The “You Choose To Lose” Weight Loss Challenge is midway through the 10-week program and this week I spoke with one of the Challengers on the Seekonk Team. Out of respect for this Challenger’s privacy, I’ll be referring to her as Diana in this article.
This is Diana’s second Challenge. She is in her mid 50’s, involved in the golfing and skin care products industries and was involved in the fitness industry earlier in her career. Diana was physically active through her mid-30’s.
It was in Diana’s early 40’s that she gained 50 pounds. During this time period she experienced many life-changing events, for reasons we can all identify with, that completely took her off her wellness course. In addition to going through a divorce, she experienced several injuries that prevented her from working out, was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid and then moved home to take care of an ill parent (after having lived between the Mid-west and West Coast for 14 years). What Diana thought would be a temporary move turned out to be permanent.
Diana tried to lose the weight she put on. She tried everything from a nationally recognized weight loss program, to fasting and herbal cleansing. Diana explained that every time she did a diet she’d lose 12-15 pounds in two to three weeks and within six months to a year gain it all back. Diana reflectively said “I’ve been trapped in this body for the last 12 years. I’ve tried a lot of other ways to lose weight – nothing else has worked accept this program. Up until now, everything else I’d tried didn’t take a lot of commitment, which is probably why I could do it and lose the weight. But this time was different – it was a 10-week program and by the end my mindset had completely changed – this was a lifestyle. No other weight loss program offered fitness support, made me feel committed or made me feel like I was part of a community. My confidence has increased; I’ve made friends and met lots of new and supportive people both inside and outside of Total Fitness.”
When asked how fitness support helped her overall Diana says “One of the benefits of working with my personal trainer Andy is that he helped me exercise the correct way through my injuries so I could continue exercising in spite of them. In the past I’d try something like lifting weights, feel my shoulder hurt and I’d reinjure myself, get discouraged and give up. I really felt like Andy was my protector.”
The First Weight Loss Challenge
The first Challenge Diana did was in the fall of 2010 and she exceeded all her goals. In addition to losing 13 percent of her body weight, she ranked 7th place out of 37 participating Challengers and took 3rd place on her team.
I asked Diana what her goals were for the first Challenge and she said “My goal was to just lose 10 percent of my bodyweight. I just wanted to lose the weight, maintain it through the holidays and then do another Challenge. I didn’t think about this as a long-term plan, until midway through the Challenge.
At the end of the first Challenge Diana opted to continue with Personal Training sessions with Andy Calise and lost an additional eight pounds. Because Diana continued with this training she was able to maintain and keep herself motivated between Challenges. Diana refers to this time period as her “personal fitness challenge."
