Jes Reynolds…Your Fitness Coach

It’s hard to describe exactly how thrilling it is to have the words “Perfect Client” associated with your name on Jes’ blog. Of course, it’s probably only for as long as it takes her to get back from vacation. Oh well, into each life a little rain must fall.

But on to the real topic of this post: my nutrition, which in the past has been far from perfect but has now attained a pretty reasonable level. Here’s my story in a nutshell:

• Eleven years ago, I thought an improved diet meant getting a frosty with my Wendy’s triple cheese burger and biggie fries instead of a coke product. After all, a frosty had dairy, which had to be better for you than the pure chemicals found in coke products.
• Then I had to have emergency surgery for an infected gall bladder and literally took years getting through all the consequences.
• During that time, I started working out intensively with an aim to lose some of my 220 lbs. I made some progress.
• Feeling stalled in weight loss, I turned to the Atkins diet. It worked. Jes tends to eschew Atkins, but if you think Wendy’s frosty drinks are a step toward better nutrition, you have to count Atkins as a much better step in the right direction.
• Atkins worked. I lost a lot of weight and did well for two years.
• Eventually, I found myself at then Gold’s Gym, now Arbor Fit, training with Jes. When I announced my decision to get back on the Atkins’ bandwagon after having been off for a while, well you can imagine the reaction. She actually told me I would not be allowed to train with her. While I thought that was over blown, she seemed so ernest that I decided to pay her some mind.
• And, I’m glad I did! Jes turned me on to On Target Living, founded by her mentor, Chris Johnson. That was a revelation. I enjoined Chris in an extended email exchange the end result of which was him sending me the book he advertises on his site … for free! He probably just wanted to stop the constant email stream (I get a lot of things that way).
• The book is great, and I still use it. I actually eat vegetables and salads now and no longer view Wendy’s frosty drinks as a nutritional step forward.
• Recently Jes turned me on to Lance Armstrong’s Live Strong site, a great place to track nutrition. The nice thing about this site is that, instead of tedious food logs, you just start to type what you ate, and you usually find a good match, with seemingly accurate macronutrient information. Easy, which is critical.

My current approach is to follow on-target principles with Lance Armstrong tracking. It seems to be working. I’m maintaining a good weight.

In the last three years, Jes has been a great resource in all of this, offering all sorts of good ideas, so much so that I finally convinced my wife to take the plunge with her. I’m extremely satisfied. Yes, as you might guess, we butt heads, but Jes’ analyses and knowledge are spot on. She’s the best trainer I’ve known.

Learning how to lose 100 pounds isn’t the same as dieting to lose 10 or 20 pounds, it’s actually a very different journey.  Yes weight loss is the common denominator between these two goals but the numerator (10 vs. 100) requires solving these two equations in very different ways.

If you want to lose 100 pounds or more, you’ll have to be prepared for a long term journey that involves lifestyle change, psychological challenge, patience and perseverance.  Most likely you’ll have to overcome injuries, self-esteem issues, & you’ll work twice as hard as you thought you’d have to for twice as long. (sounds appealing right?)

One way to gain an understanding of what it really takes to lose 100 pounds is by talking with people who have already conquered this challenge.  I personally haven’t faced the challenge of losing 100 pounds, but I have a friend who has.  In looking at this picture it may be hard to imagine that my friend Lloyd figured out (on his own) how to lose 100 pounds, but he did. 

In the following series of videos, I interviewed Lloyd asking questions about his 100 pound weight loss journey.  Each of the videos goes over a slightly different aspect of how he found success.  In this first video, Lloyd describes how he found something that motivated him to make a change. (sound good, video not that good, I am amateur)

Videos 2, & 3 describe what Lloyd did to get started and how he stayed motivated.  In the 4^th video, I asked a friend and client of mine, Becca Cheezum, to ask Lloyd some questions about how he handled the ups and downs of losing and gaining some back while on his journey.

Now that you know what it’s going to take to lose 100 pounds or more, you can get started creating your own fitness exercise program, map out your journey and then get started ASAP!  Getting started is half the battle!