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Astrid’s Story - The Body Journey!

Astrid overcame chronic low self-esteem and negative self/body image and became “TV’s No. 1 Fitness Guru” (Daily Mirror). Her own journey is an inspiration to thousands as she fought to live happily in a body that she had hated for years. She overcame the eating disorder “Bulimia” and has emerged triumphant! Happy and in love with her life!

Astrid was overweight at 3 years old and when her beloved father died from a heart attack at age 35. (He weighed over 19stone and was always battling with his weight), she turned to food for the comfort that her father could no longer provide. She weighed six stone at the age of six and sixteen stone at the age of sixteen, gaining a stone with every year. She hated herself with a vengeance and was terrified of dying like her father did. Her mother tried her best to help her but Astrid just couldn’t stop eating! She says, “I was in utter despair over my appearance. I couldn’t bear to look at myself in the mirror and was desperately unhappy. I just didn’t want to be me”

To make matters worse, Astrid was bullied severely at school being called cruel degrading names that made her avoid going out unless she absolutely had to. Her closest friends loved her for who she was and tried to help her through but every night Astrid would cry herself to sleep after bingeing on chocolates, ice cream, crisps, bread and anything else she could get her hands on.

All through this lonely and painful time Astrid dreamed of being a dancer. She loved to move and attended ballet, tap and modern classes. Just doing the classes was a huge effort for her, let alone squeezing herself into a leotard! She would come out of the classes red in the face and breathing heavily but she loved it and it was the one thing that kept her going!

She was good at it too and decided to audition for a stage school when she was 18. She had lost some weight by going to a slimming club and was working to control her bulimic behaviour. She was rejected at the first audition being told she was too fat. However on the second audition she was accepted after losing another three stone in weight!

Astrid was delighted with her weight loss and thrilled to be chosen to become the Slimcea girl on TV. She was runner up in slimming magazine’s slimmer of the year contest and was flown out to Barbados to film the TV commercial. And if this was a fairy story of happy endings and triumph over struggle it would have ended here however the story was only just beginning…

She loved her time at stage school but struggled with keeping her weight down. Many of the girls there had eating disorders and were obsessed with being thin. Astrid’s bulimic behaviour made a return and she plummeted into a spiral of despair. Feeling and looking ill she began to realise that she couldn’t continue this way and began searching for another way to live.

Astrid looked for a way to honour her love of movement and decided to teach a local fitness class. Now a qualified fitness instructor she used her skills to develop a hugely successful fitness workout. She loved it and the people who did it loved it! The ladies in her class identified with her and loved the fact that she wasn’t a stick thin fitness presenter but a real woman with curves!

The word got around and Astrid was in great demand, teaching at one point over 27 workouts a week! However, she still struggled with her bulimia although it was changing. Astrid began to look at the mind body connection and read avidly many books on the subject.

After training as a counsellor/psychotherapist she put together her own programme to overcome her bulimia and gradually her days of bingeing, starving, depression and purging became a thing of the past. Astrid was beginning to love her body and develop a completely new relationship with herself.

The biggest affirmation was when she was asked to present the number one fitness slot on Television for GMTV. The producers loved the fact that she was bigger, fit and fabulous! It was a phenomenal success and the switchboard was jammed with viewers wanting to know the secrets of Astrid’s Body Confidence!

Astrid recalls, “I was completely overwhelmed – it really was a dream come true. I had always wanted to dance on television but had never imagined that I would be a size 22and feeling absolutely great about myself!” She continues, “That was one of the greatest moments of my life – to stand there in front of the nation and do what I love and being proud of who I was!”

Astrid launched her own workout video which was a great success going to number four in the fitness charts!

After finishing her contract with GMTV, Astrid focussed on writing her book “Body Confidence” (Published by Penguin/Michael Joseph). A fabulous life changing book on how to transform negative body image and turn body doubt into body delight in a practical, do-able and motivational way. She is currently writing her second book!

After Astrid’s huge personal battle with her weight and her subsequent coming to peace with herself she thought that her body journey was well and truly over. However, the story continues…

Astrid developed chronic arthritis in her fingers, feet, ankles and knees. Her joints were so swollen that she had difficulty in walking let alone exercising! At this time she also suffered from a prolapsed disc in her neck which meant that she spent a lot of time in bed as walking made her feel faint and dizzy.

After consulting with a Rheumatologist and being put on some pretty toxic medication which caused her hair to fall out she decided that she would have to take action herself!

The thought of losing weight did not particularly thrill her as she was comfortable with her size, however she realised that the extra weight was making her joints worse and she needed to get healthy and well. She says, “In loving my body I realised that it was not about my weight or my size but it was about my health! I had always been so well, healthy and active, even at a size 24 but this was different – I was ill and I needed to show my body that I cared – I needed to love myself slim and well”.

And this is exactly what she did. Refusing to diet, Astrid devised a coaching programme that would help her lose weight, get healthy, feel and look fabulous! She based it on loving her body and put together a transformational body coaching programme that would achieve the results she wanted!

And the results were extraordinary! Astrid Lost seven stone in just under a year reducing her weight from 19 stone to 12 stone! Not only had she lost weight but she had completely re-shaped and toned up her body by her body confidence workouts. However the best news was that her inflammation had gone down, along with her blood pressure. The excruciating pain she had suffered was now a thing of the past! At a recent hospital check up she was told that her arthritis was not active and that all her inflammation markers were normal!

Astrid says, “I was so thrilled when I heard this news. I am so proud of me! I had thought that I had done well when I overcame Bulimia and learned to love me no matter what – but this is just the best feeling in the world. It’s not about the weight loss, it’s about what the weight loss means… it’s about loving my body into health and wellness again. It’s about taking action because I care about me and I showed my body how much I cared. Essentially it’s about love…loving me, loving my body, loving my life and loving the learning that all of this brings!” Getting slim and healthy has been a major part of this journey but it’s how I got slim that has been the most amazing, exciting, challenging and transformational experience.”

Astrid re-started teaching her motivational workouts again and was inundated with people wanting to know the secrets of her weight loss success.

And so the next part of Astrid’s body journey continues as she helps other people to achieve their own body confidence, slimness and health in her unique BODY COACHING PROGRAMMES.

Copyright 2009 Astrid Longhurst
Design by Maurice Twomey