I first started training with Channéll a little less than a year after having my first child. I was motivated to lose weight, tone up and start running regularly again after an almost 8 year hiatus. It felt good to be active again, and Channéll started introducing me to the world of strength training and core building. But just when I started getting into a routine, I found out I was pregnant again! I soon stopped coming to the gym and didn’t return until almost a year later.
It was definitely more difficult to get started the second time around. I felt motivated about my fitness during our sessions, but it lagged as the week went on. It was easy to use “being tired” as an excuse to skip the gym. Then, as the new year approached, my training sessions were almost up. If I was going to make the financial commitment to purchase more, I wanted to make a whole-hearted effort and step up my game. I had had the good fortune of being paired up with an amazing trainer – someone who is knowledgeable, enthusiastic and committed – and I didn’t want to just float through my sessions any longer.
A couple of decisions helped me to really focus and become more committed to my training goals. First, and probably most important, I made a detailed list of fitness related goals I wanted to accomplish during the year. For the first time in my life, I started tracking my food intake (a real eye opener). For motivation, I started perusing various fitness related websites she had shared with me. And last, but definitely not least, I made certain I had a regular babysitter so that I could have “me time”; that is, my time at the gym.
Then, just weeks after making this commitment and going to the gym regularly, I started seeing major changes. My energy level was way up throughout the day, I was toning up and fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothes. A big moment was trying on workout clothes in a store dressing room and actually liking how I was fitting in them rather than cringing at any post-baby flab!
Looking back, the best overall health decision I ever made was deciding to work with a trainer, and I feel so lucky to have gotten to work with Channéll. Getting back into shape can be tough work, mentally and physically, and it’s made a world of difference to have the knowledge, support and motivation Channéll has given me along the way.
-Flora Lwin, 31 years old
Doctor, Mother, Wife