Anthony has been turning heads at RevFit since he began. Initially, very quiet and soft-spoken, when I say that he has seen a significant transformation in a very short time I don’t say it lightly.
He started training with me in July of 2018 and to credit his weight loss and the increases in strength that he has seen, it has all been incredibly inspirational.
Many trainers will come back to the question of “What’s your Why?” And it’s not that you can’t see good things happen with your body just from putting the work in but when you have that deep, burning Why and you have it solved, your obstacles in life tend to be less dramatic and less of a distraction. For Anthony, once he knew what he wanted, there wasn’t going to be anything that stood in his way.
It’s probably better that you hear it directly from him.
JASON: Anthony, I remember well first calling your house to find out if we would be a good fit to work together. Your mom had heard about me through some mutual friends who happen to train here as well and she gave me a call to see if I would be able to help you reach your goals. The goal, initially, was to get you in physical shape to get started in the police academy. Can you provide some context for how your interest in that field began?
ANTHONY: When I was a little kid, like 5-7 years of age, my grandmother and I would watch the TV show, “Cops” together. When the theme song “Bad Boys” would play , I recall I would jump on the coffee table and dance to it. So even at a young age I admired police officers. Then, when I went to high school there was a program called the “Police Explorers” that taught me a lot about the career field. Being a part of that group for three years taught me that being a police officer is not all about driving fast and putting bad people in jail. It’s about helping the community and making a difference. So, that’s what I want to do. I want to help people. I want to make a difference.
JASON: You have lost a substantial amount of weight within a fairly short time frame. I wouldn’t be lying if I said you have a lot of clients watching you for inspiration and cheering you on. Can you tell me about what your diet was like before you started training with me and what it looks like now in comparison?
ANTHONY: My diet (before we met) was what ever I wanted. I ate everything. It didn’t help that my grandmother cooked “Southern style” big, hearty meals everyday. Now, I just eat significantly less food. I’ve started buying food from a health restaurant where they have meal plans. They provide 5 meals a week and I eat around that. Every meal is 300-500 calories.
JASON: Within the health and wellness community, myself and many of my fellow trainers feel that one of the biggest determining factors to a person’s success is finding their “Why.” In other words, what is that deeply rooted motivation that keeps you pushing forward when there are so many things in life that can pull you in an opposing direction. I can tell you, firsthand, many people struggle with this. How have you been able to maintain that focus in the time you’ve been with me and not lose sight of your goals?
ANTHONY: One thing I feel that has kept me focused on my goal is the insane amount of support from family, friends and all the people that keep commenting on your posts about me. I may not “Like” or comment back on them but I do read every single one and it makes me feel great. It makes me want to see just how much more I can do.
JASON: There have been some very welcome, and not totally unexpected, consequences of your weight loss. It wasn’t long before your whole mood and morale shifted. You began to wear your clothes differently, your hair was cut and styled differently, and you began to open up more from a conversational standpoint. Can you describe that shift?
ANTHONY: When I started losing weight, I started feeling better about myself and wanted to make myself look even better so I started taking better care of myself. When I started taking better care of myself, it built a lot more confidence in me and allowed me to finally ask out my current girlfriend so I guess everything in my life has shifted for the better since we started working together.
JASON: I remember training you one day and you had what I would call a pivotal admission. You were about to start an exercise and you said to me: “I know where I am in life right now and I know where I want to be and the only thing standing in my way is this.” At which point you grabbed your midsection to emphasize the weight you were looking to lose. I believe it takes a very bold person to admit these things and work towards them. Can you tell me more about how your mindset affects you and gives you an advantage in getting where you want to be?
ANTHONY: I guess my mindset is just a realistic one. I know that I need to do these things in order to do what I want to do in life. And if I don’t do this, then I’m not going to get anywhere in life.
JASON: There was another scenario that I replay in my head with you. You were looking up at our progress board and you saw the numbers that people have achieved with their weight loss. Our two bests to date have been Don and Chris who have each seen personal bests of 86 lbs down. I remember you asked “Those two people lost 86 lbs?” And I replied “Yeah, they sure did.” Your response to that was “Well, you better make room for 100 lbs down because that’s what I’m going for.” I absolutely love that attitude. Would you share some insight for the readers about why you want to shoot for that goal?
ANTHONY: At that point, I did not know what I wanted exactly. I still don’t honestly. I just know that I want to be able to compete with others in the police academy and pass. I’ll figure out what I ultimately want to weigh when I can feel good and confident with my body weight.
JASON: Anthony, I cannot overstate the change that has occurred in you to date. You have been a remarkable client and it has been an immense honor to work with you so far. I cannot wait to see where the journey continues because I, for one, am going to be one of your biggest fans to see you graduate from the police academy. I wanted to sincerely thank you for all of your hard work as I know our story together has more chapters to write.
(As of the writing of this post, Anthony has lost 51 lbs since July.)
“We Make Great People Greater”
