My name is Rachel, and I am the co-founder of Be Strong. I set up Be Strong with Rick after losing 6 stones in weight myself. I have kept it off for years, and it is never going back on! Why? Because I stopped dieting!! I know incredible that isn’t it? I stopped dieting and decided to change my lifestyle instead. And I now want to help as many people as possible achieve the same results as I have and feel the way I do. I want to help you!
Let me tell you a little about myself… I always struggled with my weight right from being a young teenager. Always very body-conscious and ashamed of how I looked. I came from a very active family, but somehow, I felt I hadn’t inherited those genes. My dad was a marathon and fell runner for many years, and my mum was and still is really slim, and then my little brother, well he just never sat still. I was the complete opposite. I hated exercise! And I mean hated it!!!
As I grew older, I met my husband and settled down, contentment set in and my weight just increased. I must have gained a dress size a year. I blamed going on the pill, or changing my pill, but really I just ate food and lots of it! I loved it! (Still do though, so that’s ok!)
I remember getting a lecture off the midwife when I was pregnant with my first child, that I mustn’t use pregnancy as a reason to gain more weight and end up even bigger afterwards. So I really tried during pregnancy to eat healthily, for the baby and so as not to gain too much weight. But it didn’t help and I was the size of a small family dwelling by the time I was due to give birth… not a neat little bump and minimal weight gain like everyone dreams of.
So, post baby number 1, I was incredibly conscious that I didn’t want my new daughter to grow up and have a negative role model in me. I didn’t want her to feel the way I felt growing up. I wanted her to be healthy and most of all be body confident. To do that, I had to change. I had to become that positive role model.
And that’s what it was for me, that was my ‘lightbulb moment’, I learned about food, what my body needed and which food worked for that, and most of all I started moving more.
My second pregnancy meant I gained lots of weight too, but this time I knew I would lose it, and my journey would continue. So as soon as I could, I was moving as much as possible, getting out walking, exercising and ensuring I was eating healthily.
I am now a different person to the one I was before I had children. I have energy, I am positive, and the best feeling of all, I know I am a good role model for my children. I love to exercise and the feeling I get from it, and another bonus, I am no longer ashamed of what I look like. I am proud to be me!
The Be Strong way changed my life for the better in so many ways. I want you to feel the way I do.
How Be Strong happened!
Rick and I used to work together and came up with the idea of setting up a small group to help people achieve the same things that we had, so we did. We set up a group in a school hall in Blackburn expecting a dozen people to turn up. Before long, we had grown to five groups a week, all along side our full time jobs. Helping others through Be Strong became so important to Rick and I, that in 2018 we decided to give up our well paid, regular income from our managers jobs in local government, and Jump! We took the plunge and launched Be Strong as a full time venture. We are passionate about helping as many people as possible lose weight, get healthy and be the best versions of themselves, and feel honoured and privileged that we get to do this every day!
If you want to lose weight or change your lifestyle too, we have a whole host of programs that will help you achieve your goals. We don’t just give you a diet, we help you to learn about food, increase your activity and change all aspects of your lifestyle. That way, just like me, you will never go back!
Find out which Be Strong program will work best for you