A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about the importance of your digestive/gut health in the process of losing weight effectively and maintaining good health. Today’s post is a continuation from that post so if you haven’t read it yet please take a moment to so. You can read it by clicking here.
After reading that post I’m sure you can now appreciate just how important digestive health is and how it can significantly impact your general health, energy, immune system and ability to lose weight.
Today I have a short story (and pictures) to demonstrate just how important this is.
I know you’re busy but please take a few minutes of your day to read this, it could significantly impact your life – just as it did for the client I’m about to tell you about…
Sarah’s Story
‘Sarah’ (not real name as she wanted to stay anonymous) came to see us at our private personal training studio initially because she was fed up living in a cycle of poor health, stress, low energy, low mood, frequent illness and the inability to lose weight (whilst gaining weight relatively easily).
She was in a position where she was determined to change and did everything I asked of her regarding her exercise programme, nutrition programme and lifestyle changes.
However, despite Sarah following my advice so carefully, progress was slow.
In fact, after 2 months nothing had changed.
I knew something wasn’t right… how can Sarah be doing everything I ask of her yet her body refuses to change?
Due to her frequent bouts of bloating, extreme lethargy and seemingly constant stomach cramps and abdominal pains, I strongly suspected digestive issues to be present.
I wanted to wait 8 weeks before intervening to see if her body was simply adapting to a very different diet (which is often the case) but this wasn’t so.
We organised a comprehensive food intolerance test for Sarah and also sent her to a gastro-intestinal specialist for further analysis.
The results were surprising…
Sarah’s food intolerance test came back with a strong intolerance to a large number of foods she was eating on an almost daily basis.
Additionally, she was also diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
We formulated a plan (with the help of input and medication from the specialist) and crafted a unique nutrition plan for Sarah.
12 weeks of an ‘elimination diet’ followed and the change in Sarah was remarkable.
Here is her 12 week progress photo:
Quite incredible really..Now that we’ve addressed the underlying problem/internal stress, Sarah’s body is responding properly to the exercise plan and nutrition plan we have in place for her.
She is also feeling like a completely different person – bags more energy, no more stomach cramps and feeling generally ‘well’. Her weight continues to drop and her waist line continues to shrink.
It just goes to show you how sometimes you need to dig a little deeper to find out what’s going in your body to effectively lose weight and improve your health.
If we hadn’t intervened with Sarah, she would have continued jumping from diet to diet as her frustration grow and health dwindled.
The purpose of today’s post is not to suggest that you have a digestive issue and to get checked out (although it is wise to pay attention to symptoms that may indicate the presence of such issues).
Instead, I simply wanted to highlight that a strategic approach to weight loss and improving your health and fitness is often what’s required for success…
…rather than simply burrowing your head in the sand and trying various different diet plans and fitness plans and hoping for the best (as many people do).If you’re someone who has tried various different exercise programmes and nutrition plans without success and suspect there’s ‘something’ else going on then you too may benefit from the strategic approach to weight loss, health and fitness we follow here at Luke Bremner Fitness, personal trainer Edinburgh.
Why not book in for your complimentary consultation with myself (Luke) here at the studio so we can discuss your goals in more depth and explore how our various programme options can help you achieve and exceed them. Click here to get started now.
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