Today we’ve got the fantastic Lucy, our Aspiring Journo, talking about her journey and how her blogging community has helped in the Hello New You campaign.
How has this three month trial come to an end already? It doesn’t seem two minutes since we were discussing it back in January. Although I haven’t lost a significant amount of weight, I have definitely learnt a lot about myself and dieting, and it’s set me on the right track to help me reach my ultimate goal of Happy.
I think the whole concept of blogging along each step of the way has been a plus point of this trial. Instead of a load of thoughts running through my head about what I think I’ve learnt, or what I think has changed about my body, I’ve been able to write everything down. I’ve shared feelings that I didn’t really think I ever would, I’ve shared my lessons and I’ve had the help and support of everyone at Maxitone and Best British Bloggers behind me the whole way.
The involvement of the other five bloggers has been a massive inspiration too; knowing that I wasn’t alone in my journey and reading their updates has helped shaped my own path. Not only has blogging helped me personally, I believe it’s helped others too, including the most important people within the blogging world: the readers. Since the creation of Where Are My Knees, it’s so lovely for people to be able to share their own diet stories, share their worries, admit that they’ve eaten one chocolate bar too many without being judged, or just to tell us that they enjoy reading our stories.
I think the online dieting community is a massive aid for the majority of women – I’m the only one in my circle of “offline” friends who is dieting and at times it is the hardest thing on earth to have to do and I’m 100% sure I’m not the only one. To know I have the support of people on the internet who I’ve never met, knowing there are people who I could let down if I put on 3lbs because I couldn’t resist that extra bag of crisps. I think that is, ultimately, is what I needed: the motivation and the knowing that there are people out there who care about my journey.
Over the last three months, my thoughts about protein shakes have changed dramatically; I understand and have actually seen for myself the positives about them. I’ve trialled them and now I get why people use them – they’re not just a tool to help build muscles, but they’re a tool for healthy weight loss. They provide another dieting method for people like me who might be struggling. I’ve also learnt about the importance of breakfast; before the trial I hadn’t eaten breakfast for the best part of four years. It was a bad habit I’d got into but now I realise that my Nana was right and it is the most important meal of the day.
By having a shake or bar for breakfast, my metabolism has increased and I no longer find myself picking at bits to satisfy my hunger until lunch. I think hunger played a huge part in my life before I was approached by Maxitone to take part in this project; my life would revolve around feeling hungry and I’d always give in to myself and eat something whenever I felt like that. Now though, after having breakfast and lunch, it’s very rare I’ll get those hunger pangs in the afternoon like I used to. And if I do? I’ll have a shake or a bar, et voila, I’m satisfied until dinner. It’s incredible, it really is!
I’m so happy to have been able to take part in this and to have the support of so many people, and to actually make a difference to myself. My journey is still only just beginning but if it wasn’t for Maxitone I probably wouldn’t have even got this far, so thank you to everyone who has been there and followed my progress! It means more than you’ll ever know.
