I have recently had the pleasure of working with a wonderful woman named Katie. Katie and I have never met in person. She is a wonderful example of how fitness coaching can work, with trainer and client miles apart, thanks to technology and the power of social media.
Katie lost 70 lbs on her own (no small feet!), but hit the wall with about 30 more to go. She was at a standstill for about 3 months when she decided to take action. She had been following me on Twitter, also reading my blog, and liked what I had to say. In her words she decided “to throw caution the wind” and hired me for 3 months of personal fitness coaching. She set a goal of a 3 month push to get below 200 lbs, a mark she described as “a real mental barrier” she couldn’t seem to break on her own.
I’ll let Katie tell you the rest of the story…..
Just the act of hiring her gave me a boost and made me feel hope again. In the week while I was waiting to start, I lost 3 pounds and I hadn’t lost an once for months.
Pamela met me where I was. She didn’t force and push me into doing things the way she wanted. She made suggestions – things I wouldn’t have done myself. I mentioned that I wanted to move from walking miles every day, to being able to run one mile-just one, so she crafted a plan for me to work on and pretty soon I was running the one mile and feeling pretty proud of myself for pushing forward.
Then she asked me if I wanted to run a 5K. No, I didn’t want to run a 5K. That was crazy talk! But just the suggestion opened my mind to something I wouldn’t have done on my own, and I signed up for a race and started training for a 5K, which I ran 7 weeks later, finishing 3rd in my age group with 4 participants.
Each month, Pamela would ask me what I wanted to work on. She allowed me the freedom to choose my own battles, which, for some reason, made me open to thinking of all that I might want to tackle. Soon I was doing some strength training, working with a big stability ball and resistance bands, then light 3-5 pound weights. I was running three times a week and getting stronger than I’d been in years. I’m not talking overwhelm here. Pamela gave me about 12 exercises or so each month, and I did them a few days a week.
She checked my food logs for me every month, pointing out how lacking I was in protein. During the three months we were working together, I further cleaned up my diet, throwing out all simple carbs. I began eating a very clean diet of fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and whole grains and I feel my diet is just about perfect now. I never long for junk foods, I’m so happy with the foods I eat.
Three months from the time we started working together, I’d lost 17 pounds and moved from a size 14 to a size 13, almost into a 12. I now run 4 days a week and walk an additional two days and do take yoga classes two days a week, plus do my own personal practice two days at home. I started a very popular Meetup group for Beginning and Slow Trail Runners in my home town, finally embraced yoga in a big way and am signing up to begin training to be a yoga instructor later this summer.
Working online with Pamela was easy. Knowing she was there was comforting. I could ask her questions on Twitter or on email or I could call her. I found myself wanting to move forward and work harder because she had expectations that I would. I think that’s why working with a trainer like Pamela works so well. When there’s someone who believes in you, even when you don’t believe in you, it helps. I wasn’t sure I could do any more, but Pamela knew I could and that gently moved me forward to a whole new level. I think more than anything, she opened my mind to more things and now my life is so much bigger and my health is so much better. I’m now looking to see what else I can do. I think in terms of possibilities now.
I like knowing I can work with Pamela again, anytime I need some extra help with my diet or with exercise if I stray off course. That gives me a huge confidence in my future success.
And I know Katie will be successful. To continue to follow Katie on her journey check out her blog at Fit Living Daily.
