Something fascinating happened yesterday, just a few hours before my fitness assessment. Julian has been headquartered out at Fitness Together's Gunbarrel studio for the past week and I haven't seen much of him, since I've been working with the trainers at the Frazier studio.
But our kids go to school together, and he stopped me on my way out, right on the sidewalk.
I thought he was going to say that he was looking forward to reading my results, or tell me how trim I look. But instead he told me that I look hungry.
I admitted that I'd skipped snacks for the past two days and eaten only vegetables and water because I wanted to lose the last few pounds to get below 160. My lovely wife didn't like it, but I was doing it anyway. Well, Julian didn't like it either.
"You've lost plenty of weight," he told me. "In fact, I think you looked healthier at 165-170 pounds."
One of the trainers had told me a story that happened a few months ago, when a lady who is in great shape came into the studio and asked them to help her lose another 10-15 lbs. Julian told her that he would help her build endurance, balance, strength, a good nutrition plan and better health, but that she did not need to lose more weight. And here, the same thing was happening to me.
Even in the face of an impressive success - proof that his approach to nutrition and training is highly effective in helping someone lose weight - Julian was pointing to whole person health as the standard, rather than the size of my waistline.
So I end where I started: believing that Chattanooga's Fitness Together is remarkably unique in the fitness industry. Not only in what they can accomplish, but in their commitment to quality of life.
At the same time, I'm not where I started. I have a great re-education about what and how much I should be eating. As well as an improved metabolism that I can maintain with exercise.
But that starts next week. Today it's Saturday, and for lunch I'm making organic pizza from scratch with my lovely wife and daughters. And I'm going to enjoy every minute.
