Wagga PT Jo Cochrane reflects on her journey from 135kgs to bodybuilding

The 38-year-old personal trainer at Snap Fitness Wagga had struggled with her weight until her early 20s when she decided to delve into the fitness world.

"I was a chef and decided I was sick of being overweight," she said.

Weighing around 135kg at her peak, Jo shredded around 70 kilograms through Michelle Bridges' challenges across two years.

Jo also had two operations - a body lift and a thigh lift to remove excess skin and went from "being obese" to bodybuilding.

"I fell in love with it. Then I was starting to inspire other people around me and I wanted to get out of cheffing and people kept saying well; 'why don't you become a personal trainer'," she said.

"In my own journey I didn't really have any help, I didn't have a personal trainer because I was really intimidated. I didn't really go into gyms, I went to a small gym which actually closed down and then I started going to Empire Gym."

Jo said it was reflecting on her journey that made her realise that there was a bit of a gap in the PT world.

"I thought maybe there weren't that many PTs out there who have experienced what I've experienced," she said.

"If someone out there could relate it might inspire other people to achieve their goals instead of being scared."

Jo said being a PT has been a different experience than she initially had expected, but one worth the while nonetheless.

"The common denominator with everyone who comes to me is that they're out of control somewhere in their life, whether that be with equipment or with food or with mental health," she said.

"When I first started I thought I'd attract all these people who wanted to lose weight and I'd transform everyone, then I had a rude awakening that that's not how it's panned out for me. Yes, I've had amazing transformation stories but I found the majority of people who come to me have so many different reasons as to why they do."

Having made a following on social media platform Instagram with more than 11000 followers, Jo's influence doesn't just stop at Wagga.

"There's a really positive aspect to social media, but there's also some bad qualities- it is good to hold yourself to account though," Jo said.

With body image often a controversial topic, it is often that people feel shame for looking a certain way, and that was no exception for Jo, but it was her social media following who actually provided her with more positive support than some of the people in her everyday life.

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"People, in general, have a lot to answer for because we care so much what people think, so yeah, I think that was one of my main motivations because I cared so much what people thought and I was embarrassed," she said.

"I soon became aware of who my friends were, or who only hung out with me because I drank alcohol, and you know, being told you're no fun anymore because you don't do this and you don't do that.

"I was sad to let go of some people but it was also kind of great to be able to bring in new people who were aligned with where I was headed. Then you get comments from people, don't lose too much weight, don't do this, don't do that, it's like no matter what you do or where you are at people will always have something to say."

As hard as her journey has been, Jo said had she not gone through it, she's not sure she would be here today.

"I think the start of it was just being in my 20s and seeing all my friends who were fit and healthy going off and getting to do things and you know, I was kind of just going down that road of being really depressed and self-conscious," she said.

"It was just a build-up over the years of so many opportunities that I had missed out on and I just went you know what, I'm in my 20s, If I keep doing this, I don't know if I want to be here, to be honest- I don't know if I want to continue to live like this and if I don't do something now then what does that look like for me."

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