I first came across RNT in 2018 and initially thought it was just another fitness advertisement. At the time I didn’t know anyone who had joined RNT until one day on Instagram I came across a transformation of a person I knew and couldn’t believe the results. That’s when I first contacted RNT to get more information on the program and how it would work for me and I signed up in January 2019.

When I received my first email, I felt overwhelmed with the targets set and the food plan I had to follow, not forgetting the training. But I knew the more questions I asked, the easier it would get. I think at first, I was firing off an email about every little thing, but I needed to make sure that what I was doing was correct otherwise there was no point. With his guidance, I found my ways and was able to enjoy my social life, my training program and my food plan without having to worry. Being a vegetarian, my diet was a big part of my lifestyle.

I remember at first, one of the hardest parts was telling my mum not to cook for me anymore as I had joined a new training program and would from now on be doing my own food prep and weighing my food before cooking. She thought I was crazy and so did the rest of my family, but they knew I had a pretty strong mindset where I would do what I wanted and not what someone else wants. When it came to telling my friends, they also thought I was crazy weighing my food out. I still remember the comments “you won’t last”, “what kind of rubbish is that”, “that is so long”, “how long you going to do it for”. I took all the comments on board and just smiled.

With anything there are changes that need to be made, and one of those changes was how I fit my training in as well as get my food ready and spend time with my family. This was the biggest mental battle I faced. Then came how do I fit my training in whilst working 5 days a week, then doing client meetings in the evenings for my events business, and being on events most weekends where I would struggle to get to the gym and find it difficult to eat. This was something I had to deal with and workout even though RNT was there to assist me. But looking back now, it makes me wonder what I was stressing about as it all fell into place. I managed to get to the gym after work and fit client meetings in, I prepped all my food for the next day, took my own food to events I was working at and managed to get all my steps in as required.

However, there was a time earlier this year whilst going through the fat loss phase, where I felt like I couldn’t carry on anymore and wanted to give up. This was during my peak season of events and my Dad’s cancer had flared up further. I also felt like I wasn’t spending enough time at home with the family and it all became overwhelming. I had to reground myself and evaluate how this was going to work for me. Soon I found my ways and defeated that mental block, “I haven’t come this far to give up now.” I changed how and when I trained, I made time for family and made my meals simpler to adjust to my lifestyle. I knew as long as I listened to myself, I would be ok and be able to achieve what I had set out to do.

One of the biggest lessons I have learnt from my transformation is, you will see results, if you are true to the process and follow what the RNT team asks you to do. If there was something I wasn’t happy with, I would question and make a suggestion, and we would come up with a solution together. This was a big fundamental and it made my journey that much more exciting.

In May, we decided to set some targets so I had something to work towards. June target was missed so we set another for September as I was due to fly out on holiday. September came and I didn’t feel ready we had a little bit more work to do. This was when we decided we would aim for the end of October. Just after coming back from my trip in September, my dad lost his battle to cancer. I remember getting a message saying, “Sorry for your loss, do what you need to do and take it easy.” But I wasn’t going to stop I was determined to carry on.

Knowing it was 4 weeks from my Dad’s passing to photoshoot day, I kept my diet under control throughout and kept mentally focused on the goal I had to achieve. I started to smash PR’s for Rack Deadlifts, Leg Press, Back Squats, Chest Press and Shoulder Press. This was the hardest 4 weeks I had faced on this journey mentally and physically, especially when calories became low and I had to put all my focus on getting through this, but I knew I had to break through. This was when I remembered something my Dad had told me, “anything is achievable if you put your mind to it.” I went from doing 110kg RDL in September to doing 145kg by Photoshoot day; the beast had been unleashed.

My ‘why’ for this transformation was, I wanted to have a better lifestyle and feel better in what I wore. I never was able to achieve the results I really wanted despite training regularly over the years. I never knew what to really eat and how much of it.

Along with all the positives on this journey, came the negatives, but I learnt a major lesson along the way, “it was me against myself.” What an incredible journey it has been to get where I am today both physically and mentally but none of it would have been possible without the support from RNT, my friends and family.