The 30 days of beautiful project was created by Wyatt Photography to help women find their beautiful. Each woman will receive my full beauty experience from styling consultation, professional hair and make up to an amazing photo shoot experience. I wanna take you on a journey of self-acceptance and empowerment and allow you to see yourself at your most beautiful and have portraits to remind you of this every day and to feel proud of.
Leanne told me she had lost 20kg and wanted to see how she really looked in the mirror.
What Leanne loves about herself is her fearless attitude and she believes that women underestimate their own ability and tend not to try things because they are afraid of failure. You may not win or get it right the first time but it’s about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone to achieve new things.
Leanne is 37 years old, she is a wife and a mum to 3 beautiful girls and she runs a small local business with her husband Matt. It was just 18 months ago that Leanne started to put herself first and start to look after herself so she could be the best role model to her girls as she could be.
Leanne was overweight after having her children and she was unhappy in her clothes, she felt unattractive and the thought of shopping for clothes made her shudder. She knew she had to change her diet and get moving but was terrified of failing and what her girls would think. She needed to change her attitude and be fearless, try new things that scared the hell out of her and learning to not worry about what other people thought.
Leanne needed a diet that also fitted with her family she didn’t want to be seen eating differently to the girls because she didn’t want them having body images at a young age. So instead of going on a weight loss program she decided to just get fit and purchased a fit bit and started using a weight loss app. Leanne thought if she could walk 1,000 steps and stay under her calorie count it would have to do something. She knew she was never going to weigh her food that wasn’t her, she just guessed the portion sizes along the way.
Leanne had encouragement from her friends and got back into exercise since her first born she hadn’t done much at all. Leanne tried a few things before settling into a boxing circuit followed by entering into the Miss Muddy 5km obstacle race. She knew she would be testing her fitness and she was scared she wouldn’t even finish the race but it was her first goal to work towards.
Leanne loved it and she survived and the weight started to fall off her so she kept going and afterwards registered for a 12km fun run, even though she knew she couldn’t run the distance. She had set herself a goal to get the run done within 2 hours, she was out there giving it a go, yes she was the last person to cross the finish line but she didn’t care because at her own pace she completed the course in under 2 hours and achieved her goal she was so proud of herself.
Her next goal was the stadium Stomp at the MCG, she was proud of how her fitness level had grown and her goal was to do the full 7,300 steps. It wasn’t until she hit level 4 steps that she felt she was in pure hell but she took her time and made it around the course, it was then that she knew she could do anything she put her mind to.
Leanne enjoys the obstacle racing more as it is a mixture of obstacles and running and it challenges her to break through her fear barrier. She realized her weaknesses and where she had to improve to keep doing the obstacles, so she got the courage to join the Cross fit gym where her and her husband train.
Leanne continues to set goals for herself and competes in regular obstacle races. She has lost an amazing 20 kg so far and she is teaching her girls that women can do anything they put their minds to and not be afraid to try new things. Leanne thanks her friends, her husband Matt and her girls for their support along the way.
Even after the noticeable weight loss she still could only see the old Leanne when she looked in the mirror and it wasn’t until she took herself out of her comfort zone and allowed me to photograph her that she could really see the change in the woman looking back at her in the mirror.
Beauty to Leanne is not about what is on the outside she believes it is everything that makes up the whole person, including their personality, attitude and confidence. She can feel beautiful when she get’s dressed up with her hair and makeup done and she can feel beautiful when she wears comfortable clothes that sit right on her body.
Thank you Leanne for being part of the project, you are the best role model for your children and your beautiful photographs are a family heirloom, they will be treasured by your family forever, show them off with pride x