Woman Shares Stunning Before and After Picture of Herself at 25 and 42

A mother-of-three who became a champion bodybuilder has shared a stunning before and after picture. 

On her 42nd birthday earlier this week, Sheree Paltridge from Queensland posted a picture of herself at 25 alongside a recent photo to her Facebook account.

It is undeniable that the muscular, toned and tanned woman looks a world away from her paler, less toned self at 25.

Despite the 17-year age difference and three childbirths between the bodies, Ms Paltridge understandably has no qualms with how she is ageing.

'So today as I celebrate being another year older, I decided to find a picture of me at 25 with no kids, and now 42 with three children (yes, 17 years apart) to see how I am going with the aging process,' she captioned the image.

'I am thinking spending four per cent of my day exercising and eating well most of the time is really helping to beat the aging factor - as we remind ourselves, it's just a number right?'

She continued the post by talking about not only her new body, but also the renewed lease on life it had given her.

'I now feel stronger, fitter and healthier than ever before in my life,' she wrote. 

'Don't let the aging factor get you down, just make health and fitness a higher priority in your everyday life, and enjoy each day like there is no tomorrow!'  

Last year, she revealed the secret to her success was eating the same food as her three young daughters and sacrificing the three glasses of wine she enjoyed each night.

The mother-of-three wanted to step out of her comfort zone after her youngest daughter started school in 2015.

 

Although she works as a personal trainer, she told Daily Mail Australia she could think of nothing more daunting than wearing a bikini on stage.

But, up for a challenge, she decided to enter a bodybuilding competition.

Over the course of six months, she went from 56 kilos to 50 kilos and her body fat went from 18 per cent to just 11.

And when she entered her first competition in Brisbane in May 2016, Ms Paltridge said she was so nerve-wracked, she thought she'd blown it.

But the 42-year-old, from Highfields, Queensland, ended up walking away with four first-place trophies from each of the categories she entered. 

And amazingly, she did it all by maintaining similar eating habits to her three daughters - Lara, 13, Alice, 11 and six-year-old Lillian. 

Ms Paltridge said that she would add a protein shake to her diet if she'd been training and while her children enjoyed chips, she'd substitute with a salad or sweet potato fries to make her meal healthier.

But she added that her children usually eat very healthily anyway as she's educated them about nutrition so they can make informed decisions about what they eat. 

However, her trophies didn't come without some serious sacrifice as she had to completely cut out alcohol and sugar.

'Before I started, I was drinking three glasses of red wine a night, so that wasn't easy,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'You have to completely cut it out as alcohol just sticks to your middle.' 

She added: 'I wanted to make sure I was eating well, and never hungry. I think it's about having patience and the results will come.' 

Ms Paltridge also credits her body pump workouts with helping transform her body, adding: 'I felt that was 90 per cent of getting to where I got to.' 

She added: 'My journey has taught me how strict and disciplined you need to be with your nutrition and training to make a difference to your physique. 

'It has been a challenge as a mother of three daughters to fit my training sessions in, however this is when it became a positive change for myself as a mother and wife as I commenced my heavy weight training with my husband who has helped support me and get out of bed four mornings a week at 5am to train.'

Ms Paltridge said she only ever wanted to enter that first competition, the INBA, in Brisbane, but after winning four trophies, she felt she had to continue.

Two weeks later, she entered another competition in the city, where she took second place. 

In June, she took first place in three categories in the Musclemania Gold Coast competition.

As a result, she was invited to Fitness America Weekend in Las Vegas last month, where she won fifth place. 

'Wearing a bikini on stage is something I never thought I would do, but every day, I just kept chipping away at my goal.

'It's not about the money, it's about me achieving my goal. I only wanted to enter that first competition, but when I won, I couldn't believe it.

'I'd never won a trophy in my life before.' 

She added: 'I am still struggling to believe how my out of my comfort zone fitness goal has become a dream come true and I have walked away with the ultimate dream result from these competitions.'

Now, Ms Paltridge hopes to use her experience to help others take part in body-sculpting competitions and aspires to be a motivational speaker.

'It's hard work and it's your mindset daily,' she added. 

'Now I want to use that to take other people through competitions. Having lived it, I want to help others achieve their goals.'