INSPIRING TRANSFORMATION

At 71kg, Kathryn Hunt, who was then in her late teens, didn’t like what she saw. She avoided wearing swimsuits or tight clothing and would rarely go out to enjoy herself. “I was embarrassed by my stomach that was flabby, my thighs that were too big and every bit of my body that wasn’t perfect,” says the now 23-year-old. “I didn’t have the confidence to do the things I wanted because of my body.”

Her body image issues carried over when she joined Anytime Fitness in her home town of Seaford, near Adelaide. “I initially had an extremely unhealthy desire to be below 50kg. I thought that’s what I needed to be to feel beautiful.” It was her personal trainer, Abbie Cousins, who guided Hunt to focus more on how she felt than how she looked, which is when she reset her goal weight. “I started focusing on how exercise made me feel, how I felt in clothes that I’d never previously worn, and how confident I was.”

Hunt was a swimmer for most of her life, training six to eight times a week, but in the three years prior to joining Anytime Fitness she was practically sedentary. “I’d take the family dog for the occasional walk, but that was the most I would do.” Overcoming her gym anxiety was a struggle, especially in the weights room. “The weights room always made me feel selfconscious, like I was being watched and judged. I remember a day where the anxiety got to me so much I couldn’t get out of my car. I sat there for 10 minutes before driving back home.”

Hunt’s weight-loss journey turned around once she realised eating more, not less, was key to maintaining her energy levels. “I set really low calories initially, which left me with no energy. I was attending the gym, coming home to nap, going to work for a few hours then going to bed for the night. When I increased the number of calories I was eating to a more sensible level, I continued to lose weight, and felt so much more energetic.”

Today, Hunt can happily say that she feels great at the healthy weight of 55kg and that she looks forward to exercising, where once she used to avoid it at all costs. “I am so glad I’ve changed my life around … I’m constantly motivated by the long-term benefits of a healthy lifestyle and have a constant desire to succeed!”