My battle with weight has been on-going as long as I can remember. I even remember my parents bringing me to a clothing store in Meriden and having to visit the “Husky Department”. Many times throughout my life I have tried one diet after another. About seven years ago my wife started following Weight Watchers and counting points. After seeing her results starting to show, I begrudgingly started with her. Before long, I had lost more weight than she had. We finally both ended up loosing about 40 lbs. Of course, as usual, I slowly had the pounds creep back on and probably a few more. I tried joining a gym, but after a while, lost interest.
Driving to work each day I would pass Horizon Personal Training and Nutrition and see the sign out front. I eventually went to their website; WOW! I kept questioning myself if this was the way to go. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. What I did know was that at age 58, and about to retire, I was sick of being overweight and unhealthy. The addition to out family of our first grandchild also spurned me on to do something about my weight. Well. Months went by with me just passing that sign, and then retirement finally came. I decided to finally take the big step, and pulled into the parking lot.
I was a little dismayed to discover that I had to make an appointment for a consultation. I almost just turned around and left. I made that appointment and met with you. That’s when you asked me the critical question, “How ready are you for this?” I was honestly able to answer that I was totally ready. A few days later I started my first session with my personal trainer. She talked me through everything and started me on my way. The first few weeks were tough to say the least. I had muscles aching that I didn’t even know I had!! My personal trainer kept saying, “That’s good, that’s what you should be feeling.” She always seemed to know just how far to push me, and sometimes even when to push a little further.
After a few weeks, I started noticing a difference. I was getting use to the meals, water, and wasn’t as sore all the time. Sure, there were times when I was frustrated that I wasn’t losing weight as fast as I had hoped, but my personal trainer kept offering support and encouragement.
At the end of the twelve weeks I had lost 25.5 pounds. I was so proud of myself, and was urged on even more by all of the positive comments I was receiving. The boost in my energy level was astounding. For 40 years I had basically been a “couch potato”. Now I have all this energy and find myself doing all sorts of things that I had never done before (long hikes, extended bike trips, etc.) At the end of my program, I promised my personal trainer that I would never go back to the way I was, and I thank my personal trainer for all of her help. I wrote my personal trainer a note and told her she had helped give me a new life.
Well. Here I am, three months later. I’ve been continuing the program on my own. I’ve continued to lose, and have lost a total of 42 pounds! I’ve also come down two pant sizes. My energy is at a new level. I find myself accomplishing so much in the course of a day. A big plus was that my last doctor’s visit, not only did he almost not recognize me, but he informed me that he was taking me off of my blood pressure medication.
When I started on this journey, I told my wife that I was giving this to myself as a retirement gift. It was certainly the best thing that I could have ever done. My quality of life has improved 100%. Thanks to you and your personal trainers, especially mine, for giving me a new, healthier, and more productive life. I know that I can be healthy from now on!
Joe K.
Southington, Ct
Age 59
