My journey update I started my weight loss journey wanting to change how I looked, but somewhere along the way, I changed so much more. In September 2024, my goal when I started using Ozempic was simple: lose the weight that was making me miserable. I didn’t want to feel like that anymore. I didn’t want to be out of breath just to make my bed Exercise wasn’t even part of the conversation at that point. I wasn’t thinking about running, races, fitness or half marathons. I just wanted to eat differently, think differently about food, and feel better in my own body Then, in March 2025, something else changed. I realised I didn’t want to smoke anymore, so in April 2025, I stopped. I didn’t lose much weight during that period, and I made peace with that. I deliberately allowed myself to eat a little more because, at that point, staying off cigarettes mattered more to me than seeing the scale move. I maintained the weight I had already lost, and that was enough Then came August 2025. I played my first game of padel with my kids and their partners, and I genuinely don’t know how my heart survived it. 😂 No jokes. I was FINISHED But I went back. And then I went back again I kept showing up and kept playing for the next few months. And something happened that I hadn’t really expected: I got fitter. Not overnight. Not dramatically. But slowly, consistently, noticeably fitter Eventually I became fit enough that padel wasn’t giving me all the activity I needed to reach my 900 Vitality points every week So, apparently, the obvious next step was running 😂 March 2026, two months before my 50th birthday, I ran for the first time in my life, and it was HARD A few weeks later, I took my running outside. A few months later, my first 5 km, my first official race, then injuries and physio Then came 6 km. Then 7.58 km. Then running for more than an hour. Then recovering from a race with a 4 km run that somehow felt so easy I barely felt like I had run at all. Learning about pacing, recovery, cadence, easy runs, long runs, hill sessions, run/walk strategies and all the things I didn’t even know existed when I started And somewhere in all of this, I entered the Two Oceans Half Marathon for 2027. A whole 21.1km I originally thought this journey would change my body. And yes, my body has changed. But that almost feels like the smallest part of it now. What I have really changed is my mindset My lifestyle My priorities My goals My habits My discipline My relationship with food My self-respect My belief in what I am capable of My life I used to think transformation was something you could measure on a scale; now I know transformation is waking up and realising that the person you have become makes completely different choices from the person who started I still have a long way to go. I’m still learning. I’m still getting things wrong. I’m still impatient sometimes. I still have days where my body reminds me that I am very much a beginner 😂 I started because I wanted to change how I looked. I kept going because I changed how I saw myself!