Ella Macdonald

Simon Horton Health > Stories > Losing weight > Ella Macdonald
Name Ella Macdonald
Age: 38
Status: Married
Occupation: Exercise Class Instructor
Location: Manchester, U.K.
Height: 5’6″
Starting weight: 266 lbs
Current weight: 164 lbs
Starting waist size: 42″
Current waist size: 32″

The Lifestyle

Before I started my journey with Simon, I was extremely self-conscious about my weight, and therefore found the gym an intimidating place.

I had always been on the chubbier side and my weight hovered in the 220 pounds until I got pregnant. I gained 40 pounds, hoping that some of the weight would come off after I had my daughter, but it didn’t.

I felt so uncomfortable in my body. My feet were swollen all the time and I was so unhappy with what I saw every time I looked in the mirror.

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The change

I decided to cut out fizzy drinks and fast food, and tried to follow the Paleo diet. I wanted to change immediately.

I ate super healthy for a few days—chicken, vegetables—but eventually I crashed and ate everything in sight. I tried to follow workout DVDs at home, and even summoned the courage to go to a few fitness classes at the gym but I quit when I didn’t see any results.

The number on the scale kept creeping up.

Every time I went through one of these repetitive cycles of getting super-focussed one week, followed by a week or 2 off the wagon, the number on the scales just kept creeping up.

Then I met Simon. He explained the things I had been doing wrong, in a way no-one else had before. He showed me a better way and so I began following his exercise and nutritional strategies.

I stopped telling myself I would start eating healthy and work out on Monday.

I also stopped telling myself I would start eating healthy and work out on Monday to justify having a lazy, junk-filled weekend. I realized that if I wanted to make a change, I had to start that day.

I began meal prepping on Sundays, ditched the strict rules of Paleo, and went for healthy snacks like celery and hummus. I got back to the gym and did workouts that I used to avoid like the plague through an irrational fear of getting bigger and bulkier. I lifted weights and did intervals on the treadmill. What began as two or three gym sessions a week became five. I even started swimming for extra cardio.

After a year, I’d lost 55 pounds. Not only that, but I had changed my lifestyle completely and fitness has become a way of life. As a result of the ongoing support Simon offers, my fitness levels and confidence improve all the time, to the point where I am now a qualified exercise to music and insanity instructor, which is something that would of been inconceivable 5 years ago!