Your HealtH HuB
LOCAL
ISSUE ONE
Health, Wellness and Environmental news for Dacorum
www.yourhealthhub.uk
Creating change in your life my story
I recently met up with an inspiring lady called Sarah Jane Jones, to chat about her epic weight loss & health journey. Here Sarah Jane tells you her story in her own words:
Hi, my name is Sarah Jane and I am the mother of two grownup children based in Dacorum. Not many people have been on the roller coaster I have been on in life. I have achieved some remarkable things – my biggest was losing 25 stone. People often ask questions about my weight loss journey. I was a chubby child with a potbelly. I was bullied at school and over the years I grew up dreadfully unhappy in myself. I never knew who I was. As the years went by, I got bigger and bigger. I attempted to diet, but as quickly as I lost the weight, I gained it back again. I continued to yo-yo diet until I ended up so big, I struggled to get
Before
around. It was such a strain on my body, a real struggle, I even had to go through doors sideways whilst holding myself in. My weight issues were caused by several things – but that is a story for another day. A key turning point was a visit to our family Doctor. He had seen me grow up, and both my children come into the world. My son was very different from other children of his age (he was 3 at the time), the doctor explained that he is a very complex child. He said “I can tell you now, the services for his needs are not very good. They are overstretched already, and there will be more cuts to these services, the support for him is going to be very limited”. This proved to be true over the years. He commented on how I was a trendy mum, and how well I had done with him already. He then asked, “If you are not around, who will be there? Who will take him on? This child is going to need more support than the average child”. I looked at him and said there is no one I would trust him with. I had my children to raise and wanted to give them the life and the childhood I never had. At this time, I covered two chairs in the doctor’s room. I struggled to breathe and move around. The doctor weighed me. I stood on the scales and watched the needle carry on going round to its max. My last weigh-in was 30 stone, I was heavier than then. At this point I was so big; he couldn’t even weigh me properly to get the true reading. He then asked again, “If you’re not there for the kids, who would be? What kind of life will they have?” I remember walking out with the kids thinking I have got to do this for them if not for me. It was then I decided to cut myself off from
the negative people around me – the people who put me down and told me I would never amount to anything. I was regularly told I would always be fat and have nothing in life. For the first time, I realised that there was so much negativity in my life that needed to go. I quit my job, left my kid’s father, and embarked on my healing journey. I went through so much. I had no help from others, no surgery, no slimming clubs. I cut back on food, and as money was so tight, it made it a little easier. I dropped a massive amount of weight quickly. I learned to plan meals, incorporating healthy food and options into my day. Slowly I built the foundations of a healthy lifestyle, asking myself what does my body need to fuel it and repair itself? Back then there were no laptops or social media so it was down to me to research about healthy options. I educated myself on food, nutrition vitamins and minerals. I supplemented my diet with vitamins and minerals where I needed to. It got to the point where I could go to the gym four days a week. Giving up driving and walking everywhere, kept me active. I would drop the kids off at school and walk to the gym where I would do classes and swim. This was my life for a couple of years. With little money I walked to the gym come rain or sunshine, I visualised what I wanted to achieve, how I wanted to look and I believed I could do it. This is where I learned not to be a follower, but to do what was right for me. We can all be pulled off track easily with our everyday life so I built a lifestyle that was right for me. I found not telling people what I was doing and just doing it for
myself kept me on track. My goals were so much easier to achieve without negative people telling me what I couldn’t do and listening to other people’s opinions. I soon found myself sitting in training and seminars, building my knowledge, learning deeper aspects of the body. I would just go off at weekends to attend workshops and talks. This introduced me to the world of self-development. I learned new ways of thinking and new life skills that I could use in everyday life. I started to look at how I spoke to myself, creating positive thinking and being accountable for my actions and choices. We all hit struggles and brick walls in life – it’s a roller coaster that has challenges. It can be a struggle, and I had more than most. But I soon learned to brush myself down, look at what I needed to do to let go, and move on. Over the years I learned it was not just about the food we eat and how we think, it was how to work with the body as naturally as possible. I found many ways of doing this through a holistic approach, by stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things.
I did not over complicate it, kept it simple, addressed one thing at a time and built a solid foundation that lead to a solid future. If you do the same thing, you get the same result. Do something different creating change creates a whole new way of things learning and possibilities. Over the years I have completed various training from reiki, energy healing, mediumship, licensed NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) hypnosis, hypnotherapy, coaching to nutrition. Using a combination of these, and my experiences Inner Enlightenment was born. I now help other people, not just with weight loss but in many aspects of their life. We all have the power of Inner Enlightenment inside of us. It is about unlocking it and being free to be who we truly are, liberating us from a downward spiral, breaking down bad habits and the brick walls we come up against in life, growing and learning creating a healthier and positive life for you and your families. My children are now in their 20s. If I hadn’t taken that step out of my comfort zone and embarked on this journey I would not be here for them now, or gained the skills to help other people. www.innerenlightenment.co.uk