When I started this journey, I thought I wanted to lose a bit of weight.
I did lose weight. But somewhere along the way, it stopped being about that.
I became stronger. My body changed. My confidence changed. I learned an enormous amount about nutrition and strength training, started studying to become a personal trainer and discovered a fitness community that I absolutely love being part of.
It has also influenced a completely new direction for Scribli.
So, this is where the wellness side of Scribli really came from.
I Wasn’t Someone Who Didn’t Exercise
I think that’s important to say because my story isn’t one of going from doing absolutely nothing to suddenly discovering the gym.
Fitness had always been important to me.
Around 15 years ago, before having my first child, I was a regular gym-goer and managed to lose enough weight to get to a point where I was relatively happy.
After having my second child, getting to the gym wasn’t really an option, so I found another way. During my baby’s first morning nap, I’d put on a Les Mills Combat workout at home. I did that three or four times a week, and we walked a lot too. I was exercising. I was putting in the effort. The weight came off and I felt better.
But looking back now, I didn’t really understand why.
I knew very little about how fat loss actually worked, what I should be eating, how nutrition supported training, the importance of macros or how to structure exercise around a specific goal.
Starting Again
After some time away from regular exercise, I started going to the gym again in October 2024, just prior to leaving my full-time teaching job. I knew I wanted to make changes. I hated the way I looked and I wasn’t comfortable in my own body, despite fitness having been part of my life at different points.
The problem wasn’t necessarily that I couldn’t exercise. I needed to understand what I was doing. And then Kerry came along.
The Best Decision I Made
I originally knew Kerry through work. We’d been colleagues at school, and she was also a competitive bodybuilder. Her physique was incredible, but what I’d always admired even more was her commitment. After Kerry left the school, we kept in touch, and every so often I’d message her asking for advice. Then one night, after another one of my questions, she replied saying that she would consider training me.
In May 2025, we started. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made. For the first time, I wasn’t guessing. Kerry created a nutrition plan and a training programme around me: what I wanted to achieve, what I needed and what was realistic. She knew I needed to see results quickly to keep me motivated, and that’s exactly what happened.
There is a huge difference between knowing that exercise is good for you and having someone who understands exactly how to get you where you want to go. That’s why I’m such a believer in coaching. Knowledge matters, but so does accountability. Without it, it’s incredibly easy to say, I’ll start on Monday.
What Actually Changed My Body
There wasn’t one magic exercise, food or trick. It was strength training, nutrition, steps, cardio, eating the right macros and, probably most importantly, consistency. After the first 4 weeks, the results started appearing; something else happened- the gym became a habit again. Then it became something I actually enjoyed.
Food became easier too. I learned what worked for me. I found ways of keeping meals simple rather than making nutrition another complicated job to fit into an already busy life. That’s probably one of the biggest things I’ve learned: something doesn’t have to take over your entire life to make a significant difference.
You do, however, have to make space for it. For a long time, my reason for not doing more was completely legitimate: **I didn’t have time. **Eventually I realised I wasn’t suddenly going to find spare time. I had to make it.
The Photographs I Didn’t Want to Take
Every week I have to take progress photographs. I hated them at first. To be fair, I still don’t exactly look forward to them. But they’ve become one of the most useful ways of seeing progress because the scales don’t tell the whole story. Put photographs beside each other, and suddenly you notice the small things: a change in shape, more definition, stronger shoulders, a smaller waist, clothes sitting differently. Those small changes accumulate. Eventually, you realise you’re looking at a completely different version of yourself.
I Thought Muscle Would Make Me Look Bigger
This is probably one of the biggest misconceptions I had about strength training. I thought building muscle would bulk out a frame I already wasn’t comfortable with. Instead, it did the opposite: my shape changed, I felt strong, and I looked strong. I’ve developed a completely new appreciation for muscle.
My arms are probably the best example. They were something I was incredibly self-conscious about. I’d think about what I was wearing because I didn’t want them exposed. Now? I actually want to show them. That might sound like a relatively small thing, but when you’ve spent years hiding part of yourself, it really isn’t.
Getting Fit in Your 40s Isn’t Too Late
Being in my 40s has actually made me appreciate this journey more. There’s a strange idea that at some point women should simply accept that their bodies are going to decline and that getting genuinely strong belongs to younger people. I don’t believe that anymore. Women can begin strength training in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. You need the right circumstances, the right support and a commitment to begin.
And the surprising thing?
Changes can happen much faster than you think.
From Training to Becoming a Personal Trainer
At some point, simply following my programme wasn’t enough for me anymore. I wanted to understand it. I wanted to know the science and evidence behind what I was doing: why particular exercises work, what happens to the body during training, how nutrition affects performance and body composition and why programmes are structured in particular ways. So I started training to become a personal trainer myself. Not because I suddenly don’t need Kerry. I absolutely do.
Being qualified doesn’t mean you stop benefiting from coaching, expertise or accountability. But I’ve started thinking about how incredible it would be to help another woman take that first step and eventually experience some of the things I’ve experienced. And I have no idea where that might lead yet. That’s actually part of what makes it exciting.
Where Scribli Fits In
This journey has also influenced the direction Scribli is taking. The premise behind Scribli has always been fairly simple: finding and creating amazing things that add something positive to people’s lives. Sometimes that’s because they make life easier. Sometimes they’re useful. Sometimes they’re motivational. And sometimes they’re just ridiculously cute and make you smile.
The wellness side of Scribli is an extension of that. I’m interested in the little things that can support the bigger goal: products that encourage organisation, motivation, movement, self-belief and wellbeing, but that still feels like Scribli — useful, carefully chosen and just that little bit special.
I’m still working out exactly where this part of the business will take me. Mums and women who have spent years putting everybody else first are certainly people I can relate to. I also have a background in education and psychology that I would love to bring into what I create.
And now fitness has become another part of that picture. I don’t think those worlds are as separate as they might initially appear.
So much of wellbeing comes down to understanding ourselves, building habits, recognising progress and believing that change is possible.
It Was Never Just About Losing Weight
If you’d asked me at the beginning what I wanted from all of this, my answer would have been pretty straightforward. I wanted to lose some weight. Now I know it’s so much more than that.
It’s strength.
It’s health.
It’s confidence.
It’s community.
It’s discovering what your body is capable of and realising that the version of yourself you had quietly accepted doesn’t have to be the final one.
The thing I’m proudest of isn’t actually the weight I’ve lost.
It’s the confidence I’ve gained and the stronger human I’ve become in the process.
And that’s the part of my fitness journey I want to bring into Scribli Wellness.