Choose 2 Lose MEN – at Eisentrager’s Gym
One of the Choose 2 Lose MEN participants talks about his experience of taking part in the 12-week weight loss group at Eisentrager’s Gym in Clevedon: Starting the Choose 2...
One of the Choose 2 Lose MEN participants talks about his experience of taking part in the 12-week weight loss group at Eisentrager’s Gym in Clevedon:
Starting the Choose 2 Loose program was very daunting at first. I hadn’t realised I had got so out of shape and stepping on the scales to see if I was near 30 BMI, I was shocked, I was well above it!
A real mix of ages and sizes turned up for the first week and everyone seemed upbeat and willing to give whatever was ahead a try. The trainers introduced themselves a chalk and cheese pair which seemed to complement each other well.
We talked a bit about food and nutrition and had our private weigh in sessions. Soon we were told we were going to have some fun getting some exercise and announced it was going to be a boxing based 12 weeks programme. Great I thought no running around..
First week we stared out nice and easy. To be honest many of us were puffing hard after just the sedate warm up but it felt good to get the body moving again. We learnt a few basic boxing moves and started to get the bodies moving again.
The session was over before I knew it, but it had captured my imagination. I had been given a chance, a second chance to have a different life. A more fulfilled life, a happier life. I had realised that it wasn’t too late, I hadn’t got so unfit it wasn’t worth trying anymore. The game was on!
Over the next few weeks the classes gradually became harder, pushing us all but not over pushing us we didn’t want to come back. I had dusted off the bike and started putting in 15-mile rides and the weight started coming off. I was out doing things I hadn’t done for years and everything in my life started to slot into shape. The alcohol I had clung to as a short-term happy cushion I no longer needed or craved and I drank no more than a couple of beers a week down from 5-6 nights a week. The effort I was putting in soon paid off and I didn’t want to keep putting things into my body that I knew would not benefit me or my mood.
I had also decided to join in with the regular boxing classes at the gym which were really really hard at first. However, it was an amazingly friendly bunch and at the start when I needed to catch my breath and take a break, I was never made to feel like the big unfit one! 11 weeks in I can keep up quite happily with the class although I may well be sweating a bit more!!
As the weeks passed by the group became closer and we would share our journeys. Everyone on their own journey but having the group support. We learnt a lot more about nutrition and what we should and shouldn’t be eating. It wasn’t a lecture it was a choice that we were being given. Ian and Simon kept it simple but to the point so we could all follow. One of the choices given was Ian asking a question of “what do you want to be doing into your 50s?” being 4 years away I knew I didn’t want to be stuck in a chair watching TV because of my eating/drinking fitness choices. He made me realise that so much more will stay open to me in life by making a few changes now. It wasn’t too late and he was 100 percent right.
My family noticed a huge change in me. Lots more positive, lots more awake and lots more alive! So much so that it spurred my son to join the local gym and get fit also. I have been Kayaking for the first time in my life and managed some hill walking I just wouldn’t have even attempted 12 weeks ago. I was suffering from daily hip and knee pain which has now completely disappeared. I no longer look in the mirror and feel ashamed and am just so thankful to Ian and Simon for the effort they have put in supporting each one of us. I have made some new friends and also met up outside of the group for some Boxing / fitness sessions with members.
If you want to:
- Lose weight
- Gain some fitness
- Meet new people
- Get involved within the community more
- Learn the basics of nutrition
- Learn a life skill
- Become more flexible
- Improve your mental health
Then you shouldn’t even need to think about it. Get signed up. You do have to be prepared to put the effort in but it has totally changed my life and I hope it does yours! Its never too late – Rome wasn’t built in a day, but you have the best builders on hand!!
(June 2022)
