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15 August, 2014
When 16 yr old Gabe came to the studio, I thought he was such a special case that I would take him on as a client. At 151kg and 16yrs of age, I knew that we had to act now or Gabe could possibly be facing a life of obesity and all the complications that come with that. At the time I would have said I did a good job – I followed my teachings, that is to set a goal (we set a goal of Sub 110kg) and constantly monitor and track our progress. You see – here is where I went wrong. Gabe didn’t like being 151kg and constantly reminding him about his weight, and the fact that he failed to meet his weight loss goal, he felt like he failed each week. This was obviously not very motivating. He was easily influenced by peers who could eat things that he couldn’t, and so he kept on eating and kept on missing his weight loss goal. I lost Gabe as a client. I don’t blame him, would you want to turn up to a place each week that highlights the very things you don’t like to think about? We were lucky that Gabe enjoyed the training and soon wanted to train with us again – Enter Marcel, our German trainer who seems to have a knack of relating well to young kids. Marcel did something that I never did – he and Gabe realised something – Gabe was strong, very strong. Finally Gabe was coming in and feeling as though he could achieve, he could be the best. Although still tracking the weight, it was the enjoyment of his training sessions with Marcel that made Gabe keep on going. However interestingly enough, when I asked him what had made the difference the second time – he said “the food”. I found this interesting as we/he always knew it was the food all along. But only when someone is ready to change are they are ready to take on our recommendations. At Gabes top weight he was 151kg and we peaked him at 99kg just before he has gone off to an American university to begin the next chapter in his life. He has a bright future ahead of him, especially now that he knows he can achieve anything – you just have to set your mind on it.
