TESTIMONIAL

My whole life I was overweight. I accepted it as what was normal for me and it was never going to change. I had always gotten the “if you would just lose some weight” speeches from my family but I would just brush it off because I never wanted to hear it. I wasn’t sitting home feeling sorry for myself. I was living my life and I was happy… or so I thought.

In April 2011, after seeing this picture of myself, I was in shock to say the least! I did not recognize the person looking back at me. How had I gotten so big?! How could I not see it?! At that moment I realized how truly unhappy I was and that I had been lying to myself my whole life. I needed a change and it had to be now or never.

I started to watch what I was eating and tried Zumba for awhile. That worked for some time and I lost 65 pounds on my own. I felt that I needed something more or I was going to fall back into old habits again. In November 2011, I joined Gibsons Fitness. I was nervous and scared, but I knew it was something I had to do. I was set up with a trainer and that scared me even more! During my first training session, I thought to myself, “How can I do this? I am too big to be seen in the gym with a trainer! What will people think?” Well, I got through that first personal training session and have never looked back!

The more I worked with my trainer, the more I could see that as long as I stayed focused, this was something that I could do! Though, I have to admit, it wasn’t easy. My trainer pushed me to do things that I never thought I would do. Very quickly, I realized that not only did I not want to let myself down, but I didn’t want to let him down either! He had faith in me and believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. I noticed changes not only physically but mentally as well. Every time a goal was set for me, I not only tried to meet it, but to destroy it. He would challenge me and instead of being scared, I would embrace it with more and more confidence each time.

I can’t thank my personal trainer enough for helping me see the potential in myself and the confidence he has given me to continue to better myself and making me believe I can do this. Since I started my journey, I have lost 18.3% body fat, 35 inches and 140+ pounds. Although my journey isn’t over, it isn’t as far out of my reach as it once was. I have the motivation and confidence now to know that I will get there!