AS THE youngest of FFIT Cymru’s leaders at just 20 years old, Mared Fôn Owen from Bangor says she has "overcome weekly battles" during her first few weeks in the S4C series.

After discovering that she is pre-diabetic, Mared, originally from Anglesey, now has to contend with the knowledge that she has polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition associated with being overweight.

While she says it didn’t come as a surprise, she says that hearing the diagnosis was “weird”.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be good news, so I can’t say that it came as a shock," she said.

"But just hearing it makes it more weird. I was angry with everyone for a day or so, purely because I was trying to come to terms with it. But obviously losing weight through FFIT Cymru is a very positive step. I’m just thinking that if I carry on as I have been, then I think some positives will come of it.”

Helping her to think more positively about her situation is Dr Iwan Rees, the series’ resident psychologist.

"Dr Iwan has certainly helped my confidence," Mared added.

"I had a session with him last week, which was nice, because he was able to go through my options with me to help me turn a negative into a positive. It’s great that I have a specialist at hand to help.”

Mared has also had the help of her friend Ffion, who has decided to follow Mared’s regime with her during the series.

“It’s just given me that extra little push, and it somehow makes it more normal," Mared added.

"Rae Carpenter’s mantra of ‘healthier, happier, live longer’ is certainly working well just now. It puts positive thoughts in your head, rather than thinking of the words ‘pathetic’ and ‘can’t do’.”

Mared says that the health scares that she’s had during the series have made her focus on her fitness.

“I use my Fitbit every day. It’s getting to be a bit of an obsession now," she said.

"I have to make sure I do 10,000 steps a day, if not more. I make time during the day just to do that. It’s handy as well because I come from a family that has a history of high blood pressure, so I can monitor my heart rate every day which is really handy every day.”

While Mared’s fitness is on the up, things haven’t gone so well in the kitchen. “I couldn’t cook my pork! It wasn’t cooked through – I had pink bits! But I’m still confident that I’ll lose some weight this week.”

Follow Mared’s FFIT Cymru journey at 8pm every Tuesday evening on S4C, at S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer. To follow the FFIT Cymru food and exercise plans, and the Soffa i 5k podcast, go to s4c.cymru/ffitcymru or follow @FFITCymru on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.