I wear a couple of hats. One of which is Personal Fitness Trainer. I've got a client whose given me permission to tell a short version of part of his story. Let's call him Dave, shall we? Dave found me on Facebook. He saw one of my demo videos and said, "this guy seems legit, so why not give him a try?"
I'm so glad Dave reached out to me. I've come really dig our time together and I have a ton of respect and admiration for him. Dave was 535 lbs. when we began zooming, lifting, stretching, and more, together. I dug into Dave's backstory a little. It always helps for a trainer to have a little intel, but more than that I'm a people person. People's stories, trials, tribulations and journeys fire me up.
Dave has been a big lad a long time. At one time he had a different trainer and went from 500 plus pounds down to 400 lbs.
"But I lost the weight for the wrong reasons and later put the weight back on," he said.
"Wrong reasons? Partner?"
"You guessed it brother. My girlfriend at the time told me I had to lose weight for my health."
"Mm Hmm," I said.
"But when I got down to 400 lbs. she dumped me anyway."
"Ouch. So depression kicked in and, back up you went, huh?"
"That's about it," he said.
We started another set of biceps curls.
"But this time," he said. "I'm losing the weight for me—for my health, energy, sanity and all that." He followed with a shy chuckle.
"I can dig it. The good news is you'll be bumping up endorphins, speeding up your metabolism, gaining energy, among other things, and your joints are going to love you for it," I said.
"You know it brother. I've been reading a lot on this stuff. I'm all in!"
Dave and I only trained once a week in the beginning. In addition he had a nutritionist who helped out immensely. When Dave started with her he'd been on the keto diet for a few weeks. She encouraged him to stick with it and helped him with meal planning etc. I felt like the three of us were a team...and still do.
Just last week Dave mentioned that he's been training on his own, three days a week in addition to our workouts. He's still on the keto diet and has had only one single cheat day.
"How did that go? Unpack that day for me brother," I said.
With an aw shucks laugh he shared, "Well, I got together with a girl friend of mine for a socially distance meal at a fast food joint. We sat on the patio."
"Ah shit."
"Yeah, so I had a burger and fries...too many fries, milkshake. You know how it is."
"And?" I asked.
"I felt like shit all day. I was dragging ass. And my guts just tumbled around—I could go into more detail but—"
"Nah, it's cool. Being a trained professional, I know where you're going," I laughed. "The good news is your new body is telling you it's done with that empty calorie bullshit."
*empty calorie bullshit is the scientific medical term for: empty calorie bullshit.
"Totally dude. I don't even have cravings anymore," he said with a massive grin. Standing at six feet—one, he folded his arms across his barrel chest.
"Awesome. You've got this dude. I can feel it. And it's because you've made a lifestyle change. You're not just some Cat who went on a diet."
"I'm trying," he said shyly.
"It's more than trying, pal. You're doing...And you're succeeding."
"Thanks brother."
"OK, next set. Stop trying to distract me with your badass story. Let's go!" He laughed knowing I was only pretending to be pissed.
Smash cut to just last week Dave gave me a little more background on how he found his way to the nutritionist.
"My doctor wanted me to do the stomach bypass surgery."
"But you told him you wanted to lose the weight naturally," I said.
"Yeah, but he told me I'd never be able to do it."
"What! He showed that much confidence in you huh?" I said laying on the sarcasm.
"Yeah, that's why he sent me to the nutritionist—to set me up for the surgery."
"Old school doc, right?"
"Yeah he's old," he said. "And a little dude."
"Well I'm glad you're doing it on your own. Like I said, you've changed your lifestyle. I get tired of these doctors that want to go straight for the knife instead of preventative measures like, ya know, exercise and diet. For fuck sakes!"
*For fuck sakes: Canadian term: for the purpose of or in the interest of...fuck.
"Yeah, I know right?"
"So when was the last time you saw the doctor?" I asked.
"I'm going in march for my annual."
"Coming up on a year then?"
He nodded.
"Wow, is he in for a shock. Wait until the slim version of Dave cruises in."
"Yup, I'm 381 lbs. today!"
"Dang! So you've lost one—fifty—"
"A hundred and fifty-four pounds dude," he smiled.
"Get it like a big dog! You should be proud of yourself, man."
"Thanks brother. I am."
"Yeaaaaaaah buddy," I said. After a brief pause I said, "By the way, do you mind if I blog about you Dave?"
"Go ahead. But who's Dave though?"
"You will be, in my blog post."
"Nice," he laughed. "Cool."
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