Donna Bonavia’s health and fitness success

Have you noticed the weight creep up post-Easter? Have you promised yourself 2018 ‘would be your year’ but struggled to make a start? Now is the time to make your health and fitness a priority. Don’t just take our word for it though here is the personal health and fitness journey of our own member Donna Bonavia.

For Donna she decided enough was enough after seeing herself in the background of a photo.

“I decided then and there I needed to make a lifestyle change as what I was doing to my body was so unhealthy. I realised that life is so short and I had to stop wasting it. I had to make a change so I was here for a long time for my children and their families,” Donna Bonavia said.

She started off weighing 97 kilos and was a size 18-20 one year ago, but has now dropped down to a size 12-14 and has lost 17 kilos, with only 600g to go until she reaches her goal weight.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Like many others on a similar journey she said she didn’t know where to start – that was until one of her best friends mentioned food coaching at Glenorchy Health and Fitness.

Just like any journey it has not always been easy, but she started off with small changes to reach success.

“At the start I wasn’t confident, I was nervous before every session and had doubt in myself thinking I would fail again, that it wouldn’t last and it would be a fad,” she said.

“I just took things day by day, my exercise got better each week and I started losing weight, only small amounts but it was when I finally realised I could do this. I realised this couldn’t just be a diet but a lifestyle change.”

With arthritis in almost every joint in her body Donna focuses on maintaining a healthy diet and also walks 7 days a week for at least 30 minutes each day.

“Take things slow at first, you can’t go from zero exercise to all of a sudden being able to walk 10km in one go. I would start at 1km and work towards 2km the next week,” she said.

She found after a few weeks to months down the track she became less puffed and her body was in less pain as she got used to the regular exercise.

“Before I started on this journey I would just keep taking more and more pain killers, now carrying less weight that is less weight my joints have to carry around, which equals less pain so I am not taking anywhere near as many pain killers,” she said.

But the decrease of pain has not been the only benefit; “my energy levels have soared since I have been on my fitness journey, instead of sitting down and having lazy weekends I am outside enjoying the fresh air and feel as though I have accomplished something at the end of the day,” she said.

For Donna it has been important to be realistic while on your journey; “since having my beautiful children I have never been a ‘skinny’ person, and that’s not what I wanted to aim for. I just wanted to not hate walking past a mirror, now I look in the mirror and am so proud of what I have achieved,” she said.

But how does she stick with it? “Now when I wake up in the morning I plan my day around my exercise, I find time to do my walks even if I am on holiday. My walks are no longer a chore but an outlet,” she said.

“My body is also so used to healthy food that now when I have a ‘treat meal’, my body pays for it and I feel awful the next morning,” she said.

For those struggling to get back on track after Easter here’s Donna’s advice for others; “remind yourself how hard it has been to lose weight and how easy it was to put on. Keep your motivation and remind yourself why you started.”