By: Chris Gates
This is Yvonne, and I’m pumped to tell you her story!
She came to me with a problem, and a goal, but needed some help putting all of the pieces together to start moving in the right direction.
Yvonne was dealing with a hip injury, which was slowly eating away at her ability to exercise. In turn, she had put on some weight and was searching for answers.
“At the time I signed up for coaching I was injured, so my usual way of keeping fit and keeping weight off — running and pretty extreme outdoor fitness classes — became something I couldn’t do,” she said.
“I was slowly putting on weight and my mood was getting pretty low, as I wasn’t getting any exercise. So, I went looking for another way to get fit, get strong, and lose the weight I had gained. And I found Chris :)”
On top of that, Yvonne was enrolled at University to study nursing. She had a packed schedule with frequent overnight shifts, and needed a solution to start making progress.
So we got to work.
In order to help Yvonne balance her daily lifestyle and all of the demands, we started with a 3-day strength training program each week. It was considerably different than the programs she used in the past, but she was incredibly receptive to the change — and dove right in.
Considering Yvonne couldn’t do much running due to her hip — and very aggressive/intense training wasn’t an option — we focused on the basics with strength training.
Yvonne jumped into the gym and worked on building strength while minimizing the wear and tear on her joints.
“The getting started process was quick and clear. Chris laid out how he could help me, and also what was expected of me,” she said. “Chris asked lots of questions to get to know me, my likes and dislikes regarding nutrition and exercise, and my goals. He was also open to me asking lots of questions, which I took him up on frequently!!
“I really liked the weekly check-in videos and emails as a way to keep me accountable, and the videos especially made the process feel individualized and like a coach/client relationship, which was important since we are on the other side of the world to each other (Yvonne lives in Scotland). It never felt that way.”
We also set up Yvonne with a slight calorie deficit and increased her protein intake to help her lose body fat, and she was unbelievably consistent with her tracking and attention to detail with her diet.
If she had something planned for the weekend, we’d make adjustments so that she could have flexibility to enjoy those events. And whenever a challenge presented itself, Yvonne tackled it and moved on.
Consistency was the name of the game, and she did an unbelievable job!
“I liked that every week at check-in, Chris asked what I had coming up the next week, what there was for us to work around — so helpful when you have a brain full of stuff,” she said. “I felt it was these seemingly little inconsequential questions that helped keep me on track, as without that I would have failed to plan ahead and then been lost in a week where I’ve missed workouts, my nutrition hasn’t been the best, etc.
“And on that, when things did happen (or didn’t!) and I missed a workout, had a takeaway, it was never the end of the world like I used to think it was. I didn’t have to scrap the whole plan… Chris helped me to accept it and move on, no judgement, no freaking out. This has been a huge part of my consistency, allowing mistakes but keeping on going in the right direction. Without Chris reminding me that mistakes were part of this I would have stopped at the first one. He was also quick to encourage or congratulate me on reaching goals, taking a next step, etc. He was always so motivating!”
All told, Yvonne lost more than 15 pounds and dropped a full 4.5 inches off her waistline while we worked together.
She got strong as hell, too! Yvonne added weight and reps to just about every single exercise in her program.
And she even got back into running!
“I never thought I’d find something to take over the classes and running that I was doing but I LOVE lifting weights,” Yvonne said. “As Chris told me at the very beginning, coaching is about building up my body and not breaking it down, which is how I was usually left feeling after miles and miles of running/classes.
“I feel strong in a way I haven’t before. I feel energized at the end of EVERY workout even when I could easily have curled up for a sleep beforehand. My nutrition is much better and I’m not cutting anything out, I’m not missing anything at all. I can see and feel my body changing and I love it because I know it’s changing in the best way. I’m feeding it well and training it well, and this has helped more than I can say with my mental health too.”
I’m so unbelievably proud of Yvonne for all that she has accomplished, and I can’t wait to see what she does next!
~ Chris