Our weight-loss columnist and type 1 diabetic, Alice Dogruyol, breaks her two-year exercise hiatus by getting sweaty with a top personal trainer who teaches her the importance of building strength and maintaining muscle mass.

Words: Alice Dogruyol. Images: Shutterstock, Pexels. Headshot image: David Venni

We all know exercise is crucial for good health and longevity, and it’s super helpful for weight loss and blood sugar balance. Yet I struggle so much to maintain a regular exercise routine with the myriad of responsibilities that I have to juggle daily. Despite having all the kit that I could possibly need at home – treadmill, bike, rowing machine, yoga mat, TRX straps, weights – finding the time and motivation to exercise feels like a massive task.

I am well aware of the importance of muscle mass and how it impacts overall health, but my lack of time and low energy levels scupper my good intentions. I am heavier than usual at the moment, which makes exercise even more of a challenge. I feel an unusual fatigue due, I think, to the combination of insulin and Wegovy therapy. I am persevering with Wegovy because, for me as an overweight type 1 diabetic, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

I know when someone is overweight, finding the motivation to exercise can be particularly challenging for a combination of physical, psychological, and social factors. Physically, excess weight can make movement more difficult and exercise more tiring and uncomfortable. Psychologically, feelings of low self-esteem, body image issues, and fear of judgment or failure can creep in, which creates a mental barrier to starting and maintaining an exercise routine. Socially, the stigma and discrimination faced by overweight individuals often leads to feelings of isolation and discouragement. All these factors dampen motivation to exercise and have affected me at various stages of life.

Additionally, the cycle of dieting and weight regain brings a sense of hopelessness, making it harder to believe in the potential for long-term success through exercise – as I know. My biggest barrier to exercise now is lack of time and energy. I am too busy, then I am too exhausted to contemplate exerting myself. So, I decided to ask for help.

A super-fit friend recommended Aimee Victoria Long, a top personal trainer known for her A-list clients. I soon learned Aimee is more than a PT; she has an expert team covering all aspects of health and wellness who can create bespoke programmes. If I wanted a nutritionist, she has one. If I wanted professionally prepared low-carb meals delivered to my door, she works with chefs that can make it happen. However, I wasn’t looking for any dietary advice. An ultra-low-carb lifestyle works best for me, so I am focused on the exercise piece of the puzzle. My request was simple: I need to get my body moving and start exercising.

She paired me with one of her trainers Joshua Davies, an ex-professional rugby player, who specialises in strength, conditioning, rehabilitation, and injury prevention. I signed up for regular one-on-one personal training sessions. Aimee and Josh invited me into their Kensington studio to start with an in-person session, but I just couldn’t take that much time out of my day. So, I opted for virtual training sessions.

We decided to start with two 30-minute sessions a week, no particular time of day. It felt good to see the appointments in my online calendar alongside all my sedentary work Zoom meetings. It felt like something so positive. No more excuses. I was going to get my body moving again.

Building my strength

I was buried in work when the first alert pinged up on my screen: time to exercise. Josh emerged on the screen and we had a quick chat. I hadn’t done any proper exercise in more than two years, so I begged him to go easy on me. After a warm-up, he directed me in short repetitive circuits oscillating from deep squats with the help of my TRX straps to gentle weights and spurts on the treadmill.

It felt so good to get moving, but it was not easy. I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own, I’d have given up at the first sign of discomfort. The next day I felt sore. The day after that I felt like every muscle in my body was on fire. The delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) was excruciating. I yelped every time I had to stand up.

Those deep squats and arm lifts on the TRX were too much for me on session one, so I had to skip session two as I was still recovering. But in the days after my first session, I felt motivated to keep my body moving. I walked every day and took the tube instead of the car. I started counting my steps again, aiming for 10,000, which I rarely achieved.

The following week I was almost fully recovered, so we did another virtual PT session and took it a little easier this time. It was an unfamiliar feeling to break away from my desk for 30 minutes in the middle of my day to exercise, but it felt good. I wondered whether I would ever do this on my own without Josh on the screen, keeping me focused and motivated.

The DOMS after my second session was less severe, and I kept up the walking in between sessions. I could feel my motivation increasing. I even started thinking about getting rid of my car and booking in some more virtual PT sessions. All I needed to do every day was 30 minutes of gentle strength and resistance training with some gentle cardio.

We had a session once when I was not able to be in my gym room, so we used steps for cardio and the wall for push-ups – and you can do squats perfectly well without a TRX. You really don’t need anything to be able to have a good workout, your body weight is usually enough to provide sufficient weight and resistance. The sessions challenged and motivated me.

It felt empowering to build my strength. Maintaining muscle mass is so important, especially when taking Wegovy, which is known to waste muscle. If you have been following my Wegovy journey in Top Santé, I have just increased my dose to 1mg and am tolerating it well. My endocrinologist is keeping an eye on me and I have recently had a full set of blood tests to monitor everything. I am sticking to my low-carb lifestyle and my HbA1C is heading in the right direction (now around 46), but could still be lower.

I know exercise will help. Maintaining a regular exercise routine can be tough, but understanding the critical role muscle mass plays in your health can provide powerful motivation. I am the queen of excuses when it comes to exercise, but when it comes to health, there should be no excuses.

By focusing on building and maintaining muscle, you can enhance your metabolism, support bone health, improve strength, boost your mood, and increase longevity. I am going to try and stick to this. I won’t be able to afford a PT forever, but for now, I know I need it to help keep me on track. Until I am confident that I am going to be able to stick to it on my own, I am going to keep up with these sessions and maintain an active lifestyle. I know it is the missing link in my weight-loss mission.

For more information on in-person or virtual PT sessions with Aimee and her team, visit aimeevictorialong.co.uk.

Connect with Alice at instagram.com/Alice_Dogruyol.

Read Alice’s weight loss columns here!