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<\/p>\nWHEN this 224-pound mom first hired a fitness coach, her goal was to simply slim down.<\/p>\n
But now she's a competitive bodybuilder, showing off her impressive muscles in a glitzy bikini at 141 pounds.<\/p>\n
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Sherolyne France (@sherolyne_j_fitness) boasts over 1,000 followers on Instagram, where she documents the process of sculpting her enviable figure.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old, from Northampton, England, has competed in eight shows since she first hired an online coach back in 2020, with the goal of shedding her excess pounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, Sherolyne said: \u201cI initially started on the journey just to lose weight.<\/p>\n
"I had always admired bodybuilders over the years, but never thought I could do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I'd lost about 10 pounds, I was feeling really confident and actually being consistent I was seeing the changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke to my coach at the time and floated the idea with her that I want to be a bodybuilder. <\/p>\n
"She said \u2018OK\u2019 and I was like \u2018OK we\u2019re doing this\u2019, and that\u2019s literally how it started.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was previously an IFBB Pro competitor in the figure category, but she had stopped competing.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI used to follow her on Instagram and admired her journey. When I found out she was taking on lifestyle clients, I reached out.\u201d<\/p>\n Sherolyne revealed that from a young age, she has been active but her diet was always \u201chorrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n She tried a variety of fad diets which would help her to lose a few pounds, but found that she was unable to keep the weight off.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the eating plans she tried were The Special K diet, Slimming World, The 5:2 diet, and OMAD [one meal a day].<\/p>\n She said Weight Watchers was the closest to how she eats now as an athlete, because it involves macro counting.<\/p>\n Sherolyne said: \u201cFitness-wise, I\u2019ve always done some sort of exercise. When I was very young I used to do gymnastics and sprinting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs I got older I went to the gym, I always lifted weights and did classes but I was never consistent. So for me it was mainly the diet that was really bad.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried every diet going, I was that typical yo-yo dieter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been the person to eat out a lot, but it was eating too much of the wrong types of food frequently and all the snacking in between – biscuits, crisps, pick'n'mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWorking in an office, there is always a cake or biscuit going around. So it was all of that on top of the fad diets.\u201d<\/p>\n Sherolyne went from 224 pounds to 141 pounds for her first show, and was surprisingly able to eat similar foods throughout her weight loss journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n She admits her family was surprised by her decision to pursue bodybuilding but says they have been supportive throughout.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cAs a family, our meals are quite balanced. We might say we will have a takeaway or pizza.<\/p>\n \u201cI can still do that with bodybuilding, it\u2019s just knowing when in the phase I can do that and when I have to say no for a few weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re going out for food and I can\u2019t eat, they are really understanding. Sometimes I say I can\u2019t come, I\u2019ll come later or I will come and just have a coffee or water.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey are always checking on me and supporting me. They are really understanding.<\/p>\n \u201cOff-season and during prep, I eat the same thing but the quantities change. Oats, potatoes, rice, chicken, salmon, bagels, peanut butter, dark chocolate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot that I don\u2019t eat, but it\u2019s just cleaner food sources and I increase or decrease the quantities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEven when I can be more relaxed, I automatically go to those foods because I find them filling.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI find they digest well and are satiating. I can mix them up with sauces and seasonings if I\u2019m not having to be too strict.\u201d<\/p>\n For her first show, Sherolyne competed as a trained bikini athlete at PCA in Birmingham in 2021.<\/p>\n She noticed that her physique was more muscular than the other girls in the category and sought feedback from the judges after coming in fourth place.\u00a0<\/p>\n Having her legs be the main topic of discussion and highly complimented, she made a decision to swap to the wellness category.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wellness is one of the newest categories in the IFBB league which means there are still a lot of misconceptions about what it takes to have a winning physique.<\/p>\n The International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation (IFBB), which was founded in 1946, is the most prestigious global bodybuilding federation.<\/p>\n Sherolyne said people often underestimate how much muscle is needed to be competitive and assume they can do the sport by simply being a less conditioned bikini athlete.\u00a0<\/p>\n She explained that her training split in the gym is designed with a focus on having muscularity and shape in her top half, while keeping the lower half of her body more dominant.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI do a lot of legs. I do quads, glutes, and hamstring workouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do upper one day, then lower, and then I rest. Then I have cardio a lot but that varies depending on where I am in the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment I have cardio five times a week and in the off-season it will probably go down to zero or just one or two days a week.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I started bodybuilding my exercise was whatever, I did a lot of classes or I was that typical 'I must do cardio every day to lose weight' person.<\/p>\n "There was no structure to it. It was just what I felt like doing.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the beginning of prep, I was doing 15 minutes, three to four times a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow it\u2019s 40 minutes and that\u2019s five times a week. It\u2019s not awful compared to my very first year, when I had a lot more body fat.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy cardio went up to an hour every single day and that was on the stairmaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome days I\u2019d have an hour of fasted cardio when I woke up in the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy steps went up to 20,000 a day in my first year and I\u2019d do an hour of cardio after my workout.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI had to mentally zone out to get through that, so 40 minutes feels like a breeze.\u201d<\/p>\n Sherolyne was working full-time in HR and studying for her master's degree when she started bodybuilding.<\/p>\n She would go on walks during her lunch break to get all of her daily steps and wake up early even on the weekend while prioritizing her goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI have to be super organized and strict with my time but sometimes I will double up on stuff, like if I\u2019ve had a busy day and I haven\u2019t seen my partner he will say 'shall I come on a walk with you?'<\/p>\n \u201cWe walk and have quality time together while I\u2019m ticking my boxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSame with friends, if they say 'do you want to meet up?', we will go to the park and have a coffee because that\u2019s what I can drink. <\/p>\n "That\u2019s how I balance the two.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the gym and you are tired, it\u2019s a case of do the session or go home.<\/p>\n \u201cMy coach tells me what I should be eating and how much cardio to do, but I have to push myself in the gym. I don\u2019t have a PT and I don\u2019t train with anybody.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMentally it makes me feel relaxed, it clears my head, and I get so much enjoyment out of it that I couldn\u2019t imagine ever not doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sherolyne said her first show was a \u201cpinch me\u201d moment because of all the hard work she had put in to achieve her physique.<\/p>\n She decided to get a new coach in 2021, with whom she has worked for the past two years.<\/p>\n Bodybuilding is an expensive sport with the cost of a prep coach, posing coach, gym membership, food, supplements, and all of the glamour.<\/p>\n Sherolyne said: \u201cDoing one competition you have a monthly coaching fee, gym membership, supplements, whey protein and food, bikini – my first one was over \u00a3400 [$486], shoes can be about \u00a380 [$97], hair, makeup, tan.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the NPC you have to pay for your membership for the year which is \u00a355 [$67] and you pay to enter the show, each category is about \u00a3115 [$140].<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing the Arnolds or a pro qualifier show, it\u2019s like double the price so one category is like \u00a3200+ [$240+] and your tan is more expensive about \u00a3120 [$146]. It\u2019s not cheap.<\/p>\n \u201cThe show I\u2019ve got coming up is a pro qualifier, it would be amazing to get a pro card but I have to remember that I haven\u2019t been doing this that long in the grand scheme of things.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think of myself as old but I am an older athlete and there is a lifespan in it."<\/p>\n Sherolyne is currently training for a pro-qualifier show in Milan, Italy. <\/p>\n If she wins her category, she will receive a highly coveted IFBB pro card.\u00a0<\/p>\n But she almost quit training when her younger sister tragically passed away in July.<\/p>\n Sherolyne said: \u201cMilan is just to see where I fit in and that self-achievement to say 'I did that, little old me from Northampton I flew to Milan and stood on stage in a sparkly bikini showing off my physique.'<\/p>\n \u201cI was in the middle of prep and my sister passed away really suddenly on the 7th July.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI woke up on Saturday morning like \u2018what do I do\u2019 and my coach said \u2018just keep talking to me. Check in with me every day, go to the gym just eat mindfully\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTwelve weeks later I\u2019m still here and I look at the progress I\u2019ve made. <\/p>\n "Had I given up, I would still be here 12 weeks later but I wouldn\u2019t be able to say I\u2019m going to go to Milan.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think whatever happens in Milan, I\u2019ll have a little bit of downtime and just spend quality time with my daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNot having to think about what meals I\u2019ve got and cardio. In the middle of next year, I\u2019ll think am I going to prep or wait until 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n Sherolyne is now taking on clients of her own to coach and hopes to inspire others to accomplish their goals.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cLooking at me in 2020, I was probably the last person that you would think \u2018oh yeah I can see her stepping on stage and being a bodybuilder.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I look back at all the things I was juggling, I still managed to graduate, get promoted at work, step on stage, and maintain my household.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI had so many ladies reaching out with positive words and asking 'how do you do it?'<\/p>\n "I was consistently giving advice and enjoying it so I just started researching and studying it myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf I can help just one person feel an inch of how I feel, that would make me smile.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just one foot in front of the other and take each day as it comes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey say sometimes the things you want in life don\u2019t come easy but when you do get it the way it makes you feel is incredible.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t just think about how you\u2019re going to look in that dress on that night out, think about longevity your health, and your family.\u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/download-8.jpg\")
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