YOU GOT THIS: Mum’s shock after Chris Hemsworth shares her bikini snap
Bianca Stenton shared a bikini selfie to encourage others wanting to improve their health and fitness. The Hollywood A-lister Chris Hemsworth stepped in.
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It’s not everyday (or really any day) that a celebrity as big as Chris Hemsworth shares your picture with his millions of fans on social media.
But that’s what happened to Aussie mother-of-two Bianca Stenton when the Hollywood A-lister posted a “before and after” snap of her in a bikini to congratulate people who had transformed their lives using his fitness program, Centr.
Ms Stenton, 37, was at work when she started getting bombarded with phone calls and messages from family and friends about the post Hemsworth shared to his personal Instagram page, which has almost 50 million followers.
“Congrats to our @centrfit members on the incredible progress! Inspiring stuff! Honoured to be a part of the health and wellness journey with you all,” Hemsworth captioned the snap.
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Ms Stenton said she was in shock when she saw the post, saying she never expected it to be shared by the star – let alone clocking almost 1 million ‘likes’.
“I was at work when a colleague said ‘Bianca, you’re on a very famous person’s page’ and I thought they meant the Centr page because his team had asked if they could share the image,” Ms Stenton told news.com.au
“And then I got all these messages saying ‘Have you seen Chris’ post?’ It was very flattering.”
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Not one to ever take bikini selfies, Ms Stenton said she agreed to share the ‘before and after’ snap in the hopes it could inspire other women who were also looking for a lifestyle change.
The Queensland mum, who lost 14kg in nine months, said the “final straw” was when she was invited to the beach, but refused to go because she felt “uncomfortable”.
“I loved the beach and swimming and was conscious about wearing swimmers in public and especially around friends and family.”
Ms Stenton said she tried small burst ‘quick fixes’ to lose weight after she had her children, who are four and seven years old, but said it never lasted long.
“I would often put on more weight a few weeks later,” she added.
“I was also in a toxic marriage, was unhappy and decided to do something about it.”
Ms Stenton said she is a big believer in “choices” and had the realisation that people were not just automatically healthy and fit.
“It was a choice they made and I finally wanted to make that choice.”
Ms Stenton, who is 157cm tall, weighed 64kg when she embarked on her journey.
“I am quite short and a fairly petite build naturally so was carrying more than my healthy range of weight.”
She then signed up to Centr after seeing a high school friends’ success with it on Instagram, however it was no easy task for the mum.
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“With two young children and working part time as a (primary school) teacher my biggest challenges were time, motivation and energy,” she said.
“I decided to get a whiteboard to plan my week and time, with me listing the dinners that we would have for the week and my workouts for each day.”
Once she got her routine down pat she did 30-minute at-home workouts, which included a combination of HIIT strength class, pilates, yoga and mixed martial arts.
She started with three sessions a week and eventually built it up to five with a walk/jog.
“I found my plan helped me to keep organised and I would stick to my set goals, getting great satisfaction in ticking them off as I did them.”
“If I was feeling a bit ‘flat’ and starting to make excuses about not doing my workout for the day I would simply press start on my phone app and before I knew it the class was over and I felt better for it.”
Ms Stenton said it was important she kept a balanced diet and having a sweet tooth, this was important.
“I have always been a chocolate lover and still enjoy takeaway every now and then,” she said.
“But I have substituted a lot of foods that have significantly lower calories and become more aware of portion sizes for example dark Lindt chocolate instead of Cadbury.”
“I also upped my vegetable intake and tried to include a simple side salad with most meals.”
Ms Stenton said her lifestyle change began with a “change in my mindset”.
“I stopped feeling guilty for having some me time and began valuing myself again, enough to find time for myself, to exercise and want to look after my body,” she said.
And as for going to the beach, Ms Stenton said she’s never felt more confident.
If you’ve got a transformation story you’d like to share, get in touch with shireen.khalil@news.com.au