Personal Trainers to the Rescue

I would like to share with you part of a testimonial a client wrote for me. First I need to set the scene. Here was a man in his mid-late forties, very obese, and when it came to his health he had the Aussie attitude of, “She’ll be right mate.” He had a health scare and coincidentally enough ended up at my doctor! Now my doctor is a straight talker and this is how the conversation went, “If you don’t do something about your health right now it’s likely you won’t see out the next four – five years.” This was like a déjà vu moment for Tony as he had had a similar conversation with another doctor three years previously. Quite ironic given that he is a coronary care nurse!

My doctor saw Tony’s unconcerned face and asked, “What ages are your children?” Tony replied, “18,16 and 11,” sitting there wondering where is this going? “Here’s the reality….. you won’t see any of your children marry or have their own children, you won’t see all of your children go to university, you will not see your son play professional rugby league for the Broncos, you will not see the twins turn sweet sixteen and you will not be enjoying life with your wife travelling the world as you had planned.” Taken back by these comments, Tony said “Shoot, I’ve never looked at it like that!”

Then my doctor made the suggestion, “Why don’t you get a personal trainer? Talk about setting the cat among the pigeons! “Why would I want to see a personal trainer? They’re such a waste of time. Aren’t personal trainers only for the rich and famous? Personal trainers over glorified power hungry people on T.V. reality programmes who are horrible people putting unrealistic expectations on other people, depriving and inflicting pain on them, making them suffer.”

My doctor calmly replied, “You’ve got a death sentence over your head. Now I know just the one for you,” and handed him a piece of paper with my name and phone number on it. Needless to say it was Tony’s wife who made the phone call to me and escorted him to the gym kicking and screaming!

Six months later and sixteen kilos lighter in Tony’s words, not mine; I need to explain who I was before so you can understand where I am now and the journey I have started. Over the years I had become unhappy with my weight. I had become very obese, unhealthy and unmotivated. I had tried all the usual diets and the gym but could never stay motivated. I had no energy, no interest and no enthusiasm. I loved the wrong type of food. I had low self esteem. I was embarrassed to show my body in public like the pool or beach. I hated going clothes shopping. I was becoming very unsociable and had no idea what to do. So I’d accepted that this was the way things were for me and hid behind a mask that I had created as I desperately hung on to a life style that I thought I had come to accept. So that was me.

I look back now and wonder why. Why didn’t I take things more seriously before? I always thought the hardest thing to change in life is who you are but I look at myself very differently today, my whole attitude has changed. I have been able to make some major changes in my outlook on life and myself. These changes both physically and mentally made me see myself for the first time in a long time, who I really am – a better person.

Health is not just about going to a gym, dieting,losing weight and being beaten into shape by personal trainers, it is about my life and how I manage it. So where am I now? I have found my motivation and it has improved tenfold; I walk home after work (40mins) instead of waiting at the bus exchange. I walk seven to eleven kilometres each day to Victoria Park, I am challenging myself more – I am entering the City to Surf Marathon, I can jog and I am going back to university. I am planning with my daughter a tramping trip up the Kokoda Track in New Guinea and the Able Tasman, Routeburn and Milford Tracks over the next 18 months. I feel fantastic.

My enthusiasm and attitude to everything? Well life is great. I did not think I could lose weight and feel the way I do. My self esteem is on the upper. My clothes are too big for me and I will have to throw out all the old clothes and buy some new ones. What is really great is my family, work colleagues and friends notice the difference in me and tell me. I am no longer embarrassed of myself and unsociable. I am still guarded on my looks but am proud of the changes I have achieved. I have started to feel comfortable with my body. I still have a lot more weight to loose and have no idea where this journey will lead me and have no idea when it will end.

And as for personal trainers. Belinda’s sessions are full on and many times I have phoned my wife to pick me up after a workout because I didn’t feel I could walk another step or I could not lift my arm up and many times I would lie on my bed wondering if my body would fall apart if I moved. Yes now through my experience I can say Belinda is a horrible person who put unrealistic expectations on me, deprived me, inflicted pain on me and when I did not live up to her expectations, I suffered. But I would do it all again.

When your living with a death sentence over your head you sometimes need a little push in the right direction and to say thank you will never be enough.

© Belinda Edmondston 2013.  All rights reserved.  Cultivating Your Inner Pearl, Reinvention from the Inside Out, Body, Mind, Soul – ISBN 978-0-473-25241-0