We are going to show you how Vancouverites can lose weight – and have fun doing it in this short testimonial from one of our clients.
Laurie came to Le Physique feeling like something in her lifestyle needed a change. She was coming up onto her 50th birthday and she confessed that she was tired of feeling old, lethargic and frumpy. Around 35 pounds overweight with a shoulder mobility issue, her self esteem was really low, and she knew she needed to make a change.
Laurie had always worked hard in the corporate world and found success, climbing the corporate ladder and putting other people and projects first….which meant she ended up putting her health needs last. She told us she tried the exercise thing before, but it felt like the advice was always the same drab, uninspiring message: burn calories, eat less, burn calories, eat less. As a woman in her 40’s, Laurie also felt out of place and self-conscious in the gym; uncoordinated in group fitness classes and unsure of the exercises.
In our first meeting, she was adamant that didn’t want to give up her wine and she especially loved food. She was concerned that if she hired a personal trainer, they would make her give up wine forever and they would make her eat boring, bland diet food. She was also scared that whatever training she did would only aggravate her shoulder more, causing her pain.
We told her “of course, there is another – better – way!”
At Le Physique, we believe that goals should come from the client and to achieve any sustainable long-term success, the program must fit into the clients’ lifestyle, not the other way around. We don’t impose any dictatorial edicts on our clients, but encourage them to make their own choices about what is right for them.
Often clients have told us they feel validated and heard, that we appreciate and that we acknowledge their lifestyle choices aren’t wrong. They felt inspired to make the best change for themselves and found any changes they decided to make was easier than they anticipated.
Laurie started working out two days a week to help build up a foundation with beginning principles. The workouts consisted of a blend of cardio and strength training with a stage one goal of building confidence in developing a healthy relationship to activity.
She told us she wasn’t very active as a kid and hated gym class and running but had a good metabolism which kept her skinny. As she got older, her metabolism slowed, paired with a lot of desk work and stress, that’s where the weight just sneakily crept up.
Part of our job at Le Physique is not only to train the body but help with the mental aspect of exercise. We want to make our studio comfortable for any type of personality and feel less like exercise and work. We didn’t talk to her about nutrition because that was an area that she didn’t feel comfortable discussing and we think she was worried that we’d tell her: ‘no more wine’. Instead, we concentrated on our secret goal—making the whole experience fun, lighthearted, and, especially, safe.
Laurie found a good rhythm and was very consistent in her workouts. One of our favourite things was hearing her laugh throughout the workouts. She gained confidence and felt better about herself. After a few months into her training program, we launched a six-week health challenge which included coaching sessions and a nutrition plan (we still didn’t make her give up wine) and she was inspired to jump on it.
“I was surprised how much I looked forward to tackling each challenge and checking it off my list every week. The support from my trainers was incredible, I never felt alone or confused or frustrated. I don’t consider myself a competitive person but seeing my name climbing the charts every week was thrilling!”
Laurie was ecstatic with the results. She ended up losing 40 pounds and as a reward, she confessed us that on her 50th birthday, she was planning on doing a spa weekend getaway with her closest girlfriends, doing absolutely nothing but drinking wine and eating cheese. But instead, she bought herself a road bike. She said: “I’m as shocked as you are!” (We have a sneaking suspicion that she still did the weekend getaway, she definitely deserved it! Plus… self care for the win!)
