STELLAR STAR OF THE MONTH - 0CTOBER, 2018
Kia ora
My name is Puti (Flowers). I have 4 kids, 2 little girlies - Awhina-Rose -5 years, and Kataraina (Kat) - 7 years, 2 adult humans - Tianna, who's 18, and Tipene, who just turned 21.
Wow "Star of the Month", what a honour to be asked by Kat, and for me it's like winning an award ..totally not expecting it....but hey, life is full of surprises, just like my journey with Stellar Fitness.
Ok, where to start. Prior to September, I had never done an exercise class, or anything like this in my life, actually I am, or I was, one of those people, who, if I saw someone running or walking in the rain or early hours in the morning, would say to myself "omg that's crazy".
People who constantly watched what they ate, people who just ate salad really made me cringe, lol....(I know right, what a psycho) but it's only because I thought you should be able to eat what you want, it's up to you how much you ate. I knew nothing about healthy eating.
I did random walks whenever and played indoor netball once a week, mainly for time out for myself and because I actually do love indoor netball, I had a gym membership with city fitness that I hardly used and I was feeling like crap, I thought to myself why is nothing happening.
I knew I was overweight but I didn't realise how much I really weighed (due to having this old crappy scale that was probably older than me haha).
In August this year, my cousin Rachel posted on our Whanau Fit Site page about this 12 week Transformation Challenge starting in September, and for some reason it really stuck in my head.
I private messaged Rayray and said to her I would be keen to do it, I was over feeling yuck, everyday I would wake up and struggle throughout the day I just had no energy and I actually started to hate how I looked.
I told my whanau I was doing the challenge and they were so supportive, and my daughter Tianna decided to do it with me. At our first weigh in I was so nervous, I remember walking into the hall and thinking "what the hell am I doing" but walked up those stairs anyway.
I remember giving Kat a hug and then just jumped on the scale and I was shocked by my weight. Then my first class, Saturday Tabata, I was shy and scared and the only reason I managed to walk through that door was because my daughter was with me, and the first person I saw when I walked in was my cousin Rachel, who had saved us a spot with her, which made things way easier.
When the session started I was laughing to myself, I had this big grin on my face looking around the room because I was thinking "ooh shit everyone's looking at me and I probably look like a dick" - but you know what? Noone was looking at me because they were all just concentrating on themselves - noone was judging me and I was just another person who was there doing Tabata.
Well, a few months down the track and things are great thanks to Kat's book and system, I love the healthy eating buzz, I have lost nearly 10kilos, Tabata is my fav class, I exercise daily, I have the energy and I'm at that fitness level where I now play 2 nights a week of indoor netball and also play at tournament level.
I climbed Mt Kaukau in November with my cousins and some of the ladies, I came 2nd in the challenge, and met some really cool people, and I am now doing my 2nd challenge - the Festive Challenge.
The journey has really changed my mindset, I am now one of those peeps who will go for a 45min power walk in the rain early hours in the morning and watch what I eat.
Big thanks to Kat, the environment you have set is amazing so supportive and comfortable, my whanau for being there and supporting me out of my comfort zone and to my cousin Rachel for being with me every single step of the way.