Question: Can you give us a brief history of your diet/lifestyle before starting with Donna Aston?

Elspeth: Before starting with Donna Aston my diet was 'alright'. This is, I was conscious of not consuming too much fried or fatty foods, I kept away from bread and pasta and tried to eat a balanced diet. However, I often took the easy way out. I would buy noodles for the Chinese Take-away for lunch, rice based dishes would be a daily treat and for morning tea there would be a biscuit from the jar at work (when you write it down it doesn't sound too balanced!).

Question: Can you describe your lifestyle now?

Elspeth: I now eat protein at every meal – this is a big change. My breakfast now consists of berries with home-made muesli and natural yoghurt. I have a mid morning and mid afternoon snack each day, which would consist of raw nuts, an apple or a piece of cheese. Lunches are a salad with lean meat - perhaps left over from the previous evening. Evening meals are based around having a good source of protein and vegetables or salad. Water is now my friend and, as I don't drink tea or coffee, it is about the only thing I drink.

Going out I am quite conscious about what I order. I will read and then select from the menu carefully and I am now learning to ask for exactly what I want – especially the sauce/dressing on the side (or sometimes not at all!). My focus with food is now to eat as natural as possible, nothing processed or pre-made and to watch my portion sizes. Eating too much could be as bad as eating 'unsuitable' foods.

Question: Can you give us a brief history of your physical activity before following Donna Aston's principles?

Elspeth: My physical activity used to involve 2 games of competitive netball each week and usually umpiring one or tow games as well...1 hour of walking twice a week and a light gym session twice a week.

Question: Can you give us a brief history of your physical activity now?

Elspeth:
Monday: walk 30 mins plus gym or an hour walk. After work: netball
Wednesday: 1 hour walk and netball
Friday: walk 30 mins plus gym or an hour walk.
Saturday: 1 hour walk with Lachlan and occasionally umpire netball
Sunday: walk 1 hour

I do exercise on Tuesdays and Thursdays if I have not played netball the night before. The games are often late and I find I need sleep the next morning.

Question: Do you have any comments you'd like to make that may inspire others?

Elspeth: I have found that attending Donna Astons has been a positive experience. I didn't believe that I would be able to achieve the weight loss that I have and at the same time make such a significant change to my body shape and tone (I now love my arms!). The variety and diversity of the exercises that I complete when I train with Lachlan are amazing. Growing up I played a lot of sport, but I never tried anything acrobatic. I didn't do handstands or swing from the monkey bars, etc. Now, through Cirq, I am regularly climbing the Tissue or pulling myself up and over the Trapeze ... not to mention hanging off the Roman Rings! I am constantly surprising myself. Personal Training is no longer something to endure ... it's something to look forward to.

The future benefits I have found include being physically stronger and having more endurance on the netball court ... also being a lot fitter and healthier and being able to look at the size-10 rack!