Tony’s Story of Rise Up Glory
“I was thinking about my wife, Kathi and 3 kids Anthony, Audrey and Camden. I’m not getting any younger and taking better care of myself ensures there is a healthier me around for them longer.”
Before Rise Up, I was exercising consistently but wasn’t doing much with the nutrition piece. My biggest struggles were pizza and ice cream, two of my go to happy eats and treats, and all the social drinking.
Despite exercising 3= days/week at Results Fitness, exercise alone was not enough to shrink my pizza / beer belly and love handles. And, the coaches preach this all the time: “You can’t outtrain a poor diet.” To make actual changes and improve my health required more than a few workouts each week. It required changes with my eating and drinking habits. This was reinforced after seeing my chubby face and second chin in photos my wife posted of me on Facebook. Above everything, I was also thinking about my family: wife Kathi (who also goes to Results Fitness and does Rise Up) and 3 children. I’m not getting any younger and taking better care of myself ensures there is a healthier me around for them longer!
Although I’ve done several Rise Up programs, I am always most nervous and fearful about the commitment. Signing up for the 2022 program meant refocusing my attention and energy. Seems simple but again, when you’re in a routine of eating and drinking what you want, it’s not always easy to change those habits. The deciding factor to get back on track and build better eating habits was knowing Rise Up would help me become a healthier version of myself. That thought alone won me over and so it began!
WHAT HAPPENED WITH RISE UP
Rise Up always provides a welcomed reset following the holidays where things tend to go sideways. It helps shift your mindset, strengthens your focus and teaches you how to eat to get the results you want. It’s NOT a diet where you can’t enjoy the food and drinks you like. It’s about learning, understanding and practicing healthier habits, better choices and having balance. Before Rise Up, I considered myself a member of the “clean plate” club for both myself and what my kids didn’t finish. Because of Rise Up, I learned how to eat a balanced meal, know when to stop and am snacking less because I am satisfied. Even when out for dinner, I use what I continue learning through Rise Up to find the healthier options while learning how to balance meals eaten out with my healthier lifestyle changes.
When it comes to eating healthy, I know what I should be doing but it’s easy to not follow through. The daily accountability surrounding Rise Up is a good type of pressure leading to positive changes. When you become more aware of what you’re eating, you start making different / better choices. Not only does tracking what you eat and other healthy habits provide accountability but the way you feel and how your body responds to these things is incentive enough: you feel better, have more energy, are more focused, HAPPIER and more productive. And, as you continue making these better choices and adding healthier habits into everyday life you start seeing results.
I love Rise Up because it is always going to help you make positive changes in many aspects of your life. What I learned over several Rise-Ups is nutrition and water intake along with regular exercise, quality sleep, and staying active are all important lifestyle factors impacting your goals and results.
HOW LIFE IS DIFFERENT NOW
In 6 weeks, I lost 10 lbs, 7 lbs of fat and have made another lasting impression on new nutritional lifestyle changes. Coach Josh was consistently checking my food logs and tracking guides to offer feedback and action steps to improve and build better habits one day a time. Having that accountability, support and guidance was what I needed to eat better and make sure I was eating enough protein, smart carbs, healthy fats and veggies. This helped me make better choices and decrease the sugary sweets, alcohol and other less healthy options I had been consuming.
Rise Up is and remains a program I will continue doing annually because accountability is what it’s all about and you will NEVER out train your diet! Although I’ve heard this from Coach Josh many times, I don’t think it really sunk in until completing Rise Up and seeing how eating habits and food choices impacted my results and transformed my body. It’s a program delivering results every single time you do it so you know it works.
At this point, I’ve completed 4 Rise Up programs; only need 17 more to make it ‘21’ and a permanent habit! All kidding aside, Rise Up is different because it works, it works, it works, and IT WORKS! This program teaches you the basic fundamentals for creating a healthier lifestyle, maintaining that lifestyle and not feeling like you’re missing out.