GREAT STUFF DONNA!

When an injury put paid to Donna Hall's sports career, she thought that was the end of being active for ever! Since finding Fitbug, she's fit and healthy again.

Exercise can be a bit like marmite: you either love it or you hate it. Fortunately, for Donna Hall she fit in the first category.

She was always on the go, playing team games and even had an active job as a Disability Sport Development Officer.

Therefore it hit her really hard when she was told that a recurring knee injury meant she had to give her passion up.

"Growing up I was a real sports nut," she says. "I played competitive football and hockey and even had trials for the England Commonwealth Games hockey teams.

"So needless to say I was completely gutted when my sport career was cut short by disintegrating cartilage (probably caused by over-training).

"Since then, I’ve also had a series of operations to re-align my right knee and I ended up being on crutches on and off for 18 months.

"As a result I had to stop everything. I went from really active to very sedentary in no time at all, so it’s not surprising that I put on quite a bit of weight.

"My doctor and physio told me to do low impact activity and advised me to go to the gym, but only to do weight training - no cycling or using the treadmill.

"I also I tried my hand at wheelchair basketball - but that only highlighted the fact that I wasn’t using my lower body and my muscle tone was wasting away."

Donna soon found herself in a bit of a vicious circle. She couldn’t do the exercise she wanted to do, so she didn’t do anything at all and the less she did the heavier and more lethargic she felt.

She knew that she had to snap out of it, but it was just a case of finding the right thing to help her get her motivation back - which is when she found Fitbug.

"I knew that I needed to do something because I was feeling heavy and lethargic. Besides that, I’m getting married in 18 months and I wanted to lose about 3 stone, by the big day.

"Then, by a classic case of ’right place; right time’, I came across Fitbug.

"My employer, Knowsley MBC, is running a Fitbug pilot-scheme with 100 Bugs. I heard about it and offered to be a guinea pig because it sounded like just the sort of thing I was looking for.

"I took to the programme straight away and have been pushing myself to do simple things like walking up the stairs rather than taking the lift.

"When I started out my targets were 5000 step and about 1000 aerobic steps, but in less than three months, I’ve more than doubled that.

"In an average day I usually do about 11000 steps and 4000 aerobic steps now!

"Because I’ve built up gradually, my knee is holing up just fine and I’m crossing my fingers that the problems are behind me.

"I now go to the gym for a brisk walk on the treadmill, take my nieces swimming and I’ve started to play badminton in my lunch breaks," she adds.

As someone who has always thrived upon the thrill of competition, the Fantasy Footfall competitions have really suited Donna down to the ground.

"I’m a member of the Knowlsey Fantasy Footfall league (currently third) and I’ve just joined the UK and North West Leagues. The friendly competition has spurred me on even more than before.

"I’m off to Magaluf for a long weekend with four of my colleagues and we’re all taking our Bugs so that we don’t miss out on our step!

"I’m sure we’ll be clocking up plenty of steps on the dance-floors!"

As well as increasing her activity, Donna realised that she was going to have to make some changes to her diet if she was going to shed the weight she wanted to lose.

The first thing that had to go were the chocolate bars she was snacking on and she soon found that the snacking was as much out of habit as hunger.

She adds:"I’ve changed my eating habits dramatically. I gave up takeaways for Lent and found that I didn’t miss them at all - so they’re no longer part of my diet.

"I’ve also cut right down on crisps and chocolate (my biggest vice!). I’m trying to eat more fish instead of red meat too.

"Forget five-a-day; I eat more like eight pieces of fruit and veg!

"When I first came into work with half the greengrocers in my bag, I didn’t know how I’d get on, but I really like it and I usually snack on fruit, not chocolate, now.

"So far, I’ve gone from 16 stone to 14 stone 3. I feel fitter and healthier and the better I feel the more it spurs me on to do more."

So what advice does April’s member of the month have for fellow members?

"Allow yourself the odd treat, but think about making them healthy ones.

"If I really want a chocolate bar I’ll go for a Flyte rather than the Mars bar I would have chosen in the past.

"I’d also recommend finding someone to do it with. I’ve got a colleague in the office who is also following the Fitbug programme and we’ve really spurred each other on to stick with it."