Tracey Acock, 58 – Fighting Against Feeling Invisible

I am a wife, mum, daughter, sister and specialist nurse for women with secondary breast cancer. Over the last two years, I have been responsible for setting up a service & raising awareness for this patient group.

Although I feel in a privileged position, without doubt, it’s the most intense role of my career & at times is difficult to switch off. To remain emotionally resilient I have realised I’ve had to find better ways of coping. This also coincided with giving up a lifetime of horses after a fall severely knocked my confidence….and the realisation although still slim, oestrogen was definitely helping to grow the dreaded muffin top!!

To fill the gap I tentatively joined the local gym and although self-conscious at first I began to love the buzz of seeing physical changes…I was sleeping better eating better and unbelievably at the age of 48 was probably in the best shape of my life!

I think like a lot of women in this age group I had begun to feel pretty invisible & just resigned to the fact I had had “my best years”. However, by keeping it simple & consistent (well admittedly with hard work!) it has now become a habit I can’t live without and for women of any age strength/resistance training is so very important to help prevent muscle loss and for bone health. Apart from it makes me feel good my other motivation is that I can….some of patients would love to exercise & I never forget that.

I am pretty low maintenance – although my husband would probably disagree! (I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never had a manicure for example) but I have become really keen to know more about nutrition and have really cut down on refined sugar for example and eating far more vegetables. Instagram is also part of my fitness journey as I am soaking up knowledge, facts & studies and new friends across the world. Learning & absorbing is exciting and good for my head!! Amazing! It’s given me a new enthusiasm for the future which is a totally unexpected benefit.

My two main tips are to drink water all day long…I have a water addiction which is a habit worth having! Secondly, sunscreen and more sunscreen as we didn’t have the advice & knowledge when I was growing up by the sea in Cornwall, I have regrets about that.

I am definitely happy in my skin right now which I am really grateful for and it’s worth all the hard work. I live by “use it or lose it” & walk every day with the dog as fresh air & the outdoors are what I am all about. I try to train four times a week but I have learnt to accept when that is not possible and try to keep a “balance” mentality or it can cease to be enjoyable and becomes a pressure. I am also about to restart yoga after many years for the mind-body connection & flexibility after inspiration from some Insta pals.

I think I have good friends of all ages who keep me young in heart & mind and I would say the quote “go the extra mile it’s never crowded there” pretty well sums me up. 🙂