A personal trainer who recently opened a studio in Cornwall is promoting a 'health first' lifestyle over weight loss after overcoming anorexia.
Carly Lightbown, 31, says she wants to show people the physical and mental benefits of movement and that they can have a healthy relationship with food.
The bubbly brunette moved to Cornwall earlier this year after working as a personal trainer in Manchester, first for clothing brand Pretty Little Thing and then with members of the public.
She recently opened her own studio in the Old Bakery Studios in Truro.
When she was 16, Carly developed an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise.
"For various reasons, you obviously get to that age when youre more aware of yourself and your body," she said. "So I went on a diet. I did the standard cut out carbs, that kind of thing, started exercising a bit more, just doing boring cardio.
"I didnt need to lose any weight, I was probably about 9 stone and Im over 10 stone now. Id lost about half a stone and I thought, Im good at this, I can do this, this is my thing.
"I kept losing weight, I lost about another half a stone but then I got to the point where I couldnt keep it up, I couldnt eat any less, I couldnt keep exercising, I had no energy and so I started to put the weight back on."
This caused Carly to have a feeling of guilt and failure and she got sucked into yo-yo dieting.
"I feel like each time I dieted, it got more and more extreme and I was losing more and more weight," she explained. "When I was 21 I was diagnosed with anorexia and I did recover quite quickly. I think I was quite willing to change my ways, I just didnt know how.
"I didnt know how to eat normally and I didnt understand that the exercise should be quite an enjoyable thing sometimes. I always thought it was supposed to be a punishment for what youd eaten."
Carly said it took her five years, with a lot of therapy, to be in a good head space.
"I realised as I was getting better how many people around me have such a messed-up relationship with food still," she said.
"The things that I was learning werent healthy, for example my food patterns, I was seeing that other people had them. They didnt necessarily have an eating disorder but they just had disordered eating.
"At the time I worked in retail and everyone was on a diet. They all sold these weight-loss shakes and that kind of thing."
She said that the diet culture had been around her the whole time.
"I just thought it was me," she said. "Even thought it didnt get with anyone else as extreme as it was with me."
When she was 27 she trained to become a personal trainer.
"It was about four or five years ago," she said. "But I was still very restrictive with food then. And I think I got from one obsession to another so I had a bit of an obsession about being muscular and looking toned.
"I was eating a lot but I was only eating food that I felt was safe, like chicken and broccoli. I still had that bad relationship with it and I was going to the gym five times a week and hammering it."
As she started working with clients, Carly decided to go for a more gentle approach to personal training. She decided to avoid recommending dieting and over-exercising.
She said: "But up until a year ago I was still practicing that way and I realised that I was still helping people to lose weight and then they were still failing at it.
"I was the cause of that, I was telling them that they needed to lose weight and they didnt.
"So when we came to Cornwall I just thought I had either got to go one way or another. Theres no healthy way to lose weight, 95% of diets fail, in less than five years you put the weight back on, so I thought either go one way and help with weight loss, or go the other."
Carly said she started reading some books and learn about intuitive eating.
"I decided to work in a way called health first personal training," she said. "Its a holistic and sustainable approach to exercise and food. Theres no focus on weight, I dont weigh anybody, I dont measure them, I dont care what they weigh.
"I focus on encouraging healthy behaviours, so not so much encouraging someone to lose weight or to go to the gym five times a week, but if they enjoy walking their dog as their exercise then they can do it.
"It's about eating nutritious food which makes you feel good - so no restrictions - teaching them about the physical and mental benefits of movement, not just necessarily movement in the gym but things like sea swimming, surfing, all these ways to get out and move without having to slug away something you hate at the gym."
She said an important part of her job is to talk about the body coming in all shapes and sizes.
"All bodies deserve equal respect and care," she said. "Theres a lot of stigma about people in larger bodies.
"Weve all heard it. Fat is the first thing you call a woman to offend her, or a man. Its the first thing that comes into your head because you know how much that will cut deep with somebody.
"I dont want anybody to come in here and feel like theyre too big to train or that they have to be a certain size.
"I dont feel like I need to make people lose weight if theyre happy that way and theyre healthy and their exercising makes them feel good and theyre eating nutritious food. Its not for me to say, Youre too big, you should be thinner.
"The big thing is to trust your body and listen to your body. Your body will tell you what it wants."
She said her approach is mainly focused on physical health, mental health and happiness.
"I know its not about weight, but I probably put on about a stone from changing my mindset," she said. "But thats from going out for dinner with my husband and having a cake on a Sunday morning at the bakery, all these little things that I deprived myself of and which make me so happy. I want my clients to feel that as well.
"Accepting the size that you come in is hard. Because Im in a thinner body people think its alright for her so it can feel a bit hard to get that message across sometimes.
"But thats when I share my story, even though Im thin, Ive still had a very bad time with food and Ive really hated my body for a long time.
"Your body has a set point. My set point is probably 10 and a half stone, where it is now, and thats where Im listening to my body, Im eating when Im hungry Im stopping when Im full and Im exercising when I want to. When Im not starving or Im not overeating, thats where my bodys at.
"We all have a set point and everyones set point is different."
Carly wants her studio to be a peaceful and safe place for people to train without worrying about their diet or weight.
"A lot of gyms not all of them - can feel intimidating," she explained. "You have personal trainers coming at you saying, 'youre trying to lose weight, are you doing this, are you doing that?. So [my studio] is just a place where you can come and train and no ones going to badger you to lose weight and to go on a diet.
Reporter Charlotte Becquart had a workout session with Carly Lightbown. Here is what happened:
I met Carly and Boris two weeks ago. Carly was very bubbly and smiley while Boris was adorable.
Carly prepares her sessions according to your level of fitness and your health.
Being used to going to the gym, although I hadnt been properly in a couple of months, she decided that after a warm-up she would give me an (almost) full-body workout.
Glutes, shoulders, arms some exercises I found easy as I was relatively used to them, but some of them I absolutely hated - it was hard work.
However, with Carlys support and very positive approach, I did not give up and felt proud after completing them.
We laughed a lot and the one-hour session felt very short.
When I left Carly's studio, I could barely walk. But for the rest of the afternoon and evening, my body felt good and I felt happier than ever.
After chatting with Carly about her 'health first' approach, I realised that is the reason why we should all exercise, rather than trying to look like somebody else.
Despite being relatively thin, I've always felt I wasn't toned enough and I have never had a fully positive image of my body.
I've never really been on a diet though. I like snacking too much. But sometimes I would try cutting down calories and would go to the gym six times a week to try and get rid of the a lot of the calories I was eating.
Meeting with Carly a couple of times made me realise that happiness and health is more important than trying to change my body.
I can try to accept it, and be a better version of myself, both physically and mentally.
"You can just enjoy moving your body, feeling strong, go away and feeling empowered instead of going away thinking, God, I couldnt do that because Ive not eaten breakfast this morning.
"Diet culture has been ingrained since we were kids. To strip that back and go back to basics takes a while and is really hard.
"I would set with goals with my clients that are not aesthetic related.
"If they come to me and say I really want to lose half a stone I would say Put that to one side, can you do a press-up, can you squat and give them maybe strength related goals or fitness goals or things Go outside and move for 20 minutes a day.
"Just set them really small goals, give them the information that they need and just support them."
You can email Carly on carlylightbown@gmail.com
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Meet the personal trainer who overcame anorexia and now has a message for us all - Cornwall Live
