Bestimonial: Ann P.

A Wake-Up Call

Gaining weight had snuck up on me. I didn’t feel that overweight. Then I went with a friend clothes shopping and found myself having to sneak over to the Plus size jeans because I couldn’t fit in to Misses anymore. Wake Up Call.

I had initially joined another gym and sporadically went. I ate whatever, whenever and however much I wanted. I have three small kids and I became fatigued ALL the time and felt depressed. My cholesterol, blood pressure and other medical lab work were creeping up to unsafe levels and I was tired of being tired.

After Christmas my friend went to check out Best Fitness Erie and talked me in to joining. We began by taking the group exercises classes and that scared me because I was afraid I would make a fool of myself. After we tried a few, I was hooked. My first class was January 28th, 2013 and I weighed 208 lbs. I became obsessed with exercising and felt better each time I went. It became my stress relief and the one thing that I did just for MYSELF which has ultimately made me a better person, Mom and wife. I continued rotating Les Mills Body Pump, Body Combat and Cycling classes and began running… very slowly, at first. I started to notice I was dropping weight. Exercising inspired me to watch what I ate. I was working my butt off to burn calories, and I certainly didn’t want to turn around and eat them all back. Then I began to notice I felt full more quickly when I ate and my portion sizes became more reasonably sized. My pant sizes started to drop and it was more fun to try on clothes! Michael Colegrande, a trainer at Best Fitness, encouraged me to make an investment in myself and to start personal training with him. When the timing was right, I signed up and never looked back.

I have been training with Michael since July, 2013. He went over and above to work with me and gave me opportunities to make the most of my fitness and nutrition program. He pushed me much harder than I would’ve pushed myself and it helped to have accountability to someone other than myself. He added more muscle building exercises to cardio and kept it fresh by switching things up. Every workout was different, challenging different muscle groups and keeping it fun. I continued seeing more changes in my body shape. Now, I wanted to focus more on my food – what I should be eating, when I should be eating them i.e. pre-workout, post work-out, am, pm, etc.

As of this writing, I have lost 61 lbs. and weigh 147 lbs. I look and feel like a totally different person than I was a year ago. I am “addicted” to exercise and now I have to force myself to take a “rest” day. I am grateful to the community at Best Fitness Erie for their support, positivity and encouragement. I know, without a doubt, if I hadn’t joined Best Fitness I would not be who I am today. I am a MUCH healthier and happier person:) . Check out my blog to learn more about how I changed my life while also losing weight at annpulliam.wordpress.com. Thank you Best Fitness and Michael Colegrande!

** Results may vary from person to person.