A NEWPORT personal trainer who struggled with her weight for eight years wants to inspire others who are struggling after losing an impressive five stone.
Staceylee Richards, 38, went from a size 16-18 to size four. In 2018 she competed in a bodybuilding competition for the first time, and this year she came first in the Fit X Welsh championships.
Before and after shots of Staceylee's weight loss. Picture: Staceylee Richards
“In 2020 during lockdown I put on two stone within seven weeks like most people did, " she said. "I kept going up in weight and in October last year I thought I had to do something about it.
“I was unhappy as I gained about five, maybe six stone and in the same month I went back to a coach, and I shed five stone to compete at the weekend and I just won the competition.”
Before losing weight with her coach, she tried various slimming groups as she was uncomfortable with her body.
Staceylee in action at the Fit X Welsh Championship. Picture: Staceylee Richards
She added: “Since 2015, I have been going to the gym. At the time I had never been to a gym before and didn’t know what to do with the equipment, and then as I started training and developing muscle, I enjoyed it.
“I had negative impacts around me, I was in an abusive relationship with somebody who would never been able to do that, and it went from there.”
After losing her love from the gym the past three years, this year she has now returned to training and guides people with nutritional advise and now she wants to inspire people to never give up.
She added: “The main thing is it is down to 80 per cent nutrition and 20 per cent physical exercise. You can't out exercise a bad diet, and I was one of them who believed you can eat what you want as long as I went to the gym.
Staceylee Richards poses with her first place award. Picture: Staceylee Richards
“That wasn’t the case, nutrition alone and not going to the gym but having a correctly balanced deficit with the correct macro nutrients is enough to be able to shed lots of body fat.
“The exercise on top of that will increase the metabolism, it is hugely down to moderation.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here