I can’t quite believe I’m here at the end of my 20 weeks… as Much as It’s been 20 weeks, I feel like I’ve only just scratched the surface in who I am and my journey into fitness and finding myself again after being so unhappy for so long.

I reached out to Martin after following him for a few years of watching his and his client’s progress. I always thought he scared me with his no nonsense approach however what scared me was to actually deal with my own fears and failures in order to piece myself back together. I look at my photos from beginning of this process and feel immensely proud.

At 27 I was diagnosed with cervical cancer, I gained four stone with recovery, at 28, I was diagnosed with PTSD - I lost every part of myself even with overcoming such huge obstacles. I spent a lot of time in counselling to deal with what had happened to me but still never felt like I was getting back to the Vikki I wanted. I lost weight, then I would gain it again.

I bought into every diet fad going but still was so unhappy. My before photos make Me Sad because now I cannot relate to that person at all. I wanted to proudly show off my scars from surgery and my stretch marks from my children however I then felt so ashamed because these were the things I couldn’t control and my body shape was the one thing I had control of yet I wanted to hide that as much as I could. I felt like such a failure. I decided enough was enough in February this year. Counselling made me realise I was lonely, work made me realise I needed a challenge, home made me realise I needed stability for me and my kids but all of this came down to how I was treating myself. Bad diet and feeling miserable in myself was enough to reach out.

When I spoke to Martin, he told me I had to be “all in”. All in was all I was willing to be. 20 weeks in and I genuinely feel happy inside and out. I’ve never once had to feel hungry and I’ve been in a gym twice in this whole time. I just completed my second 10k run which I NEVER would have thought I would or could do.

I’ve set myself my own challenges and Martin and the guys in Team Tank have been my biggest supporters and kept me accountable. I have a busy life, fast paced job, two beautiful kids who I raise myself and also my dog Frank… I didn’t make this fit into my life, I actually had life fall into place once I started looking after myself.

I’m so proud of myself for all that I’ve achieved in the past five years but there is nothing more satisfying than to piece the final piece of yourself back together. I’m so looking forward to what’s next.