Obesity: A Client Profile Part 2
- Wednesday, 14 December 2011 16:57
You may remember in August we provided a profile of a client, who suffered from obesity. It has now been over seven months since we started working with her, so we thought we would take this opportunity to congratulate her on her continued success!
Here is a brief reminder of our client:
- Female (46): Mother of 4, overweight then obese for many years
- Starting weight (2 May 2011): 20st 10lbs (131.8 kg)
- Current weight (13 December 2011): 15st 1lbs (95.9 kg)
- TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 5st 9lbs (35.9 kg; 79 lbs)
Sometimes people think that weight gain or loss is all about image and self-confidence, and others simply about a balance of calories in and calories out like we are a simple mathematical equation, but it SHOULD all be about health. After all, starving & pushing yourself to the point that your body actually starts eating itself doesn’t sound very healthy does it!
So here is a snapshot of our clients reported health problems when we met, which have now completely disappeared since we started working together:
- Itchy skin – at the time controlled by medication
- Constantly feeling hot (inability to control body temp)
- Terrible bowel movements
- Chronic physical pain
- Exhaustion, fatigue and chronic lethargy
- Heart palpations in middle of the night waking her up
- Breathlessness when walking
We never take something away without giving something back, so here are some of the things she has gained:
- Confidence
- Strength (physically, mentally & emotionally)
- An understanding of how to balance foods to suit her personal needs
- Stability
- Flexibility
- Sleep. If you don’t think this is a big one, try not having it for a couple of days!
- Ability to make decisions about her health for now and the future
- Much needed new clothes, none of the old ones even nearly fit!
The secret to our client’s success:
- Dr Diet – eating real, whole nutritious foods that she enjoys more often than not, while eliminating non-foods, and anything that was causing inflammatory reactions due to underlying food intolerances.
- Dr Quiet – learning how to breathe, get out in the open air, take time for herself to do the things she enjoys, balancing sleeping patterns to get a full night sleep!
- Dr Movement – her personalized corrective exercise programme, including regular stretching of short tight muscles, strengthening through quality movement to establish flexibility & stability. She is currently progressing into strength training to build muscle mass, which will make her physically stronger, and burn fat more quickly.
- Dr Happiness – getting to grips with what she wants in life, and actively getting about aligning her priorities and lifestyle to make it happen.
As I mentioned last time, the success of this programme is primarily due to the commitment of the client to make the change for herself. We have the tools and the knowledge but it doesn’t work if the client doesn’t follow it. It is important to create ownership of the process for this to last in the long-term.
There are a couple of points of interest I’d like to make regarding this process:
- At no point in the last 7-8 months have we asked or proposed for the client to run. This would have been ridiculous, increased unneeded stress hormone production, slowed her metabolism and caused injuries.
- At no point has the client been on a low-calorie, low-fat diet. In fact, she has not been on a ‘diet’ at all– she has been making optimal nutritional choices that work for her, and eating until she feels full.
- She is enjoying herself. Exercise and lifestyle changes don’t need to be feared, but taken at your own pace, and in your own time.
If you’d like more information on our process and how we can help you please contact us on 0131 554 5564 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
