60lbs Weight Loss Testimonial

Part 1 – In Denial

Introduction -

My daughter and her family came to visit me for Christmas 2007. I had been gradually putting on weight for a few years a little bit at a time and doing very little exercise… just a bit of walking, occasional tennis and a lot of xBox (I still love Halo).

I turned 50 in 2005 and seemed to just put on weight after that. I assumed it was part of being older, slowing metabolism and all that. I wasn’t doing anything much different than before and had always maintained a reasonable body weight. At least, no-one was calling me fat (to my face).

I knew I had to get my weight and general level of fitness under control as I had embarked on the Healthy Lifestyle project with Trisha Stewart (a excellent nutritionist I had met in England) and if I get involved in a project, I have to totally believe in it and get fully immersed. Being overweight and unfit wasn’t going to cut it.

I had been working with Trisha Stewart on her book ‘Healthy Tart’ for several months and it was time to put the advice contained in that book into practice. So on January 2nd, 2008 at 52 and weighing in at 215lbs, my quest to regain my body, my health and my optimal weight began.

In the past, I’ve been a bit of a fast food junkie. Not McDonald’s so much as Denny’s, Shari’s, Applebees, Chinese, Mexican, Thai… and any other restaurant that would get me out of cooking myself. My freezer was full of microwave meals. Trisha’s book, Healthy Tart, formed the basis of my nutritional journey to get my body back. One of the first things Trisha tells you to do is clear out all the garbage from your freezer and fridge, and unfortunately I don’t think she meant eat it… so out went all the microwave meals, ice cream, diet soda… in fact everything that tasted good but was filled with chemicals. Also had to get some semi decent knives.

The ‘30 day detox’ forms the core of Healthy Tart as it’s what kick starts your system into getting on track and healthy. More on that later.

At the same time as the nutritional element of my journey, I had to start exercising. When Trisha and I started discussing the Healthy Lifestyle series, it occurred to me that we should have a full workout / fitness training aspect to the program so a couple of months earlier I decided to look for a suitable personal trainer. As luck / fate would have it, a few days later I went to my weekly business network meeting and in walked a tracked suited, bespeckeled blonde who introduced herself as Christin McDowell, personal trainer!

My bullet point list for personal trainer was:

• Female
• Highly Qualified
• Assertive
• Attractive
• Able to speak and present well

Christin looked to be perfect for the task so I asked her if she would like to go for a coffee and discuss a proposition I had for her. She accepted.

At that meeting I told her about Trisha and the project. She loved the idea and was excited to be involved. I also told her that as project leader I had to get in shape and lose some weight. I mentioned that although I was somewhat overweight, I was still pretty fit. She managed to stifle her laughter. Little did I know what she had planned for me!

At this point I should say that anyone in their early 50s deciding to turn back the clock and shed 30 years of self abuse through bad diet and lack of exercise is in for some hard work, both physically and mentally.

So the stage was set… I had a nutritional / diet plan and a personal trainer. Time to get to work!