About Jennifer

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Image: Jennifer Cargill

Hello - I’m Jennifer and I am the founder of Nutrition Transition.

I just want to introduce myself and tell you my own story so that you can see for yourself how I can help you achieve your health goals, whatever they may be.
I am not your average Personal Trainer.

You know the type, impossibly slim/strong and probably born that way...

Growing up I HATED P.E at school! I was that girl on the bench with a fake sick note. Running the 1500m was the day I booked a root canal with the dentist!!

I was brought up around food, Restaurant meals on a Saturday, huge 5 course Sunday lunches, baking cakes with Grandma, sweets and fizzy drinks at Brownies (DONT LAUGH!) on a Wednesday and a Chippy tea every Friday.

As I grew older my parents both worked a lot, so I had a free run in the kitchen...and I certainly made the most of it!

When I got home from school I’d make myself my favourite “snack” of an enormous bread roll stuffed with: one fried egg, one battered chicken burger, a fried potato waffle, a whole tin of beans, three Kraft cheese slices and two thick spreads of garlic butter.

Then of course, I’d have my evening meal with the family later. Sometimes mum would give me a chocolate bar to tide me over “whilst dinner was cooking” (!!).

Oops!

By the end of school I was a size 16/18 at age 16 and weighed around 15 stone the last time I dared to look. Then one day I realised just what I had done and the flip just switched. I cut out everything – surviving off three scrambled eggs and (just one!) Kraft cheese slice per day. Oh, and I made sure I burned 1000 calories on the crosstrainer every, single, day!

I soon got down to 6 and a half stone. I couldn’t decide whether I was fat or thin, I had an extremely distorted body image. For years afterward I struggled to eat properly, having developed an intense fear of food. I was still doing lots of cardio, but my metabolism was ruined and my body just looked like skin and bone. Not pretty!

Living an anorexic lifestyle is extremely difficult. Most social occasions revolve around food and you become completely isolated. Upon attending university (in catered accomodation!) I wanted to get back out there and make friends but the result was just that I quickly began making up for the starvation by excessive overeating at every opportunity followed by periods of fasting and purging due to the insane amount of guilt I experienced as a result of these binge episodes.

My weight yo-yo’d between 7 and 9 stone for the next 4 years. I hated myself the entire time. I was either too fat or not thin enough. I was either eating too much or thinking about food too much. What a nightmare!

I had to put an end to the mental anguish I was putting my mind and my body through. It was now a fact that I was no longer able to eat food without gaining weight and starving certainly wasn’t working anymore.

As time passed, and I thought about my behaviour - I couldn’t possibly imagine having to keep that restrictive lifestyle up forever. I couldn’t picture a future hating food so much when it was always going to be a necessity in my life.

I couldn’t bear to be put through a force-feeding NHS recovery programme so I spent the next 3 years really learning about food and fitness so that I was able to turn around the damage I caused my metabolism and my health by myself.

I spent £5000 getting qualified as an Exercise and Nutrition Specialist with Future Fit. I turned my career around to focus on my new love of fitness and made my health and happiness my priority in life.

I’ve seen both sides of the story as far as diet and health (physical and mental) goes and all I can say is:

You CAN turn it around. And I can help you do it.

I Hope to speak to you soon

Jennifer x

Qualifications

Nutrition and Weight Management
Advanced Nutritional Analysis
Psychology of Behaviour Change
GP Referral
Lifestyle Coaching
Spin Cycling
Aquarobics
Circuit Training
Torso Training and Core Stability

Specialist Areas

Coaching.

I consider my best feature my friendly personality. I am genuinely interested in people, and I usually have a huge smile on my face, especially after training!

I have a real passion for helping real people achieve their dreams. I love nothing more than meeting with potential new clients and listening to their needs. Each person has a unique story, their own set of circumstances, a schedule to consider and other commitments and responsibilities to include in the solution to their problem.

I work with individuals on their own terms to really get down to the cause of issues halting their current progress. I prefer to work over a longer period with clients to really make sure new habits become a lifestyle for life.

Spinning.

I LOVE teaching spinning classes!

The first class I ever took part in myself was in 2008, it was just a 30 minute class and I nearly collapsed! I’d never experienced anything like it!

Luckily, I have the kind of attitude which defies to admit defeat. I kept going to classes and got myself qualified to teach. Now I instruct 8 classes a week around Crewe and Shavington and enjoy every minute! Check my schedule to find out when and where I am next teaching!

My Personal Goals

I am currently working towards competing in a Bodybuilding Fitness Figure competition. This is a goal of mine due to my history of weight struggles. I would like to prove that anyone can reach an impressive level of physical fitness no matter their past. So far I have made good progress but regularly come across stumbling blocks in my training and diet! My journey is further detailed in my Blog here on my website.