Sometimes there is nothing like a good success story to help get you motivated.
I met my client Goldie, 51, in late January. She was the manager of a gym that I was interested in working with (the gym that is now Edge Fitness in Nixa that I do partner with). She was very excited to meet me, since the gym lacked a female trainer. I liked her instantly and was looking forward to our partnership.
It wasn’t too long after that she called me, for personal reasons. She was herself trying to lose weight but had been stuck at about 200 lbs (down from the 240 lbs she was in her before photo). She had hit the dreaded plateau. When she and I started working together she was 197 lbs and feeling every bit of it. Exercise had been hard at first, but she had a mission and she started with baby steps, slowly getting stronger and improving her endurance:
“I originally started on the elliptical (trainer) to try to build up my stamina. It was really hard to continue when all I could stand was 2 minutes before I would lose my breath. I thought several times WHY am I doing this. Then I thought about not being able to play with my grandchildren because I would get too tired or would be out of breath.”
She had a goal and nothing was going to stop her. Besides, being the manager of a gym, she felt like a bit of a hypocrite being overweight. Her job and her family were the motivation that kept her moving, no matter how tough it got.
And at times it did get tough. She would get frustrated when the scale didn’t budge for a week. She thought I was crazy when I told her to eat more. She often asked me, “When are you going to stop being a pain in my ass?” after another round of plie squats and lunges. But she kept going. And it paid off.
As of our last weigh in, Goldie was down to 161 lbs. When I asked Goldie what other benefits she had reaped from exercise and changing her diet she told me this:
“I have more energy. I am able to kneel on the floor which I wasn’t able to do before because of all the weight. I am not embarrassed to go out in public. I am happy all the time.”
Isn’t that what it’s all about? Happiness, being comfortable in your own skin and being able to do the things in life you wish to do?
Goldie is still on her journey, moving ever closer to her goal of 145 lbs. She works hard every day, but she lives life too. Sometimes the balance is hard, like trying to find something to eat when she’s out all day with her husband searching for flea market treasures, yet I know she has no doubts about what she’s doing or any desire to go back. She’s in this for the long haul.
I asked Goldie what she would say to someone who was thinking about starting a weight loss journey, someone like herself at 240 lbs.
“Do it for yourself not for someone else. If all you can do is 2 minutes, then start there. Then after a week increase it to 3 minutes and so on. Then before you know it you are up to 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, then 45 minutes.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
