Tom's Story
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"I have been overweight most of my life.
"I had ignored my growing waistline while focusing on
my career and supporting my family. It was too easy to put
off to another day; to eat quickly on the run; to celebrate
with a good meal; or to relax on the couch with a bag of potato
chips. In my mind I thought I would lose the weight someday,
but like all empty resolutions it was always going to be tomorrow.
Or next week. Or next month. Or after the holidays. Or at
the start of the new year.
"I had a habit of putting everyone but myself first.
Family before my health. Professional obligations before my
health. Social events before my health. Restaurants made it
easy to eat too many calories, as I was a clean your plate
kind of person. And at the end of a day, I was tired.
"In 2006 I had reached a point of frustration and
decided to I had to find a way to lose the weight. My business was
growing, I have a loving wife and two wonderful kids, and
a lot to be thankful for in life. I thought about all the
joyful areas, but I couldn't be happy with my body. And
in my honest moments, I knew my size was limiting my options
with my family. And maybe reducing my time with them in the
future.
"In looking at the options and talking with family, I
had concerns and excuses with each of them. I thought long
and hard about a surgical solution. At the time, I would
have been willing to spend any amount of money to get the
weight off but I didn't know how I would handle the permanent
changes to eating or any complications. I didn't know how
I could afford the time for surgery and recovery; much less
the cost since I would have to pay for it all without insurance
coverage. I thought about a "fat camp" like the
TV shows, to secretly learn new behaviors in a week or two
and come home to keep them up by myself. Again, how could
I take that much time away from work or family, and could
I really do it alone back in my real life?
"I had dieted before, and knew I could eat less if it
was important to me. The few times I had lost some weight
before, it was due to exercise that I could never turn into
a regular part of my schedule. In thinking about surgery or
a fat spa, I knew both came with a committment to exercise.
When I looked at the fit people I knew, not just the thin
people, again it came down to exercise. I knew this was the
crux for me.
"Not knowing anything about effective exercise, I wondered
about finding a trainer. But going to a gym was out of the
question. If you are overweight, you know. I'd rather walk
to the mail box naked. Someone mentioned personal training
in a private gym, and I thought...maybe.
"I made excuses to myself about how it would be expensive.
But surgery would be expensive. And fat camp would be expensive.
"I made excuses to myself about how I couldn't make time
in my day or week. Again, I thought surgery would take a month
or more in recovery, and I had never taken a two week vacation
in my adult life so how could I attend a camp? I realized
hiring a trainer was like any other professional we all use.
I don't fix my car, I take it to someone who knows about cars.
Fundamentally, a trainer was a professional at becoming fit.
"I decided in late 2006 that I had to get started. First,
I would find a trainer and see if it could work. If it didn't
work for me, then it was camp. And if that didn't work, it
would have to be surgery.
"Something had to give.
"I contacted a couple of personal trainers, but I just
couldn't relate to them. Both were physically fit young men,
but they had no real empathy for my circumstance. They had
never been overweight, they had all day to work on building
their beefcake, and they had no real life experience. Even
in the interviews, we quickly ran out of common subjects to
talk about. I would never choose to spend time with either,
we were at different stages of life.
"When I met Carrie Partna, I thought it would be more
of the same. Look at her picture. But Carrie was immediately
approachable, and she asked a lot of the right questions.
She didn't seem put off by the amount of weight I needed to
lose, or my hectic schedule. She wanted to know what was important
for me, not what she might think or want. It was different
from the trainers I had already talked to, and different from
what I thought about a gym, but what really hooked me though
was her life experience. She was running a business, making
time for clients, and all this with more kids than me.
"Within a week I had set my first appointments and jumped
in with both feet. And Carrie helped me work as hard as I
wanted. No judgement, no pressure, just commitment to help
me the way I needed to work. In hindsight, she must have known
when I was most uncomfortable and self concious -- and taken
extra care at those times.
"And it started. A little at first, then a little more.
Then I started feeling better, which made it OK to stick with
it. Then a little more. Then I didn't dread going. And once
the weight was coming off that was all the motivation I needed.
In the first year of working with Carrie, I gained some muscle
tone and cardiovascular capacity that I probably never had.
Watching my calories and sweating it out at Fit by Design,
I lost about 80 pounds up to the day that I sit here writing
this story.
"It continues to work well for me, and I'm getting closer
to my goals every week. She's helped me make exercise a part
of my life, and put a spring in my step. And it helped me
get my health in order, and finally on balance with the rest
of my life.
"I was reluctant to write this because the story is quite
important to me. I wasn't sure if it would be of any interest
to another person struggling with similar issues. But if you
are, maybe this can help you. If you're reading this and need
to get going - I can't offer a better recommendation than
Carrie Partna and Fit by Design.
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