A woman who spent her 2022 Spanish holiday feeling uncomfortable and depressed about her body embarked on a fitness journey and is now four stone lighter. Shelley O'Connor is a mum-of-one who gave birth to her daughter Mollie in 2020.
She put on weight during lockdown which left her feeling ‘lost and unhappy’. Shelley, aged 31, said: “I basically had a really dire holiday. I was so self-conscious and I have a little girl who’s only two years old.
“I ruined the holiday because I was so in my own head about my body and I wasn’t physically fit enough to keep up with her. It was just a really bad holiday.”
A determined Shelley used last year’s holiday as motivation to make herself feel and look better. She said: “When I came home, I swore to myself that I needed to sort it out for my daughter. That was a driver for me.”
She joined a gym and paid for a personal trainer, who she stayed with for eight months. However, unable to see any real difference, Shelley, from Swansea, took a chance on fitness expert Huw Phillips after seeing him on Facebook.
Shelley, who was also having medical issues at the time, said: “I saw Huw do a video on Facebook which I commented on, so we started talking from there. I was having problems with my thyroid and hormone issues, so I was actually gaining weight, not losing weight.
“I was in a bit of a desperate limbo at the time. When I started training with Huw, I just wanted to feel healthy again.
“It wasn’t really about weight loss. I thought I’d give Huw’s training plan a go, as nothing else was working at the time.”
Once a size 16/18 and weighing 14st and four pounds, she lost four stone lighter. She is at her target weight of 10 stone, which she continues to maintain 10 months after reaching her goal.
She said: “I’ve just come off my holiday in Spain, the same dates I went last year and I’ve just had an amazing holiday this time round. I’ve been able to run around, go on slides, do everything with my daughter. I didn’t feel self-conscious.
“I just feel so much happier. That holiday last year was just really a wake up call for me.” Shelley put on weight during the pandemic and found it difficult to revert back to her pre-pregnancy weight - a common problem that women go through after birth.
It wasn’t just her physical appearance that changed, it was also her mindset too. “I had my daughter during lockdown and I put on four stone. I used to be really bubbly and really outgoing, but I lost myself through pregnancy and Covid.
“By the time I met Huw, I had no self-confidence. I was in a rut.
“I just wasn’t myself. I felt really numb.”
Shelley credits Huw for ‘bringing back the old, bubbly me’. She said: “Training with Huw has boosted my confidence and everybody’s noticed, my friends, family. My confidence has come back, I’ve had new opportunities arise and the new training has had an all round positive effect - definitely mentally as well.”
Fitness coach Huw, 54, said: “Shells came to me because she needed help. We created a training plan that would suit her lifestyle.
“My basic, no frills approach to fitness sees clients boost their confidence, fitness and happiness. If a client is happy, I’m happy.”
