I’ve never been thin, I was always the fat kid in class, and when I first married 10 years ago I was a size 24-26, but I was always confident, active and was happy the way I was. My husband would beg me not to lose weight, as he loved me “just the way I was”, but inside me there was a dissatisfaction with my body. As it happens my husband can’t have loved me a much as he said – one Tuesday morning in October 2002 he phoned me at work to tell me he was leaving me… not a normal Tuesday in the office!

As I went through my high-speed divorce I coped by focusing on work and for the next couple of years I concentrated on my career – several promotions and lots of hard work later I had doubled my salary, and although I hadn’t really noticed, and it wasn’t intentional, the change in lifestyle and spending a lot of time swimming at the health club was having an effect on my body, suddenly I was a size 16, 5 stone lighter than I had been and the thinnest I had ever been in my adult life, but I wasn’t happy.

I hit the dating trail, several disasters/comedy dinner party stories later, I met John – an ordinary bloke, who is kind, loving and down to earth. 2 years later we decided to get married… we had 18 months to plan the wedding to tie in with John’s 40th birthday in July 2009. Suddenly I realised that things had started to slip, as I had become happier, and the meals out and the cosy nights in had increased so had my waistline, my size 18 jeans were now tight, I was headed back down the path – happy but bigger, but now I was not happy to be that size again, I had to put a stop to this. There had to be a way to be in control of my body and happy.

I hit the gym and tried most diets going, but nothing seemed to work for me and nothing seemed to fit in with my chaotic lifestyle, nothing seemed maintainable, although there were short term wins nothing was sustainable. I read about NYBC in Closer, and in a mad moment called the office and paid the deposit before I could change my mind. I booked for October 2008. The camp was the hardest thing I have ever done, both physically and mentally, but I achieved more than I could ever imagine who would have thought that I would have gone coasteering, jumping of rocks into the sea was one of the scariest things I have ever done, not to mention running up hills at 6am in the morning! I could not believe the difference a week made, I left camp 9lbs lighter and once again was a size 16, and have carried on and lost another half stone, but more importantly than that I now enjoy exercise and most of the time stick to the Boot Camp rules, the 80:20 principles mean I do not feel that I have to live my whole life on a diet, and can have days off, and the menu suggestions are great, John enjoys the meals so we still eat together, whilst sticking to the plan.

New You Boot Camp has shown me that exercise can be fun, and given me a way to be happy and in control of my body – I still have bad days, but the staff are still shouting at me in my head.

Camp is fab, and you get the most amazing buzz having made it to the end of the week, but undoubtedly the best this about NYBC is the ongoing support that is always available, when you are having a bad day or have fallen of the wagon the guys in the office are always there for a chat, and will send you tips and hints and help get you back on track. NYBC is not just about the week, it is the start of a new way of life, and way of life I can stick to, still having a glass of wine in the evening and a square of chocolate, and when things do start to slip it is easy to get back on track.*