December 2018 Member of the Month - Lois

We are excited to announce that Lois from our Langley location is our Member of the Month for December! Her story is so inspiring: if Lois can keep on track with lifestyle change and fitness during the darkest time of her life, so can we all.

The first I heard of LIVE WELL Exercise Clinic was when my friend joined the Windsor Square clinic in White Rock. I had in the back of my mind that it was something I also wanted to do, so I joined in Feb 2016. I was determined to get healthy, feel better and concentrate on getting stronger, rather than weight loss. I didn’t want to be distracted or disappointed with the number on the scale. I remember how I felt stepping on it at my initial assessment. Kelly looked at me and said, “you’ll never see this number again.” That was the encouragement I needed and I attended regularly, was happy to have two “personal trainers” in the gym with me to answer any questions. I loved the personal attention and also the music, so upbeat, and I sang and danced as though no one was watching me.

When I heard there was a LIVE WELL location opening in Langley, I was overjoyed. No more long drives to White Rock, in the rain and the dark! I turned up on the first day, March 1, as if I were a child at their first day of school. I was in heaven. Josh, the owner was amazing as was Sarah, the Clinical Exercise Physiologist.

Only two weeks later, tragedy struck, as we lost our daughter as a result of a homicide and my heart was broken. Devastated, I told Josh what had happened and I fully believed I would quit the gym, I was just too consumed with grief to continue. But he said, don’t stop coming, do this for yourself, you need to be strong. I also had a referral to grief counselling and was told the same thing, keep going to the gym, keep exercising, it is good for you. You need to look after yourself.

I admit I didn’t feel like going and I was pretty much a robot at the time, just putting one foot in front of the other and most days I couldn’t wait to finish and get out of there. But I persisted and had the support of Josh and Sarah and the LIVE WELL team. I didn’t tell anyone else of my sorrow, just kept on going.

During that year, 2017, I didn’t care much about myself, what I ate or drank because I felt so numb, nothing had any effect on me. But I still went to the gym and grief counselling. I pretty much wallowed in my grief and smiled on the outside while crying on the inside.

When 2018 rolled around, I decided I had enough of the pity party and decided to focus on my health. Still continued going to LIVE WELL, but started to look forward to going again. I amended my diet, removing alcohol from it and eating better. To my surprise, I started to feel better. The weight started coming off, my blood tests were amazing and my blood pressure was greatly improved. My A1C dropped from 7.8 to 5.5, my daily blood sugar rarely went above 5.8 from previous highs in the 13.0-15.0 range, I never have heartburn anymore and I sleep like a teenager. My doctor was impressed and I am presently taking half the amount of medication I was before, He also said it was possible to get off insulin if I continued on this path. I am no longer afraid of the scale and have been weighing myself weekly ever since.

LIVE WELL is an amazing place. I feel like I can be myself, no one is judging me, I feel secure and have the most amazing team for support. It is absolutely the best thing I have ever done for myself. In particular I love dance days, circuit training, and relaxation and flexibility days. It adds variety and I find myself checking the calendar to see when/what the next special day is. The trainers know how to make it fun for us and also how to keep us safe by showing us the correct way to exercise. Even if you have difficulty doing an exercise, they can change things up to make it more comfortable. I have a shoulder injury and can always work around it so that I don’t hurt myself.

LIVE WELL and my grief counselor have helped me through one of the most difficult times in my life, just by telling me to keep going, to do this for myself and I have followed their advice. It has made me stronger. I still have my bad days but I can get through them because I didn’t give up on myself.

Today, I am down 30 pounds from my first assessment, I have gained muscle, my medical test results are amazing and I feel very proud I didn’t give up when my mind was telling me to go home and stay in bed. My next big goal is to get off insulin for good. I know I am on the correct path.

It is hard to start something new like an exercise program, it’s the start that stops you. But there is no bigger investment you can make than in yourself. Start slowly and the results will come. You have a great team at LIVE WELL Exercise Clinic to help you.

• We would like to thank Lois for sharing her story. Lois, your strength, commitment and the will to persevere through the hard times in one’s life is truly an inspiration for us all!!