Welcome to 2015, and welcome to the new and improved Tewsday.com!

I wonder how many of you out there are going through the whole New Year’s Resolutions right now? I bet what some of you have right at the top of the list, is losing weight or changing something to become the new you.

Well I have spent many of a year with this said resolution, mainly losing weight and trying to figure out my bloody life and where I should be.

Let’s tackle weight first – Suffering with Underactive Thyroid since I was 19 has always been a major struggle for me with weight loss. When I first got diagnosed and went on the medication, I noticed the weight fall off, but over the years it has become more and more increasingly harder to keep it off. Over the last two years I have changed jobs and noticed a massive change in my weight/fitness. Sitting in an office environment, where my main exercise was making the team a cup of tea, really made the pounds go on, even with going to the gym! So leaving the office and getting back into retail was a major shake up for my body and the weight started to fall off. I was walking to work, still at the gym and working my butt off before I hit the big 3.0. I have noticed so much changes in my body and fitness. I wouldn’t say I am amazingly fit or slim, but my curves are tighter and my fitness has improved. Best of all I can just about get back into Topshop clothes after 6 years!

You may wonder how I did it? Simply changing what I ate and being positive, instead of worrying too much about the scales or how my clothes fit (between you and me, I still worry what the scales say). I did save up and get a few personal training sessions before my 30th birthday which really pushed me in the right direction. Also I feel with the exercises I was doing, they helped me avoid piling on massive amounts of weight. This was needed as I went to America for my birthday!

I did find it very hard over 2014 to keep going, and found some new hope and inspiration through Kelly French, a personal trainer I have started using (thanks to a bit of work bonus, I treated myself to more PT). Kelly is an amazing woman and one of the fittest people I know. She is a true inspiration on how strong woman can be, and she is all about loving yourself and your figure. Just getting healthy and fit is her motto. I started off with my sessions wanting a body like JLo and realising recently that this may never happen. This is because a) I have an underactive thyroid which is slower than a tortoise and b) I don’t have that type of cash to have a personal trainer/chef 24-7 and c) someone to slap my hand whenever I go near something bad to eat.

So, with this in mind I have come to the conclusion of just getting fit, toning up and just loving my body a bit more. We are so lucky that there is some amazing role models out there, who just like us have curves, but are losing weight and toning up in a safe and fun way. I love Fuller Figure, she is so beautiful and works hard to get in shape but still doesn’t lose what she is, a beautiful curvaceous woman. I follow her on Facebook and i’m not afraid to say I do have a bit of a girl crush on her.

So I am kicking 2015 off with getting my arse back in the gym. Trying my hardest to get fit and not eat too badly, but also not to be too hard on myself. You know what, we are only human at the end of the day, and we all need to be a lot more easier on ourselves. So I will keep you posted on this one.

Secondly, my life – It’s not so much changing my whole life, but just living up to my potential. Too many talents and years have gone by the wayside and I believe 2015 is the time to start living. Life as we all know too well is too precious and fragile to just sit around. After many years of moping about not living to my full potential, I am finally kicking my butt in gear! I am not beating myself up on my failed attempts at going back to college in 2014. It wasn’t my fault the Access to Higher Education in Creative Writing course got cancelled. The second course available also started with a two weeks notice period, so I couldn’t change my shifts at work. At least I tried to get on these courses. I also started writing both my novels, and plan to finish these in 2015.

Not many people know that I trained as a classical singer in my teens. This is another love of mine I want to embrace this year. I always had terrible stage fright with singing and have never done anything with it. I am now 31 and really should not care so much and embrace my talent and tune the ol’ instrument up again.

We all have things we want to accomplish, why not really try this year and see how far you get. Write a letter to yourself for 2016, stating what you want to achieve and how proud you are and love yourself. You are special and shouldn’t hide any longer.

Embrace life.