Check out Drew Manning, a fitness trainer that lost 70 pounds in 6 months after intentionally gaining the excess weight.
Manning characterized himself as a "judgmental" trainer. He characterized anyone who was overweight as lazy. He felt that people would use genetics or similar excuses as a crutch. They either wanted to be healthy or not! He noticed that his point of view wasn't helping his clients at all. When he failed to help a client to lose weight, he knew something wasn't right.
In order to better understand what his clients were going through, he decided to go through it himself. He stopped going to the gym and started eating junk food, fast food, and drinking soda. In 6 months he went from 193 pounds to 265 pounds. His waist went from 34 inches to 48 inches.
Manning didn't realize that the effects of his weight gain would not only be physical but mental as well. That there were emotional issues that came from simple things like having to do push ups on his knees. Manning admits that his journey back was easier than most but felt it was necessary. He's now eager to help others by giving them tips on how to follow in his footsteps in weight loss.
I think that this was a great story. Reading books, collecting a bunch of worthless certificates and sitting through trainings will never compare to real life experiences when you are trying to empower people.
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