Clean Informer Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 30

HEALTH & FITNESS Staying Healthy on the Job by Julie Tran “How did I let myself get to this point?” Cort asked himself after he met with his last client of the day. He was over 220 pounds, had over 26% body fat, feeling really lethargic, and coping with random back pains. He could see that he was just completely out of shape, with his belly protruding out, and he wasn’t happy. As a business owner in the tattoo industry, he looked at the next several years of his business (and personal) life. There was no way he could continue on this decline. Things would have to change. HE would have to change. Friends would give advice that he should exercise more, eat less, and somehow it would do the trick. So, he would take yoga classes, hit the gym a few times a week, and ate less. He still continued to feel back pain, joint pain, and fatigue. Each rep at the weight machines were agonizing. Not in the way that indicated growth and strength. It was agonizing in the way that he could feel in his bones. Feeling frustrated because he was able to lose weight years ago, he was confused about why he couldn’t lose the weight the same way he did before. That was when a good friend of his (a yoga instructor) made the recommendation to connect with me, a Health Coach with Herbalife (a nutrition company focused on overall wellness as well as sports and fitness nutrition). Cort had never met me before, but because we had an amazing mutual friend, he took a risk and a leap of faith. We sat at my office. To give him a clear sense of what I could provide for him, we sat on the couch as I shared with him my own personal weight loss journey. I was 30 pounds overweight with 25% body fat and debilitating migraines. I had exercised heavily 6 days a week, which turned into 2-a-day exercises, with attempts at nearly every diet, and nearly every supplement product I could find on the internet. After plateauing for 4 years, I kept an open mind and swapped out the other supplement products with Herbalife. I shared with Cort about how I immediately lost 4 inches off of my waist in 8 weeks, lost the 30 pounds of body fat, and gained 4 pounds of lean mass in 2 months with no migraines since I began the program. The ability to grow muscle because I have the knowledge and the high-quality nutrition allowed me to help people conquer their journey so they wouldn’t have to struggle alone anymore. Cort would be one of these people. I asked about his health goals, his overall energy at the time, and why he wanted to lose weight. It was extremely important that we understood his reasons WHY. Without having any reason Why, there would be no purpose in How he was going to reach his goals. Once we identified what caused him to want to handle his health and fitness, we also talked about his short-term and longterm goals. He wanted his back pain to subside, and he knew that losing the weight would alleviate that. As a short-term goal