If you are thinking of working with Nancy to lose weight or change shape, stop thinking about it and just do it, you will be making a very wise decision. Nancy is a loveable rogue who will quickly get you doing things you never thought possible, always with a smile on her face and probably yours too! Nancy is a delightful, clever & extraordinarily supportive personal trainer who goes the extra mile all the time – working with Nancy will be one of the best decisions you ever made. In a nutshell, Nancy is brilliant at what she does and makes it fun too
BN (before Nancy) – I’ve been running & cycling on and off for around 30 years, I’ve run the London Marathon & ridden the 100 mile Ride London cycle ride twice recently all the time getting bigger & heavier. After training I would often reward myself with fudge or chocolate, because I felt I had earned it. I didn’t think much about what I ate or drank because I kidded myself I was doing lots of exercise and I would slim down eventually. Instead, the weight piled on and soon I was well over 16 stone and getting bigger, no matter how much exercise I did, I just got heavier and heavier.
I joined the Nuffield Gym in Leatherhead, mainly to learn to swim, but even that was hard work, hauling all the weight up and down the pool, Pilates & gym sessions were tough too because of the extra weight I was carrying.
I’ve often tried to lose weight, always based on exercise, but it doesn’t work on its own, the exercise can help, but you have to have a sensible diet at the same time, it’s all about calories in & calories out (you see Nancy, I was listening ). But the key is finding the right person to encourage, support, motivate and nag you, if you are reading this, then you probably have found that right person!
I met Nancy at the gym, she introduced herself personally before my first Spin class, I thought sitting on a bike would be easy – ha, how wrong was I?! But, it was an education & brilliant fun which is what Nancy is all about. Over the next few weeks it became obvious that Nancy is a unique & talented lady who is professional and knowledgeable with a great sense of humour, she is totally bonkers as well, which always helps. On a bit of a whim one day, I emailed Nancy with a ridiculous question, could she help me to lose 4 stone? I quite expected her to politely decline and have a good laugh at the fat old boy, but she came back straight away and said ‘Yup, if that’s what you want to do let’s do it’.
Nancy encouraged me to sign up to the ‘My Fitness Pal’ App and all of a sudden I could see the calories in biscuits, fudge, cheese, crisps, bread, sausages, beer & wine, all the things I liked. She set me a sensible daily calorie target and I tried to stick with it. She gave me a simple list of do’s and don’ts, foods to avoid and some new ones to get to like. There were recipes, meal suggestions and exercise work outs, very quickly and much to my amazement, the weight began to drop off and I started to shrink!
Every week I had a weigh-in and sent measurements to Nancy and because of this weekly ritual I didn’t quit and the results were obvious!
Nancy is assiduous in her approach, especially as I’m probably the most annoying person she has ever had to put up with. Whatever question I had, she always came back with a helpful answer day or night If I was going to a restaurant, I could send her a link to the menu and she’d help me choose – with a slight frown she might encourage me to look for the healthy option (not always fish’n’chips or curry) and perhaps not have that 2nd or 3rd bottle of wine, but most importantly, to make sure I logged the calories! Yes, there have been plenty of times when I misbehaved and she must have felt like giving up or throwing something at me, but no, she just says get back ‘on the wagon’ and away we go again.
Nancy encouraged me to try new foods, Sushi, spinach smoothies (who knew such a thing existed!), vegetarian options, no alcohol drinks, her own sugar-free flapjack and much more. I’ve learnt to cook many of her recipes and tried new exercises, most of which I’ve really enjoyed – honest !! Sh’Bam (where I’m the token bloke!), Aqua, Step, Body Attack, Body Pump, weight sessions etc. I think I know what I’m doing in a gym now, thanks to Nancy’s advice.
Have I mentioned the fun? I don’t know how she does it but Nancy smiles a lot, and I mean a lot, she makes the whole thing enjoyable and her enthusiasm is infectious, you can’t go to a Nancy class and not enjoy yourself, it’s simply not possible
So after 12 months of great fun (most of the time), I’ve shrunk by over 120cms & have lost most of the weight. But, of course Nancy is right, weight is less important than body fat, so I’ve got that to a level we are happy with too, around 20%. I’m fitter than I ever have been, according to Nuffield I’m in the top 10% of men my age in the country – how funny is that !! Just as importantly, I’ve learnt so much about diet, exercise & looking after myself that I’m not going to be that fat fella ever again.
A word of warning though, it’s cost a fortune in new clothes and shoes and I even need my wedding ring re-made!
So what worked for me and could work for anyone is finding the right person. Quite quickly I realised I wasn’t making these changes just for me, the magic ingredient is Nancy, she works so hard, with such enthusiasm, I didn’t want to let her down, it wouldn’t have been fair.
So if you are thinking of working with Nancy to lose a pound or two or to change shape, stop thinking about it and just do it – you won’t regret it.
Nancy knows I’m quite flippant about many things, so serious face for a moment – ‘Thank You Nancy, you have changed my life’ !!
Phil Boswell, 12 Months online PT 2018 – 2019 (21kg fat lost)
Every Step Fitness 