FLORENCE MITCHELL
AGE 22 ROLE Editorial Assistant/junior Writer HEIGHT 5ft 2in TRAINER Bradley Simmonds THE WEEKLY PROGRAMME 5 x 60-min cardio sessions
I’m 22 and I’ve never been on a diet. While my BMI might be on the high side, I’m healthy. I’m vegan, I regularly exceed five-a-day and I’m rarely ill. That said, I’m not on a good trajectory. With a penchant for pasta, a sedentary job and a laissez-faire attitude to exercise, I’ll slowly pile on the pounds unless I make some changes. So for my mental and physical health, I greeted hello to #Whtransformation. Initially, I was excited. At a barbecue before I started, I smugly told friends – veggie burger in one hand, cider in the other – that I was set to be trained by Louise Redknapp’s PT, Bradley Simmonds. I was met with a general air of envy, and a clear look of worry from the sporty one – was I vying for her crown? (Yes.) During my initial meeting with Brad (where I ordered a green tea, not wanting to start off on the wrong foot with my usual non-dairy hot chocolate) I described my fitness level as ‘average’. At our first session he made it clear that, for this to be true, the average must be very, very low – and my core was deemed ‘shambolic’. As I’m in my first job – and it’s not a bank’s grad scheme – I can’t fork out for a gym membership, so my training was outdoors and hardly cost a penny.
‘I DESCRIBED MY FITNESS LEVEL AS “AVERAGE”. IT TURNED OUT I WAS WRONG’
Week one was a shock. I was stiff and exhausted, but on an endorphin high. My training was cardio-heavy. Short bursts of HIIT followed 5K runs. I thought these might be chatty affairs, like when you jog with your mates. Two minutes in, I was told to stop talking and focus on my ‘tekkers’ (technique, to those not in the know). Tiring as it was, by the end of week two, I was 7lbs lighter. Brad’s nutritional advice was simple. Swap my morning bagel for granola, yoghurt and a banana. At lunch, choose from quinoa, brown rice or sweet potato to pair with veg and protein – as I’m vegan, that comes down to chickpeas, lentils and tofu. For dinner, more protein, veg and a modest portion of carbs. Oh, and no snacking. Shouldn’t be too difficult, right? I self-diagnose sugar withdrawal after splitting headaches and general tetchiness strike. Then I had a panic attack halfway up Primrose Hill. I’d never had one before. It was scary, and I cried. While Brad never pandered to me when I whined, like all good PTS, he knew when I was at my limit. We walked to the top of the hill and relaxed for the rest of the session. Brad reassured me: my body’s doing well, I’m just hitting a mental block. Clearly this isn’t going to be as easy as grinning through a few press-ups. At the halfway mark, my fitness had improved dramatically. My Parkrun 5K PB dropped five minutes, providing huge motivation to keep pushing through the midweek hill sprints. When my boyfriend joined my training, he was relegated to timekeeper, unable to match my burpee reps. But, although I gained half a kilo of muscle, my weight loss plateaued.
While meat eaters can load their plates with animal products – chicken, turkey, eggs and fish – to up their lean protein fix, it can be trickier for a vegan. I took the advice of nutritionist Laura Tilt to count my macros and monitor calories: 90g protein, 190g carbs and 1,600 cals per day. I weighed ingredients, supplemented my diet with a daily protein shake and saw off the afternoon slump with an apple and a tablespoon (teaspoon? Pah! I’m a sprinter now) of peanut butter. It meant my portion sizes became smaller, but my energy levels were more consistent throughout the day. Training in the last month proved to be the toughest – the recovery times between my reps were shortened, runs became longer, faster and (I didn’t think this was actually possible) steeper. We began reversing our loop of Primrose Hill so Brad and I were perpetually running uphill rather than just one short sprint. My core burned, I was short of breath and my legs felt like lead. But now I finally know my body. I understand when to push myself and when to tell Brad I can’t hold that plank any longer. And, as the weight began to drop off again, my 5K time plummeted – major motivation. At my local Parkrun, I clocked a spot in the top 10 women, then the top five, with a 23.25 PB. Boom. It’s fair to say I’ve become a convert to Brad’s methods. I’ve always wanted to feel sportier and, while an aesthetic transformation doesn’t motivate me, being told to ‘think like an athlete’ and, latterly, ‘John Terry couldn’t do that’ (another of Brad’s clients – sorry, John) was exactly what I needed to hear. I haven’t felt pressured to be thinner, just encouraged to be more healthy, more active and increase my running speed. The weight just happened to drop off as I did it. A month in, I felt like I was missing out, but by week 12, skipping sugary sweets and booze felt like I was treating my body with respect rather than depriving it of something good. I’ve found a new trajectory, and this one will only see my health improve.