Thursday, August 20, 2009

This is why I do what I do!

Before




After




NAME: Grace Chung
AGE: 22 years
OCCUPATION: Nuclear Medicine Student



The reason why I decided to start going to the gym was because I felt that if I didn’t do anything about taking care of myself, then I’d only end up becoming increasingly heavier, chunkier, and miserable. I epitomized the classic yo-yo dieter, and always refused to be in a picture when somebody had a camera around because I knew I wouldn’t like how I turned out in it. So I decided that joining a gym would be a birthday present to myself. In addition, I have a family history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, which was where I was headed if I didn’t act soon.

At my initial assessment, I discovered that I wasn’t just overweight, I was clinically obese, and my body fat composition was a horrendous 45%!! That definitely shocked me; frankly, it was embarrassing. If I didn’t accept it before, I sure did when I saw the numbers – I was FAT. Therefore, I agreed to be assigned to a nutritionist and a personal trainer – the nutritionist would teach me how my body metabolizes food and what sorts of foods are better for me as an individual, and a personal trainer would whip me into shape while keeping me accountable.

Greg was my nutritionist, and he basically taught me the philosophy of eating. Previously, I was eating a lot of carbohydrates and fats, and not enough protein and fruits and vegetables; now it’s the opposite. He taught me how exercise affects how my body processes food, and how to make better food choices while not giving power to food. Greg also gave me an incredible tool: a food diary. I still use it every day to record what and how much I eat, the times that I eat, the total calories and the total protein for the day. Because he understood that I am a visual learner, writing down all that information would help keep myself accountable for what I put into my body as fuel, as well as reflecting on what dietary adjustments I need to make on an on-going basis.

In the end, the key is that I learned and was educated throughout the entire process, I was taught what to do instead of being told what to do. This is important because now I’ll be able to create workout programs and eat properly on my own. Best of all, I saw results and I still do!! It’s been just shy of one year, and I’ve burned off 38 pounds and my body fat composition is at a fair 25%. Not only that, I am now determined to live a healthy lifestyle, and I know I’ll be able to maintain it because of how much I’ve changed not only physically, but mentally; I have a more positive outlook on life, and definitely on health and fitness. I am now a healthier and happier person and am grateful to all the people I’ve met along the way!!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Don’t ever use the “Q” word!



Wow! In a word that pretty much sums up the last week for me. It was full of positive energy and I’m still riding a pretty strong wave right now. However, it seemed like I would never get the news I got last week.

Let me give you some background so you can understand just how truly great last week was for me. For the past 3 years I have been working at Extreme Fitness as a full-time nutritionist. This year I decided to become a Personal Trainer and have also been doing that at Extreme Fitness. In addition I have my own Lifestyle Management Company (Cruz Control Lifestyle Management) and have also been working as a walking instructor for a company called Health Systems Group.

HSG manages many fitness facilities for corporations such as Proctor and Gamble and American Express. Each Wednesday I have met with a group of very dedicated women who are preparing to do the Weekend to End Breast Cancer on September 12th. I have been training them each week and have loved the experience. HSG is a company that I wanted to work for full time as I really embrace their “client first” mentality.

While I enjoy working with the clients at Extreme Fitness, I don’t really enjoy the fact that their customer service is so poor. I really believe that you can be profitable while still having a high degree of customer service. It is something that I believe sets me apart from many other people in this field and I take great pride in the fact that I am not only about the money. I think it has plenty to do with the fact that I was extremely overweight as a teenager and I understand how difficult the struggle can be to lose weight.

The other aspect of Extreme Fitness that I don’t enjoy is the fact that I only get paid on a per client basis. There have been days where I have gone into work and had client after client not show up for their session and that meant not getting paid. This made it very difficult to budget especially trying to support two young boys on a part-time basis.

As much as I love the work that I do and feel that it is what I do best, there were so many times that I contemplated changing careers just to make ends meet. I have had jobs in the past where I made more money but where I was totally unhappy. My passion lies in health promotion and that is something that I always kept reminding myself.

Then, two weeks ago I got the call I was waiting for from HSG. An opening came for a full time account manager for Franklin Templeton Financial Institute. The job would be to run the fitness studio and be an integral part of the wellness program there. I went for the interview and felt like I had done a great job. I waited for a full week anxiously awaiting a 2nd interview. That phone call came and I went for the interview last Friday morning.

Later that day I received the news that I got the job! To say that I was thrilled would be a huge understatement. I am so glad that I didn’t give up and remained mentally tough throughout this whole process. In many ways it resembled many of my toughest runs I’ve had.

Today I did a 10 mile run in very humid conditions. There were times when I wanted to stop or slow down as my breathing was getting more and more difficult. However, much like my career, I pushed on and picked up steam towards the end of the run and finished ahead of what I was hoping for.

I remember what my football coach told me many years ago. He said, “It’s ok to get knocked down but it’s not ok to stay down!” I think I have resembled those words!