SWEETIESAL

A few months back I set myself the challenge of getting into a designer dress as a weightloss goal and Wish Want Wear kindly sponsored this little project of mine by agreeing to loan me one of their amazing dresses!

As some of you know, I whittled down my selection to 10 dresses and then decided on THE ONE that would be my goal to work towards and I knew it had to be a Herve Leger one I picked.. you might notice that two Herves made it into my top ten and I opted for the festive red one! Cue some panic and excitement when the order was placed!

That's when the hard work started... I shared my dress goal with Chris and he came up with targeted workouts and we changed my diet to be very clean with very few treats (if any!) at all and no alcohol apart from two pre-approved nights out where I was instructed to lay off the rum and have vodka, lime and soda!

I have always loved watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the sisters are often pictured wearing Herve Leger dresses, I have always admired the style so to have the chance to wear an actual Herve Leger dress was both terrifying but incredibly exciting, and I think that has what has kept me focused on the end goal of getting it on!

Hello Herve!

When it arrived a couple of days ago I literally felt a bit sick that I, a. had such an amazing dress in my clutches and b. would it actually zip up? When I shimmied into it and started zipping it up I genuinely couldn't really believe it was closing, I mean that dress was tight but they are supposed to be a close fit so it took a couple of minutes to sink in that it looked like I was actually going to be wearing my dream dress! When reality sank in, I started to cry and then called my mum in semi disbelief!

I know there will be some of you who think, big deal you wore a dress, so what etc and I totally get that. I know some people won't care and that is fine as ultimately this was my goal and was something that was very important to me. It was a way of proving to myself that with hard work I could achieve what I wanted and I didn't pick a dress that I knew would fit me, I literally picked the hardest one to the point where I was fully prepared that I was wearing my back up dress as I genuinely believed it wouldn't fit me.

One of the things to come out of this whole process is that I have realised that you should never feel embarrassed of your goals. You shouldn't ever feel the need to justify yourself, and if you want it, then why the hell shouldn't you go out there and make what you want a reality? The dress, to me, was a culmination of 8 months hard work, lifestyle change and some highs and lows as I embarked on my transformation. I know the 'selfies' I take amuse and probably irritate people but it has been novel to feel much happier in my own skin and not feel a sense of dread when you get the 'so and so has tagged you in x photographs' notification - which let's face it we have all been there!

My wonderful friend Janine from Artiste Creative did my makeup for me so that I had the full Cinderella experience! Janine is a very experienced MUA and is currently involved in bringing Motives Make Up to Manchester. Motives is the Make Up range by Loren Ridinger (Kim K's BFF!) so when I knew I had a Kardashian style dress arriving I knew I needed perfect makeup to do the dress justice.. I absolutely LOVED it and if you have a special occasion coming up then Janine is your girl! Get in touch via her website or twitter! Links all below. 

The main thing I want people to take away from this blog post, particularly as people think about new year's resolutions around this time of year, is that you have the power to make a change. It sounds very cheesy but it's true. You have to take ownership and accountability for what you want as ultimately no one will ever want it as much as you do and if you want something then you have to be prepared to do what it takes to achieve it. I used to make excuses as to why I was overweight and that was my security blanket as to why I was the size I was but it doesn't need to be that way, you just have to believe in yourself. That is definitely an area I still need to work on and I don't consider my transformation over by any stretch, now is the hard part to try and tone up and work towards my next goal!

I want to say a big thank you to Wish Want Wear for lending me the dress, Chris for his never-ending support and the other trainers from Elite Performance Fitness who have all contributed in their own way to me being able to make this happen.

Christmas and New Year is a time to reflect on the year you have just had and quite honestly deciding to make the change has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am healthier and fitter than I have ever been and I am starting to believe in myself and my abilities much more than I ever had done previously. Believing in yourself takes time and having the right people around you, that is something I feel has been a really important part of being able to achieve what I have!

So there we go! I can tick some of my goals off the list and add some more on ready for a new year challenge... :)

If you are stuck for what to wear for NYE be sure to check out Wish Want Wear for all your designer dress requirements!

Social Media and Contact Links