Kelly's fighting fit
MEET THE FITNESS TRAINER WITH THE PERSONAL TOUCH
How a depressed mum turned her life around.
If ever there was inspiration to turn your life around with exercise and diet, Kelly Cullen is it. Looking at pictures on this page, it's hard to believe that some 30 years ago Cullen was a clinically depressed couch potato. Even more hard to to credit is the fact that Cullen is a 52 year old mother of three grown up children, grandmother, successful foster carer and acclaimed personal fitness trainer with a range of high end personal clients.
She's lively, easy to talk to and has a great sense of humour - it's easy to see why Cullen is so successful. "Humour has got to come into my job as well as the physical side," she said. "I've had depressed clients in the past and I found that making them laugh really does help to motivate them and get results." Testament to her positive approach, Cullen has had referrals from GPs, which she says she finds very flattering.
Her interest in health and fitness came about pretty much by accident. After the birth of her second child, she suffered a severe bout of clinical depression which was so bad that she needed regular psychiatric treatment and was prescribed a cocktail of drugs including valium and sleeping tablets. "One day my great niece literally dragged me along to an exercise class and I couldn't believe how much better it made me feel, so I started to go on a regular basis. "One week, the girl that taught the class was off ill with appendicitis and I was asked to cover the class because I knew all of the routines." Despite being unprepared, Cullen loved the experience and realised it was something she wanted to pursue further.
Since embarking on her new fitness routine, Cullen felt so much better that she realised it could save not only her life but that of her children. Determined to make a career out of her new-found passion, Cullen enrolled on a two year course with the Keep Fit Association. Soon after, she was teaching as many as 30 classes a week, but despite this was unhappy with the way she looked. "I'd always had very large thighs but accepted that was what by body shape was like." By the time Cullen embarked on her personal training course, she had started her own research into nutrition. "I was 35 at the time and I'd found this book which talked about how the metabolic rate slows down with age. " Basically, my first client was myself. I began exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach for 45 minutes and initially cut out all carbohydrates and starchy food." Cutting out all carbohydrates and starches is not a sensible thing to do, as Cullen later found out when her energy levels decreased dramatically. After making a few adjustments to her diet and reintroducing small amounts of starches and carbohydrates in the mornings and afternoon's only, along with exercising on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, Cullen saw dramatic results in a relatively short period of time. "I learned that particular body types should be eating in a particular way and through a combination of input and exercise I gradually got to be the shape I am today. " I originally smoked, drank alcohol most days and ate rubbish, so the cigarettes where the first thing to go, "I also stopped drinking tea and coffee and if I did eat bread I would buy special slimmers bread or I'd have fruit or a small bowl of cereal instead." Cullen is quick to point out that most people can't just give something up - they need to exchange it with something else, such as swapping toast for fruit.
You may wonder how Cullen manages to find time to fit in foster caring, but she is as passionate about this part of her life as she is about physical education. Having been raised in foster care, she felt that fostering was a natural progression. Her seven-bedroom house makes the perfect family home.
As if all this weren't enough, Cullen is studying for an NVQ in Health and Social Care, a degree in Exercise and Nutrition and a Advanced Pilates course for trainers. As they say, if you want something doing ask a busy person.
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