The Abbeyfeale based Shakti Fitness Studio Eight-Week Fitness Challenge got off to a fantastic start on Monday night with 12 eager participants.
“We would like to congratulate each of them who have decided to take part in this incredible journey. It’s going to be full of achievement and excitement with each participant being challenged physically, emotionally and mentally,” said challenge coach, Maggie Large.
“Our first Saturday challenge took us to Killarney where we supported Paudie O’ Mahony with a 5k walk in conjunction with Lets Get Kerry Walking.
We look forward to working with our participants over the weeks and enjoying and sharing their joy and progress as we head into Spring. – Maggie Large, programme coach.
You can follow the progress of the participants’ on their webpage at www.shaktifitness.ie
Here, two of the participants tell us honestly and openly why they have signed up to the Shakti challenge and what they hope to gain from the experience.
The organisers have also attracted Castleisland Co-Op Mart manager, Richard Harnett who was a finalist in the RTÉ 1 Operation Transformation programme which is being transmitted currently. For further information contact: Breda on: 087-4144303 or Maggie on: 087-9866533
Recovery of Confidence Driving Maria
My name is Maria Goad. I am the owner of TANGLES Hair & Beauty Award Winning Salon/ Award winning Educator, and Business Coach & Mentor.
The reason I began this transformation program is that I have lots of weight to loose and over the past few years I have found it has spiraled completely out of control.
In my role as a salon owner and educator I consistently motivate and inspire my team and other hairdressers to achieve their career goals.
In my role as a business coach I mentor salon owners through difficult tasks and coach them to problem solve and plan and take action towards achieving the business of their dreams.
Unfortunately though this is something I cannot do for myself with weight loss.
I have succeeded in every other area of my life and push myself to be an over-achiever to compensate for my lack of confidence in my appearance.
I know that through planning and taking action and determination and having a winning attitude you can achieve anything – but when it comes to weight loss I always look for the easy way out. I’ll go for the latest pill, the crash diet, anything other than taking the steps I KNOW I need to take to get the results that I want.
Nothing was ever achieved without hard work and I think my Excuse – and I do recognise it as an excuse- is that I work so hard 24/7 to be the success that I am in my career that I don’t have energy to even think about exercising let alone time to plan for meals.
2014 is the year that all this will change. I know that if I achieve my goals in weight loss everything else will fall into place. If I am happy with who I am maybe I will let up on myself a bit on the work scale. I know that I will be much more social and I will gain much needed confidence.
Right now even though I’m hugely confident in my abilities in my career- I stand in front of large groups and deliver education or coaching seminars weekly . However, but my appearance puts me under serious pressure to get out there as I am so conscious of my weight.
I also feel that people perceive you as more successful if you have control of all aspects in your life i.e work, and health and physical appearance .
Why the Shakti challenge? Well! firstly because it covers all aspects of losing weight. Not just exercise, not just nutrition, but mindset and coaching.
They coach you through resistance to change and help you to manage your time better so you can plan your meals. They also help us to recognise our emotional attachment to food and become aware of the choices we are making and help us to make better ones.
The team there is unbelievably qualified and have vast experience and expert knowledge in all aspects of achieving a healthy lifestyle.
The mentoring, encouragement and motivation that they give in this programme is second to none and they really seem to have a real knowledge of the emotions and feelings attached with being over-weight.
I’m really excited about my journey with the team and my fellow participants, and I’m really excited about reclaiming the old me through Shakti, eight-week challenge.
– Maria Goad
New Clothes Shopping Beckons for Karen
After watching my weight go up over the last year or so I decided that it was time I actually done something about it . When I saw the Shakti 8 Week Challenge Programme advertised I realised that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to do two things. Number one on my list is to get my weight back under control> Number 2 is to change my eating habits to enable me to sustain a reasonable weight going forward.
I realise that this challenge is not going to be easy. With Breda and Maggie along for motivation and being able to do all this in a group environment helps me realise I am not the only one in this situation.
With all the group striving for the same ends this is just the spur I need to push me on to complete the challenge. I hope at the end of the eight weeks I will have a good excuse to throw out all my old clothes and go shopping for new ones a couple of sizes smaller.
– Karen Playford
