Shannon Collins has become known as 'The Gym Nurse' thanks to her ripped body and helpful fitness tips – but transforming herself has required a lot of hard work Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info No one is born with perfectly chiselled abs.
The majority of us need to exercise and live a healthy lifestyle in order to see the results on our bodies – and ripped influencer Shannon Collins is no exception. The 44-year-old, who has become known as The Gym Nurse to her 150,000 Instagram followers, revealed that her life used to look a lot different when she binged on junk food. She went from enjoying fast food, to restricting her diet, to finally finding the right balance that works for her.
So to show her fans how much work she's put in, she decided to take a trip down memory lane. Shannon shared some throwback pictures online that are very eye-opening. The first is from a few years ago and shows the days she enjoyed a lot of "fried, greasy food " and alcohol.
Then the next photo shows when Shannon obsessively tracked her food intake and "lived off caffeine all day" due to lack of sleep. While she went to the gym six times a week, she rarely went out walking. It wasn't until photo number three that things started to click into place for the Instagrammer.
She partakes in "mindful eating", which involves listening to your body and what it needs. She has cut back on alcohol and caffeine and now does strength training four to five times a week. The mum has also introduced a rule of walking 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, and doesn't pay attention to what her weighing scales tell her.
Not only is this approach more realistic, it's also likely to make you a lot less miserable. Sharing her experience on Instagram, Shannon said: "You need the full package if wanting to make changes in your body..
. nutrition, moving your body, weights and recovery. "Also wanted to show a time in my life (middle) where I was doing too much, and not fuelling appropriately and wondering why I couldn't progress or build new muscle.
Because the fuel and recovery wasn't there...
two huge pieces to building muscle. "At the end of the day, your body is a reflection of your habits - good or bad - over time. So if you are in fact 'doing everything right', don't worry about it, the results will come with time.
" Shannon's post has garnered 2,500 likes and plenty of positive comments since it was posted. One person commented: "I love this post so much..
. thank you for sharing. Sometimes it's so hard to be ok with not being our 'smallest'.
" Another added: "Habits > everything. No matter what, at the end of the day it always comes down to your habits." Meanwhile, a third chimed in: "Agree with you.
Same journey, and now I'm doing your last slide. More is NOT better.".
