My life transformed when I made a decision to change my choices.

My journey to fitness started in March of 2015. My mother passed away in March of 2013 of cancer. To her and my family’s surprise she was diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2011. This was the darkest period of my life. I never expected to see someone I loved so much to waste away from this disease.

This experience made me reflect on my own health. At the time, I was overweight and miserable. I knew I had high blood pressure and did not change my diet or even take the medicine prescribed to bring it in check. I was in my late 40’s approaching 50 and understood that I needed to make changes. I realized that I had no clue what health issues I would face. I did know that I needed to become as healthy as possible now in order to battle any and all health challenges in the future.

The first change I made was eliminating all sugary drinks and only drank water. For exercise, I started walking around my building at work a couple of times a day. Once I got used to moving, I started walking in my neighborhood and the local park.

I complimented a friend of mine who had noticeably lost weight and was looking fabulous. I advised her that I was trying to lose weight myself and asked her what she was doing. She told me that she was working with a personal trainer named Gail Williams. She encouraged me to work with her and even offered to partner with me. I did not think that I was ready for a trainer but took on the challenge anyway.

Gail wasted no time whipping me into shape. I never huffed and puffed so much in my life. In our sessions she pushed and challenged me to not give up. The biggest challenge and gift she gave me was making me accountable for my results. She always asked what results I was looking for. Followed by what I am doing to get there? She wanted to know what I was eating and what was I doing physically outside of our sessions. This drove me to make more changes. I joined the gym and started to make smarter diet choices. I started going to the gym 5 to 6 days a week. I cut out fried foods, bread, and fast food. I ate more salads, vegetables, and unprocessed foods. I then began to see the results on the scale and my clothes were fitting more loose.

My starting weight was 243 pounds. My goal weight was 160 pounds. Gail did a weight check text every Sunday in which I would have to provide my current weight. I never wanted to give a negative report and always wanted to be down from the previous week. This incentive made me work even harder. There were weeks when the scale did not move. When this happened, Gail would review what I did as far as diet and exercise and suggest changes that would make the scale move in a positive direction. This encouragement always worked.

After a year of crying about burpees and mountain climbers during my sessions, I have lost 79 pounds and 6 dress sizes!!! I get compliments all the time on my achievements. And yes, I am asked all the time what are you doing? I tell them going to the gym and working with a great personal trainer. I would never have been able to accomplish this feat without Gail’s assistance. I am still motivated to maintain my healthy lifestyle, although I will indulge in not so healthy cravings now and then. I am currently working with Gail on getting stronger by adding more weight training into our sessions.

– Sonya H., Trenton, NJ