lockdown, I found bad habits easy to come by.
Excuses easy to find, training at home sucked, the old midweek glass or two of wine had crept in, and although I felt motivated with my business, I didn’t feel empowered with my body.
Life was too comfortable.
Something needed to change.
How can I lead my clients from the front if I can’t even take my own advice?
So off the back of a lazy, chocolate-filled Christmas, I was ready to make a change and a drastic one.
The time was right to set this challenge.
What wasn’t supporting me?
Alcohol 🍻
That was the first thing to go and I haven’t drunk any since.
That decision really was the catalyst.
Like so many of my clients I speak to for the first time, you just gotta wait for that lightbulb moment where you stand up and say.
‘I am done with looking and feeling like this’
So I gave myself a big metaphorical slap around the face 🤦♂️
Deep down I had always wanted to take myself through my own transformation but massively doubted myself.
I had hidden behind a story of ‘it’s not for me’.
When in truth I just didn’t think I had it in me.
I knew going through the process would as a coach be a rite of passage.
Also being a client and having a coach would provide such a valuable perspective.
Having @stan_didi in my corner kicking my ass was essential 💪
Aside from the professional growth much of this challenge was driven simply by a lack of confidence in myself.
So yeah, I get what it’s like to not feel great, and I hear you when you say dieting or changing your body is hard.
It totally is. Really f’ing hard.
I have been in exactly the same place and experienced the same struggles.
My hope is that other people will see this and get inspired, think yeah I wanna a little bit of that in my life.
There is nothing more powerful than proving yourself wrong.
It was hell of a 4-week ride towards the end.
I started at 90kg just after Christmas and finished at 77.6kg on the day of the shoot.
Anyone fancy joining me next time?