Introducing "Shannon’s Slimdown" with Dragon Gym

You may remember from this post last week how impressed we were when Sarah and I went to meet with the folks over at Dragon Gym in Exton a few weeks ago. When we went in to interview Som and Lonnie, I really felt myself personally pulled to their philosophies, their programs, the facility, and their staff.

To give you some background, at about the same time that our appointment with Dragon Gym had been scheduled, I had just made a firm pact with myself that MANY areas of my life needed to change and that 2011 was going to be the year that I prioritized my health right along with the needs of my husband and children.

As a Mom, I think we are all pulled to put the needs of our families first, and just keep moving forward to do whatever needs to be done to keep our families in working order. Unfortunately, 2010 was a really crappy year for me personally, and I wasn’t paying enough attention to what my body, mind and spirit needed. After experiencing the loss of a very dear and very young friend, the resulting depression, and excruciating & crippling migraines, I really let my eating habits spiral out of control.

The irony here is that I am a HUGE proponent of local, whole, and organic foods. I am part of a CSA every season. I buy local, minimally pasteurized dairy products and fresh eggs for my family and have just started buying mostly grass fed meats. I’ve read every book that Michael Pollan and many other authors have published on our failing food industry, and know how to feed and nourish my family well. For me to require healthful eating for my family and kids, but allow myself to have ice cream and candy was more than ironic. It was stupid.

But alas, when it’s you that is stuck in the situation, it is sometimes hard to see a way out. Finally, at the beginning of this year, when my weight had climbed to the highest (non-pregnant) number it had ever been to and I recoiled from seeing myself in pictures, I knew that something had to be done. But, even more than that, I was SO TIRED of not feeling well. I wanted so desperately to feel energetic and healthy.

I vowed to start eating and exercising my way back to health. I know that a better diet and exercise will make a huge impact on my chronic fatigue and on these nasty migraines that I have to take lots of medicine to control.

The day I met with Som and Lonnie, we talked about what types of programs they had at Dragon Gym and what kept striking me is that they focus on a person’s total health there. They want to be sure you are strong, and eating well, and have energy and focus, and yes, weight loss is awesome too! They aren’t as interested in people walking in there, shedding a bunch of weight and feeling “done” with the process. At Dragon Gym, you really learn how to create healthy habits and lifestyles.

So, the week after we met with Som and Lonnie, I met with the personal trainer at Dragon Gym, Steve Maze, and was on my way to health! That day, I put this message on my Facebook page “I have a meeting at 12:30 that is going to change my life.” I was confident, before I had ever even done one single exercise with him, that working with Steve was going to change my life. It may sound overly dramatic, but truly it was how I feel (and I still do). This is the first time I’ve had a gym experience where someone works with me for several hours over several weeks to be sure that I understand the whys and hows of exercising instead of just throwing me to the wolves with a bunch of weight machines and some fitness classes.

I’ve been working with Steve for about 6 sessions so far. His first mission was to assess my current level of strength and fitness, of which there was none, and build a program for me that suited my skill level. I don’t always understand where he is going with certain things, but usually by the next session, I start to really understand his reasoning for having me do different exercises.

I’m not bench pressing huge amounts of weight, I haven’t lost many inches or pounds yet, but each and every day I feel stronger, which is huge for me. I also feel more flexible. Every session I prove to myself that I can go a little longer, push a little harder, or do a little more.

Once I get through this next week of my 3 week intro with Steve, things will really start to pick up. I will be blogging my progress here each week and explain some of the things I am doing in my fitness program.

And, YES, I will blog the numbers…. it’s good to be accountable, right? 🙂

Here are my main goals:
1. Lose 35 pounds

2. Improve posture significantly

3. Build strong muscles

4. Eat healthfully

5. Improve migraine health and decrease migraine medicine

So, without further ado…. here is the PAINFUL, REAL RAW TRUTH…….

THIS is my before picture 😦

Uuuggghhh……. Yes, it is embarrassing to put this picture out there for all of our readers to see. However, by putting it all out here, I’ve realized that I’ve got nothing to hide and I can be totally honest with all of you throughout this journey. I must really love my job, people!

In all honesty, I am really excited about this process. I look forward to sharing this with all of you along the way. Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, etc. I’ll be posting questions for you all or asking for advice when I need it and I hope you’ll jump in!

Until next week on Shannon’s Slimdown, have a healthful week!

*Disclosure: Dragon Gym has provided personal training services and gym membership to me in order to do this project. No compensation was received for this post, and as always, all opinions are strictly my own.

~Shannon