How Courtney found her Smile

Posted on 24 May, 2017

Sitting across the table from Courtney, it’s hard to imagine that there a was a time when she lacked confidence.

The bubbly blonde explains that a desire for more self-confidence was what pushed her to enter HerCanberra’s competition to win a three-month program with Smile Fitness – that, and a friendly push from her mother.

“My mum has been training with Adele for quite some time” she explains. “I saw that she got instant results, even though she’s quite small. She forwarded the article to me and said ‘why don’t you enter?’ so I did – and I won!”

Courtney had been going to various group fitness classes but was lacking structure in her fitness regime, as well as a sense of accountability.

“I’d gotten comfortable. I wasn’t exercising, I wasn’t eating properly – I’d forgotten to do any of that. Going to Adele was like learning the basics again, which was really helpful.”

The three-month training package from Smile Fitness included one 45-minute personal training session per week, as well as three group boot-camp sessions, as well as nutrition guidance.

“Initially I just wanted to drop a few dress sizes, and to feel confident in myself – which I now do! But when I met Adele for the first time, I was very intimidated. I went home and thought to myself “I don’t know if I should have won this prize, I don’t know if I can do it, I don’t want to let her down’ – I just felt like it was so much pressure!”

Looking back, Courtney calls this an “overreaction”. Over the 12 weeks, Courtney rose to the challenge and fully committed herself to the program.

“She was an absolute pleasure to work with,” says Adele Haussmann of Smile Fitness. “She embraced the training four times per week with such enthusiasm. She took the food rules very seriously and the weight just melted off her.”

In fact, in the first six weeks of the program, Courtney lost a whopping six kilos – the result of a combination of training sessions and diet adherence.

“Adele gave me everything – a handful of recipes as well a guidance on what I should and shouldn’t be eating. She told me to clean my pantry out, which I did. She was there every step of the way. If I was out to dinner and was confused about what to eat, Adele encouraged me to send her a photo of the menu so she could tell me what the nutritional value was.”

As a reward for her weight loss, Adele offered rewards to Courtney in the form of beauty treatments at her salon.

“After my first three weeks, I got my eyebrows waxed and tinted. The next three weeks I had a facial, and then after that I got sick and had to go into surgery, so it was difficult to drop weight.”

Adele says that despite the setback of an unrelated health complication, Courtney remained committed to the program.

“In her final two weeks, post operation, Courtney managed to lose another kilogram – losing a total of 7.5kg total. Her body shape has changed dramatically, gained enormous confidence and learnt lifelong lessons about the importance of exercise and eating correctly.”

Courtney reflects on what she’s learned from the program. “Looking back now, when I started I had no idea what I was doing. With all the group fitness training that I’d been doing, I’m surprised I didn’t land myself in hospital with the way I was doing the exercising. I enjoyed learning the proper technique.”

Now that the 12-week package has finished, Courtney has chosen to continue her training with Adele.

“I had my first PT session this morning off the 12-week plan, and for my birthday my mum paid for eight weeks of boot camp – so I’m going to keep doing it” she says.

This is a sponsored editorial. For more information on sponsored editorials, click here.