Lisa Stevens
At just shy of 50 years old I was feeling more like 80.?A past injury resulted in the loss of the cartilage behind my kneecaps and is a source for the difficulty I experienced in climbing and descending stairs. This along with rheumatoid arthritis made every day chores seem like insurmountable tasks.
After years of struggling and compensating for my poor health I decided I had had enough and it was time to do something about it. Thus a year and a half ago I started working with Mike at Advantage Personal Training with a goal to become stronger and more flexible. I knew I could not expect immediate results so I kept telling myself, ?I will judge my success in a year? just keep going.? I knew this would be a lifetime commitment. Mike was great at accommodating for my limitations. I worked as hard as I could to do everything he had set up for me. I began to feel better all over and my joints did not hurt in the way they had previously. I began sleeping better at night and I had more energy during the day.
After about 4 months I was feeling good enough to set some new goals for myself. Now it was time to lose weight. I started a diet plan with Ideal Weight Systems and over the next 4 months lost 37 pounds. I was very excited to accomplish this.
Last summer I began working with Jesse and Denzel at Advantage who continued to challenge me and always come up with tough workouts to keep me on my toes. I have been able to maintain my weight and I feel like I continue to get stronger. My arthritis is not as noticeable these days with my only limitation being my knees. Though, with the strengthening of the muscles that surround my knees they have been feeling much better and I do not dread the stairs the same as I did a year and a half ago!
This past May I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary and it was especially gratifying when I was able to fit into my wedding dress again! Now, I feel I can judge that the work I have done has been successful in getting me to my goals. Now I am feeling like I have a new life with energy, strength, and flexibility along with balance that I lacked over a year and a half ago plus the added bonus of being the size I was 25 years ago!
Thank you to all who have helped me along this journey for you have helped me stick with it for the long haul.
