7 minute read

When you’re wanting better health or body composition (what we call ‘body transformation’); you want less fat, and more muscle. Your weight on the scales may not change, but that is also the goal!

For this case study we are actually looking at my own journey! From being on stage, to unwell, and back to the stage again.   

I am at the same weight, but with a different body

9 years progress, and with many things in between! Let’s look at what I went through in between these two pics;

• Chronic fatigue
• Allergies & gut issues
• Mental health issues
• Weight gain (top weight was 82.6kg), mostly due to a wrecked nervous system, damaged metabolism and chronic inflammation
• I couldn’t train properly for an extended period

There were many ups and downs, and many, many tears. Regardless, I made the choice to take back control of my body. I fixed all of those issues, most of which existed even before the 2012 photo was taken. And I still managed to change my body in that time.

Note this also highlights the fact that just because we are in the fitness industry, doesn't mean we don't come across health issues. Health and body composition is complex, it's not just a special food or exercise form that 'fixes' everything. 

With this body transformation, I am also much healthier

On the left, I was striving to be my best self just as I do now, but my approach was to plough through my symptoms and health challenges. I wasn’t aware of the fact that I could face them. I also wasn’t aware that by deciding to face them, I would change my life for the better, forever.

Everything is so much easier now and life is so much brighter

Here is a timeline of that journey;
❤ 2010-2102 I focussed purely on bodybuilding
❤ 2012-2014 I did powerlifting and dabbled with strongman training
❤ 2014-2019 Battled my health issues, trained very minimally. Sometimes only walking, sometimes nothing, sometimes a week or two of training which were followed by a crash.
❤ 2019-2021, feeling better, I started at 78.6kg, and began tracking with the goal of getting under 70kg. It took me about a year, but this gave me the confidence to continue further.

Hope that helps!

If you want to see more of this kind of thing, check out all the articles listed under ‘Body Transformation’ – you’ll find countless examples of this kind of thing throughout the blog.

Jen X