I officially entered the fitness industry in 2008 as a personal trainer at Equinox in NYC.
I was a career changer (more on that to come) and eager to embark on a new path.
Within a few months I had built up my client roster to be considered "full time" status, which at Equinox is achieved by performing a minimum of 21 sessions a week.
Aside from vacations or a slow month here or there, I maintained or surpassed that weekly minimum during my tenure with the company.
So, if I make a conservative estimate of doing 84 sessions/month for the last 12 years, I've spent roughly 12,000 hours in 1-on-1 training sessions.
🕖 12,000 hours of teaching people how to squat, plank, lunge, deadlift.
🕖 12,000 hours of counting reps, timing rest and watching form.
🕖 12,000 hours of "fitness".
Yet, when most people came in for their initial assessment and told me about their goals and their struggles, not ONCE did someone say to me,
"You know, I really want to lose weight but...I don't know how to deadlift."
Shocking, right?
What they DID express to me was that they:
➡ Were lacking motivation to exercise ➡ Felt like they had no time for themselves
➡ Didn't know how to manage their stress
➡ Couldn't control their food cravings
And while I would listen and empathize with their situations, the solution I prescribed was always:
Diet and Exercise (and sometimes more cowbell 🐄🔔).
I was under the impression that a change in exercise and diet would ALSO create the change in mindset, motivation and self esteem needed for sustained weight loss.
Because that's how it worked for me. 🤷🏼♀️
In 2004 I moved to NYC to study technical design at F.I.T. (after previously working as a hairstylist in Ohio).
I was doing well in the program, had a solid group of friends and a kind and supportive boyfriend.
But, I was really unhappy.
I was full of self loathing and took terrible care of my health.
I drank A LOT, lived off of frozen pizza and chicken nuggets, and (aside from walking around the city) was pretty sedentary.
So it wasn't a huge shock that I started to gain weight.
In the spring of 2006, I hired a personal trainer named Edgar.
He was THE stereotype of a bodybuilder trainer.
✔ He moonlighted as a bouncer at a club
✔ He carried around a protein shake with him at all times
✔ And he didn't own a single shirt with sleeves 💪🏼
Our sessions were pretty generic, but he made me work HARD.
He got me uncomfortable.
And he encouraged me to do better.
After 6 months of training together I was lighter and stronger, but more importantly my mindset had started to change.
Over the following 2 years I read everything I could about health and fitness. I joined 30 day challenges, I was active on internet forums (the OG social media 😝), I made excel spreadsheets to track my food.
I went ALL IN.
It was so consuming, that I decided I wanted it to be my career.
For me, fitness was the catalyst for major change in my life. A change towards not just better physical health, but better mental and emotional health as well.
And I wanted to help other people achieve the same.
I wanted to help people not just get healthier, but also to feel empowered, optimistic and confident.
I wanted to show people that change is possible.
But I messed up.
It took years before I realized that (although powerful) fitness was only the spark, not the fuel, behind my personal change.
Surprisingly (NOT), Edgar never talked to me about self love. He never asked what really brought me to the gym (because it wasn't just weight loss). He pushed me, physically. But he never asked me to dig deeper — to figure out how I had gotten to such a state of sadness to begin with. And neither did I...for years.
I continued to give clients what I knew — Diet and Exercise.
✔ Interval workouts
✔ Lists of healthy fats and lean proteins
✔ Cardio "homework"
But the whole time I was giving people fitness, I knew that there was a missing piece to the equation.
And I felt like I was letting my clients down.
I knew that sustainable weight loss was more than just "calories in and calories out".
But I didn't know how to coach it.
So I experimented.
➡ I hired my own coaches.
➡ I explored mindfulness and gratitude practices.
➡ I studied motivation and positive psychology.
➡ I learned SO MUCH as well as made a TON mistakes along the way.
And in the end, I equipped myself with the tools to help people do more than just "workout and eat right".
To help people not only shed pounds but also to shed fear, insecurity and self doubt.
It's with these tools that I've created my "Reset & Recharge" program.
This 12-week program implements my 3 step process of small shifts in ✅ Nutrition ✅ Fitness and ✅ Mindset to create results that last.
Because I know that change IS possible. And that sustainable weight loss IS achievable. But that there's so much more to it than just "Diet and Exercise". And now, after years of getting it wrong, I KNOW how to do it right. So, if you want to: ✔ Lose weight ✔ Gain confidence ✔ Increase energy ✔ Get strong (both inside and out)
If you are ready for a change,
Then apply HERE to see if my 12-week "Reset & Recharge" program is the right fit for you.
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