Jamie Leggatt is ready to put up a fight to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
The South Surrey mother of two daughters said she’s been meaning to lose her baby weight for years, but now that her youngest ‘baby’ is six, she realized she might need a little extra motivation.
So when she saw an ad for the Kin’s Green Fighter Challenge – a 13-week contest kicking off March 1 that encourages competitors to adopt healthier lifestyles – she knew she had to apply.
“I thought it would be a good opportunity to push myself,” Leggatt, 36, said.
As the competitor for White Rock/South Surrey, Leggatt will be up against 12 other contestants from around the Lower Mainland. Each week, they will take part in a challenge – from creating recipes to making an inspirational video – for a chance to win weekly prizes. The contestant who shows the greatest improvement in health at the end of the 13 weeks will win a cruise.
For Leggatt, the challenge offers the chance to improve her health and lose weight with the help of extra motivation. But, she said, it will also help her to set a better example for her six-year-old daughter, who she said is starting to follow in her mother’s unhealthy footsteps.
“My youngest is a junk-food addict like me,” she explained. “I thought it would be a really good opportunity for us to do this together.”
Leggatt said she realizes it’s easier said than done when it comes to adopting healthy eating habits and expects that aspect of the challenge to be the most difficult.
Between her full-time job as communications officer for the City of White Rock and her kids’ extracurricular activities, she and her husband find it difficult to avoid quick ‘junk food’ options for dinner.
“I don’t have a lot of time to cook, so I think trying to stay on top of the food in our house will be the toughest.”
Incorporating regular fitness into her routine shouldn’t be as hard, she said. She already attends taekwondo classes twice a week and enjoys mountain biking, and plans to work out at the White Rock Community Centre on her lunch break.
Leggatt said she’s excited for the weekly challenges – particularly the Week 6 challenge, when she will raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society – and said her daughters are on board to help her out along the way.
Above all, she said she’s looking forward to seeing how eating a healthy, well-balanced diet will affect her overall health, not just her weight.
“I usually catch every single cold and flu that’s going around,” she said. “So it will be interesting to see if that changes.”
To follow Leggatt’s progress, visit the Kin’s Farm Market Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KinsFarmMarket