SETTING UP A BUSINESS

Weight Loss Blog Part Two

A New Start …A New Me or You! Let Me Help You Start your Weight Loss

The day I hit my goal weight loss goal in February 2011 I will never forget. The last 1-2 stone had taken me the longest time to get rid of and the last 7lbs seemed to take FOREVER to go away. But that morning when I stepped on the scales and saw my weight was 1/2 pound UNDER my goal weight I jumped off the scales and ran around the house screaming! I was so so happy. I’d finally done it and it was an unbelievable feeling. This feeling of euphoria lasted about 10 minutes before the enormity of what I had achieved actually sunk in. I sat on my sofa in the lounge and just started crying and crying. I cried on and off for most of the day. I know that sounds completely ridiculous, but my life had been completely consumed with reaching my goal for the last 2 1/2 years and now I had DONE IT! Part of the tears were of absolute joy and part of me was crying with fear – fear of not being able to maintain and stay where I was. The worry of “what the hell was I going to do now?” was also a big part of it. I had lived and breathed dieting… now what was I going to do?

Well – 2011 certainly was a year of firsts for me! February – I reached my goal weight! March – I took up jogging for the first time as a little hobby to keep me on track, April – I ran the furthest I’d ever run in a 10km race! July – went completely insane and started training for the Dublin marathon (as the Wicklow representative for the Spartan Challenge) August/Sept – appeared in the local and national newspapers for my weight loss and marathon training stories! October – I completed my first ever marathon in a time of 3 hours 33mins and 58 seconds (and was also crowned Queen of the Spartans and the Spartan Challenge winner!) Also in October I started a college course in Health and Fitness – I had finally found a new direction for my life, with all the skills and experiences I had picked up during my life as a dieter. 3 1/2 years after that eureka moment “fat” photo, I have a certainly flipped my life completely on its head. I KNOW that my husband and children are happier – not to mention HEALTHIER than they were before and whats more I am the person I always knew I could be… the person I always was actually! Just lost… now I have been found! 🙂

Since starting up a business and launching Why Weight Ireland in March 2012, the business has gone from strength to strength and with new members signing up each day it is fantastic to see people wanting to change their lives.  Members are shedding pounds and stones, centimetres and inches, getting fitter and hitting their final goal weights.  Why Weight Ireland and my story made the front cover and was published in the weekly (May 7th 2012) Women’s Way issue which received great feedback and also in two issues (one being a front cover) of the Irish Runner magazine – and in the words of editor Frank Greally “Few front covers in our 30 years of publication have prompted as much response as the feature in our last issue focusing on Hannah Nolan….the reaction to the story was overwhelmingly positive”.  I have also continued my running and have ran another marathon (Kildare) in May 2012 and came 5th, completing it in 3hrs 24mins and also received bronze in the Senior Leinster Road Race Championships and silver in the Leinster Club Championships.

In June 2012 I was asked to be the Ambassador for Athletics Ireland Fit4Life, which I proudly accepted.  The Fit4Life Programme is designed to give people the opportunity to get fit and enjoy walking/running in a structured environment.

I have continued to give motivational talks to various groups and corporate companies which has gone down really well.  At a recent motivational talk given to Grant Thornton, one of it’s Partners wrote: “Hannah is an inspirational character – We discovered Hannah through her profile interview in the Irish Runner and invited her in to speak to our staff and share her story.  What she has achieved is truly remarkable and she tells her story with such ease, nothing is sugar coated and the harsh reality of where her life was is revealed for all to see.  Hannah doesn’t hide the difficult moments and shows how true grit and determination can bring anyone to a dawn.  The most addictive aspect of her story is that there really is something in it for EVERYONE”.

At the end of June 2012 I was also asked to Manage the Pat & Karl Henry Fitness Centre in Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin which I gladly accepted and only added to the image and success of Why Weight Ireland.

In July 2012 I featured on the front cover of the Irish Independent Fit Magazine and had a featured article written about my story, my running and Why Weight Ireland.  I received a massive response from both men & women who felt that my story had struck a chord with them.

In September 2012 I decided to set myself another goal, one that I hadn’t done before and that was to try cross country running! I’m a girly girl so the idea of getting muddy didn’t appeal to me but I thought I’d give it ago as long as I could wear girly looking spikes 🙂 I started training for the cross country straight away as the new season was starting in early October. The Novice County Cross Country Championships and the Intermediate County Cross Country Championships were the first two races of the season with the Senior County Championships in middle of December. Those of you who have ever done cross country before will know that it is tough and much slower than road racing so this was something that felt strange to me.  I’d be running as fast as I can but going much slower than when on road! The races came around quickly; I was full of nerves and nearly pulled out of the novice race before it even started. I’m glad I didn’t as I ended up winning Gold and also won Gold in the team event. I then went on to win Gold in both the Intermediates and Intermediate team event, Bronze in the Senior team event and also won Athlete of the Year 2012 with Parnell AC too so it was a fantastic season and something I was glad I had done. I just had to believe in my self and believe that I had done enough in training to get me past the line.

In December 2012 I finished up Managing Pat & Karl Henry Fitness Centre as Why Weight Ireland had gone from strength to strength and was now becoming well known for it’s fantastic results and ease of use. With this in mind the first Why Weight Ireland Local studio was born and was set up to give people an even better chance to lose weight and tone up. With some people needing the extra one-to-one personal touch Why Weight Ireland LOCAL offers private weigh-ins, toning & body conditioning classes, Zumba classes and private one-to-one Personal Training sessions. The first Why Weight Ireland Local studio opened in January 2013 at Unit 2 Riverside Business Centre, Tinahely, Wicklow (Ground floor Unit as the rear of the Business Centre – behind the Credit Union) and with other studios coming on board across Ireland, there will hopefully be a Why Weight Ireland LOCAL studio near you.

2013 has started with a bang and with Why Weight Ireland going from strength to strength it certainly is going to be a year to look forward to. I am going to do a couple of more marathons this year as well as all the club & local races. Having won the Senior Wicklow Road Race Championships and received bronze for Wicklow in the Leinster Road Race championships as well as coming 4th in the Kildare Marathon with a new PB of 3:19, I’m looking forward to getting some good training done over the summer and focusing on the Dublin City Marathon 🙂

I hope I will be able to continue to help people achieve their goals and become the person they always deserved to be.

Visit www.whyweightireland.ie or contact me directly at Hannah@whyweightireland.ie for any information

Hannah x