Leah Sargeant

I was a normal active child growing up, participated in school sports such as softball and touch football and I also did  Mauy Thai Kickboxing for a number of years through high school and into my early adult life.

I was not an outstanding athlete but I always put everything I had into doing the best I could.

As I time went on, the lifestyle of health and fitness was not a top priority for me and I found myself gaining weight from poor eating, to losing weight from fad diets because I was unhappy with the weight gain, only to see it all pile back on again.

The hamster wheel of yo-yo dieting remained with me for many years. I look back and realise that I did not respect my body.

I woke up one day and realised I was heading into my 30th and it was time for a complete body, and health overhaul. 2011 was the year of kick starting my health and fitness path.

I ran the 10km Twighlight run in February 2011 in 1:09:35 but realised running was not very motivating for me, even though this was a fantastic achievement I am very proud of. I have never worked  in the fitness industry, I was terrified of building muscle, so when I used to look at photos of how I wanted to look I felt discouraged because I always thought I needed to be a personal trainer or study nutrition to achieve my goals of a healthy body and lifestyle.

I now know this is not the case and my perception about muscle has certainly changed.

I work in and manage my own financial planning business, see a personal trainer 2 – 3 times per week of which healthy eating and an active lifestyle is now second nature. I look forward to each and every training session and how it makes me feel, regardless of how hard it might be.

When I started weight training I gave myself a goal of getting up on stage and competing, I knew this would keep me on track and stay motivated.

After 5 months of training I competed in my first sport model competition in Brisbane with IFBB. The experience was amazing and reaching the goal of getting on stage was the best feeling of achievement I could have asked for.

My first competition sparked a stronger interest and I am now training to compete in figure competitions.

In such a short time, from not knowing anything about health and fitness I know that competing and promoting a healthy lifestyle by way of living it and hopefully inspiring others to do so too, will be not only in the present but in the future.

2012 is all about new challenges, better health education and dedication to be the best that I can be.

I am the only one responsible for my body, what I put into it and how I treat it.