After years watching her sporty daughters from the sidelines, Rachel Lienerth is the role model she always wanted to be...
As ruby and Jessie went through their kickboxing drills, it was almost like watching a dance routine. my daughters, then 11 and seven, had started practising the sport six months earlier, and I loved seeing them put so much skill and care into kicking and punching the air. But alongside my pride in my strong, beautiful girls,I felt sadness. I was the only parent sitting on a bench at the back of the hall.
All the others were joining in with their children. I knew there was no way I could keep up with my two – after all, I struggled to walk upstairs without panting for breath. I’d never been slim, but my struggles began in earnest not long after I started university when I began to feel extremely tired and unwell and was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Determined to become a teacher, I used every bit of energy I had to study, which meant I was constantly exhausted – there was nothing left for any sort of exercise, and living with my parents, I ate very hearty meals.
After graduating I moved in with my boyfriend, Mark, and carried on eating as I always had. Teaching PE lessons was more of a struggle than ever. By the time Mark proposed, I was a size 18. A year after our wedding, I fell pregnant. I was a size 20 when Ruby was born. Three years later I had Jessie – I was so busy, slimming wasn’t on my radar.
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