Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Me and My Fla - briefly reunited!


If you've been reading my blog, you know just what an influence a young woman named Flaminia ("Fla"), my trainer, was to my current weight-loss success.  
 
As I've discussed throughout my blog, my connection with her has been unparalleled.  Despite being half my age, she changed things around for me and literally changed my life.  In about 14 months working with her, I dropped over 90 lbs. - this, after decades of failing to lose weight.

I've spoken to several people whose trainers also had the same type of impact on their lives and they, too, developed a special connection with their respective trainers as I did with Fla.  Whenever I watched the show "Biggest Loser" and the contestants cried (both men and women) because their trainers were switched, I thought it was incredibly silly.  I'd think, "What's the big deal?  So you get another trainer?  So what?"  But then my turn came and I understood exactly why they were so upset and I, too, cried when Fla moved to New York.  

I'm now working out with another trainer, Tunde, and she's been the perfect transition to continue my work outs and although I've developed a connection with Tunde, Fla was "my first" and it won't be the same. 

From Fla's perspective, she saw her efforts with me being recognized, heeded, and applied for the utmost success.  It has to be rewarding to anyone to see their efforts not going to waste.  Most people think that the trainers are there to collect their money for training their clients and their involvement ends when the training session ends.  Perhaps there are trainers like that, but all the trainers I've met are fully invested in their clients' lives and success.  Because Fla and I worked out regularly, I got to know several trainers who also worked at the gyms where Fla and I trained.  Even though I never hired these other trainers, every single one of them has been invested in my success, too.  Whenever I see them, we hug, they comment on my success, and a couple have even texted me to say how happy they are that I'm doing so well. 

In any case, Fla moved to New York in January 2016 and we chat on the phone, text, and email often.  Last week she flew into Los Angeles for a couple of days and we had dinner.  It was a last minute trip and I was so excited to see "my" Fla!  More importantly, I couldn't wait for her to see me!  

Although I weigh pretty much the same as I did the day she left for New York five months ago, I've since lost several inches, dropped over 2.5 body fat percentage points, and dropped one size.  When she left for New York, I was wearing size 12 jeans.  When I saw her last week, I wore size 10 jeans.  Her reaction when we saw each other was priceless!   She couldn't believe how much I've shrunk since we last saw each other.  It's hard for me to visualize the impact of how much I've changed since January because I see myself every day, the scale numbers haven't changed much at all, and it's been a gradual change.  But I've been getting amazing reactions again from people, some of whom tell me to stop losing weight.  Never in my life would I have imagined people advising me to STOP losing weight!

In any case, it was great to see "my" Fla again.  After dinner, she took this selfie of us:




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