Why I started Think Fit Be Fit
Sheila Preston 
We need to change the conversation about health and fitness
Imagine a world where we could truly feel happy in our own skin and truly confident in our bodies. Where being strong and healthy is a deep personal choice; where we take care of our bodies NOT because society or other peoples idea of perfection has shamed us into this, but because it makes deep sense to us; where being strong and able to move in our body empowers us.
Imagine a world where we celebrate our beautiful bodies
Imagine a world where we have compassion for our beautiful body and everything it does, and has done for us, constantly working, without much thanks or affirmation.
When I critically survey my mid life body - seeing wrinkles and loose skin, hyper aware of inevitable signs of ageing, and admonishing myself that I'm not as thin or fit as I'd like to be, it feels I am a far cry from this ideal.
I want to feel happy in my own skin
I really, really want to feel happy in my own skin, but there are many times when I have fallen into an impossible comparison game sometimes with women who are younger than me and my counterparts. For example I look around me at role models of my age Davina McColl and I realise emulating her is impossible for my life style.
I don't have time to be in the gym every single day and I don't want a restrictive diet. Such role models set up unrealistic expectations and they sell themselves on the idea that you could be like me if you bought my exercise programme etc.
Enough!
When I get caught up in moments of comparison I'm falling into societies versions of what a body should look like. In that moment I'm disowning my body.
It's not difficult to do we have grown up with this, and the images and these images are everywhere. With that thinking it's easy to give up - whats the point? Then we are in the vicious cycle.
Mindset is crucial
I KNOW that mindset is crucial when embarking on a fitness journey. All too often we rush into doing - more thrashing our body, our legs, our core, whatever part of the body we are dissatisfied with. Or we respond to comparisonitis but adopting restrictive regimes.
When we have that mindset we have fallen into an image of perfection that is nothing to do with us. We have lost ourselves in that moment. And anything we do at this point is likely to fail.
What we really need to do in these moment is to return back to ourselves and to get in touch with what we want - for us - not anyone else, but us.
Thinking Fit involves letting go of external ideas of what we should be doing, being or look like and instead finding our truth. When we are in touch with what we want and why this is important, we can create fitness goals that are authentic to us, and more likely to succeed.
Being Fit is putting your goals into action and making your dreams possible.
So what about me?
To briefly introduce myself I'm a life coach and fitness coach and trainer. I'm also a mother (several times over) and I'm in my mid life. (I also run a coaching membership for educational professionals - see https://sheilapreston.com )
I've realised that over the course of our lives we find ourselves in various transitions and change, sometimes of our making, and sometimes not.
These transitions can be very challenging for us mentally and physically. It is at these points when we need a compassionate approach to ourselves and our bodies as we navigate the unknown.
I combine my understanding of both mindset and fitness to devise sustainable programmes that get results and lasting change.
Think Fit Be Fit has been informed by my own journey as much as the people I work with. I understand how difficult it is to let go of other peoples ideas of how we should be. I understand how we have got used to a negative perception of our bodies. I want to transform all that.
The key to sustainable change is to understand our mindset and to bring a body confident ethos to our fitness journey. If we can be compassion and accepting of our bodies, we will more likely get the results we dream of.
I believe you can get truly comfortable in your own skin. Let's all work towards that place of enjoying who we are in our wonderful bodies! It's about time - we deserve it.
If you would like to have a conversation with me about what you would like to achieve, then please contact me,
love,
Sheila