Working from Home
Laken Smith, a stay at home mum found herself on the first day of Lockdown with a new baby and no reason to get back into shape. Whilst the rest of the world shrugged and blamed Covid for their weight gain, Laken decided to do something about it.
At the beginning of February Laken set herself a challenge. For every day, of every month, for ten months she would complete a set of exercises. Not only did she make the decision, she decided to tell everyone.
“I wanted to motivate myself into losing the weight, and knew publicly announcing my decision to take on a challenge would make it more difficult to back out.”
But Laken didn’t want to just lose weight or get into shape. She wanted to help East Lancashire Hospice at the same time. “I know friends and family members who have been supported by East Lancashire Hospice, but I also know one day, I or one of my family might need their services. I’m just paying it forward.
“There are lots of other charities out there, but I want to be sure every penny is going directly to the hospice, and with my Just Giving page I can be sure of this.”
Her commitment now means she is well into her challenge and in her second month of videoing herself completing the exercises. When other mums put their toddler down for a nap, and take a well-earned break, Laken is setting herself up for a hundred sit ups or a hundred squats. Keelan, Laken’s son will be two on the 23rd March and follows his mum around if he is awake, so she has the added challenge of trying to exercise while picking up her little boy.
She made sure she had a medical check-up before she started and knows there are some exercises she can’t complete, but that hasn’t deterred her. Even when she has felt tired, she is motivated by her elder daughter, Lexi aged 10, who offers to do to them for her instead, but she knows she needs to keep going.
I didn’t bother weighing myself when I started, but I can see the difference in my clothes and I am feeling more toned.” Laken still has eight more months of exercise to complete. She is intending to dress up eighties style and take a bucket when completing the 10,000 steps she has challenged herself to complete during July.
Owen McGill, a personal trainer at OMG Fitness has agreed to advise Laken Smith so she can meet her challenge and support East Lancashire Hospice raise much needed funds. You can find Owen on https://www.facebook.com/omgfitness69
To support Laken in her challenge donate to her just Giving page on https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/laken-smith