This week the Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest statistics on diabetes in the US. Nearly 24 million people now have diabetes, which is an increase of a whopping 3 million in just the last two years!
If you suffer from obesity, poor diet, and a lack of exercise, you could be next!
The good news is that more people are aware of diabetes, its causes and its effects like blindness, kidney disease, limb loss and heart disease.
Desperate to avoid becoming the next victim of this quickly spreading disease, they approach me for my personal training and coaching services.
One of them is my client Phyllis, who wrote me the letter below.

June 20, 2008:

I came to Biggi a truly broken woman from the standpoint of my physical health, self-confidence, and happiness-energy quotient!  My weight was at an all time high 188, my muscle mass was declining to the point of making it hard for me to climb and descend stairs, due to the very weak muscles surrounding my knees, my weak front and back thigh muscles, and my weak calf muscles.  My arms were so out of shape that I refused to wear short sleeve shirts, even in the summer, and my back was starting to accumulate fat under my shoulder blades down to the increasing evidence of the development of some unsightly love handles.  Have I mentioned that my breasts seemed to be dissolving into my abdomen due to the growing size of my stomach?  Basically I was losing major definition everywhere and with it my confidence.

My youngest sister recommended training with Biggi and as desperate as I was I felt that I could make the commitment to at least go for the first day and have a free evaluation of my body.  Well let’s just fast forward 4 months to let you know that now I way 158 and still losing my goal is to weigh 118 by December 2008.  I have lost since my last measurements two months ago  6 inches from my waist, 2 inches from my hips, 1 inch from thighs, 1 inch from my arms and have come down one bra cup size ( 34 D to 34C).

I am sleeping longer and more soundly at night and my happiness-energy quotient is much higher: I am more outgoing and wearing much more revealing clothing (wore my first short sleeve shirt last week and walking shorts to show off my developing calves), my neighbors are commenting that I am melting away and I have gone from a size 16 pant to a size 10 and am in some size 8 dresses and skirts.  I have no trouble racing up stairs and running on the treadmill at a speed of 6 and incline of 3.5 for 2-3 minutes while having my usual discussion with Biggi about life, entertainment and global news.  My dogs and I walk 90 min-2 hours each day and I am even going to start riding my bike next week.  Oh almost forgot that my love handles are almost none existent and my abs are fit enough to handle my increasing number of crunches (currently 200) and I can now distinguish nicely between my chest and stomach…my waist is back and coca cola bottles will have nothing on me in a few months.  By the way my back is becoming "a lean mean push lateral pull machine" and is looking almost good enough to take to the beach:)

Now you might be thinking could I have accomplished all this by going to a club or gym and I can tell you emphatically "NO WAY!!!"  I had a membership that I wasn’t using because I was too embarrassed about my body to go regularly and when I did go did not get personalized and customized attention that Biggi gave me.  She evaluated my body and health level and then listened to my goals and dreams (having the body that I am starting to get did seem like a dream at the time and is quickly turning into a reality!) and we discussed my nutritional regime and then she started developing my plan.

I have never been bored with the training plans that Biggi develops since they change each time and she even has developed her own techniques that you will not find anywhere else!  Biggi also tries to make the routines as fun as possible and when you are not able to do certain movements she quickly adjusts the routine to ensure that you are able to work the muscles the routine is supposed to target. I started out very slow and only did two days a week.  When I saw the results I decided to up the ante and have been doing 4 days for the past 2 months.  For me it’s worth the investment.  I have learned to treat my body and health as a priority…we do the same thing to keep our cars running by investing money to get our cars on a regular maintenance schedule to ensure they stay in working order for as long as possible and let’s not mention their beauty regimes of washing and waxing.  So why not our bodies?  Should we not ensure that they stay in working order as long as possible to avoid losing our independence of movement and to keep them as beautiful as possible for as long as possible?

Now that I am looking and feeling better I will eventually use my club membership again but as an addition to my training with Biggi not as a substitution…no one can take the place of Biggi in maintaining a high functioning body and spirit.  Hope you’ll have a chance to experience her work outs!

A very healthy and pleased client,

Phyllis W.

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