When Kylie Bowie tried her first high intensity circuit class she felt so frumpy and unfit that she ended up leaving the session early in tears.
That was seven months ago.
Now the 35-year-old is not only regularly taking part in high intensity classes at the ladies-only gym, Club One Fitness in Forfar, she is also four stone lighter.
Kylie has completely overhauled her lifestyle, improving her eating habits and her overall fitness.
And even more remarkable, the assistant practitioner has been able to reverse her Type 2 diabetes after she was diagnosed with the condition last summer.
“When I first joined Club One I was struggling to run for 20 seconds, I was so unfit.
“The first class I did was high-intensity circuits and it was very fast.
“I felt so unfit that I ended up getting so upset and I just walked out.
“I felt so ashamed of myself.”
After this incident, club instructor Beverly Smeaton messaged Kylie to make sure she was ok and encouraged her not to give up.
Since then, the former mental health nurse hasn’t looked back.
What made Kylie decide to join a gym?
For a while Kylie had been thinking about joining a gym and getting fit.
But it wasn’t until she saw an advert for a six-week shred at Club One Fitness at the end of May last year that she decided to give it a go.
Kylie, who is too self-conscious to reveal what her weight was when she started and what it is currently, said: “I have always struggled with my weight.
“I have been to gyms before and lost a lot of weight, before putting it all back on again, plus more.
“So I decided to bite the bullet again when I saw an advert for a six-week shred.
“I ended up losing 24lbs.”
The six-week shred involved Kylie having her weight and before pics taken, being able to do three classes a week, encouragement to use the gym equipment as well as getting help with her nutrition.
After the six weeks were finished, Kylie was weighed again to see how much she had lost and photos were taken to show the difference in her body shape.
Type 2 diabetes diagnosis
It was also around this time in June 2023 that Kylie was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
This gave her another reason to get fit and healthy.
“I was at work one day at Carseview Centre, Dundee and I was experiencing some back pain in my kidney.
“So I went to the doctor who tested my blood sugar.
“It was confirmed I was Type 2 diabetic and I was put on medication.
“This gave me quite a fright and pushed me to get fit and lose some weight.”
Taking out a gym membership
After completing the six-week shred, Kylie decided to take out a full gym membership.
She continued doing classes and using equipment on the gym floor and enjoyed it so much she would work out five or six times a week.
And in November she started doing personal training sessions with club owner Kim McDonald once a week.
“Kim would set up a programme for me which would include workouts for upper and lower body.
“I am now able to leg press 140kg and to start with I could only manage 30 kg.
“Kim has been really good at pushing me and she encourages me to keep going.”
Changing her diet
Kylie has also overhauled her diet and started eating more healthily.
This included swapping takeaways and snacks for proper nutritional meals.
“I work a lot of nightshifts at the hospital so I was just eating on the go a lot.
“I was eating carbohydrates and takeaways, just for convenience.
“But because I got help with my nutrition I got into a better routine of eating proper meals instead of snacking.
“I also started eating more fruit and veg and drinking water instead of fizzy juice.
“My biggest thing was crisps – I went from eating the family bags to going for lower fat crisps.
“I started eating more protein too,” she said, “so eating more things like chicken and cutting out chips and pasta.”
Reversing her Type 2 diabetes
Kylie’s partner, Kenny Petrie, 34, has Type 1 diabetes and having seen him doing daily insulin injections and at times becoming unwell with it, it made her determined to reverse her condition.
And, incredibly, she managed to do this four months after she was diagnosed.
“I had gone to the diabetic nurse for a check up and the nurse then told me my type 2 diabetes was in remission!
“She said it was a fantastic improvement and recovery and I couldn’t believe it – I was just so proud of myself.”
Kylie plans to continue her weight-loss journey this year.
“My fitness levels have massively improved.
“To start with I couldn’t even run for 20 seconds, but now I am currently running for 28 minutes.
“I am healthier and fitter now than I have ever been and I would encourage anyone who felt the way I did to just go for it.”
Kim MacDonald, Kylie’s PT instructor and owner of Club One Fitness, said: “When Kylie first started she was extremely nervous and had very low self confidence.
“She would get frustrated and upset with herself as she felt she couldn’t do it.
“But now she gets stuck in to classes and she works hard during our PT sessions.
“I’m super proud of everything she’s achieved over the past seven months and I’m excited to see how far she will go on this health and fitness journey.”
Conversation