Josh: Hi guys, this is Josh from DVCC Bedford and I’m sitting here with a DVCC client, Anna Warren. We have just had a progress tracker and Anna has had some more amazing results, so I just thought I would take this opportunity to have a little chat with Anna about her journey at The DVCC.
So, Anna, would you like to introduce yourself, tell us how long you’ve been a client at The DVCC and what results you’ve achieved in that time?
Anna: Hi, yes I’ve been here for 3 months and I have dropped 2 dress sizes, and I am back to my old clothes from my early twenties, which is amazing. Weight wise, I think it’s just over a stone I’ve lost.
Josh: Awesome. So going back to before you were a client at DVCC, explain a little about what you did as a job and what made you struggle with your weight?
Anna: I work for McDonalds Europe and I’m heading European procurement, so it’s a high level, very stressful, very busy role. I travel a lot and first of all I struggled with energy levels, I felt I didn’t have time, I didn’t have flexibility to actually exercise and get back to the shape that I had in my twenties.
So after I started exercising, the first couple of weeks of nutritional changes, I really struggled the first week, really felt ill, but then it was so worth it because I again feel like I have lots of energy and my days are organized, I’m productive. And the most important thing of it all is that everybody enjoys my company because I’m happier. I’m just literally a happier person because I’m happy with my own body, my weight and how I look, and obviously it just puts a smile on my face.
Josh: You put a smile on my face too! So, before, when you were working at McDonalds and you were travelling a lot, what were the kind of things that used to stress you out? Take me through a day in the life of Anna.
I’m just literally a happier person because I’m happy with my own body, my weight and how I look, and obviously it just puts a smile on my face.
Anna: My day starts usually very, very early; so I get up at 5 in the morning and either have to catch a plane somewhere in Europe and come back the same day, or I stay overnight and that involves the whole office day, meetings and going out for dinner with colleagues, finishing very often about midnight and again starting the next day at 5am.
So if you have a week and then another week and another week and it’s turning into years of routine like that, it’s very easy to eat really unhealthy stuff and drink alcohol in the evenings; it’s easy to have an excuse of not exercising, not making an effort.
In the last three years I think I’ve gained a good stone and a half, probably, and McDonalds isn’t a place full of cabbages! I mean, I didn’t eat fries and burgers, but it wasn’t easy; all the restaurant tours and tastes and all that, it wasn’t helpful!
Josh: Had you tried anything, previous to the DVCC, to try and lose that weight?
Anna: Yes. Because I used to be a very sporty person as a child, and then at university as well; I tried joining various classes; I tried a bit of zumba and I tried a bit of running for myself. But then, you know when you commit to a team or classes you have to be there, for example every Thursday. I couldn’t do that and I didn’t want to let the teams down if I was playing a team sport.
Then I tried going out for runs – it’s the motivation, it’s the willpower which I didn’t have, because my days were so long and I was so tired. So I couldn’t actually get myself to get off and go out and do some exercises.
With The DVCC you have an appointment, you come to the appointment and you are directed exactly what to do, it’s just so, so worth it. The first month, my husband was kicking me out of the door; yes, you are going, you’ll love it. And then, after that month I was in the car driving back from the office or coming back from a trip, and I couldn’t wait to come myself. So it all flipped on the other side; if I miss a session it’s really bad then!
Josh: You put such a smile on my face to hear that, Anna! Before you joined the DVCC, did you have any worries or fears as to what it might be like?
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Anna Didn't Want To Be A "Fat Executive"
Anna: Oh yes. I thought I’m going to be a fat executive! You know, the theatre type. I looked around me and unfortunately, people do get lazy, the higher up in the career level they get. They get more comfortable; they think that they are so stretched, with their stress with their responsibilities and accountabilities at work, that they stop looking after themselves. I have many friends who also say the same thing: you just think you are working so hard in the office that you can’t possibly look after yourself at the moment, you just haven’t got energy for it.
But this is very wrong. If you just make the first step and try harder, push yourself a little bit more, then yes, it’s amazing.
Josh: So you’ve actually managed to pretty convincingly break that stereotype, so after this progress tracker result, Anna is now 19% body fat which is extremely lean and we’re extremely happy for her. And it’s a testament to all the hard work that Anna has put in, not only in the training sessions but with all the nutrition changes she’s put in behind the scenes.
So Anna, what has been your favourite part of being a client at the DVCC?
Anna: I love the people here; I love the staff because they’re so friendly, so nice and so helpful. You Josh and Sam… it’s just welcoming from a staff point of view. They don’t feel like staff any more, feel like friends.
And then the people that come here; it’s not what I would have expected. You read testaments before you join and you think, oh yes these people are just saying these things. But they don’t – they’re so friendly; I almost call them my gang, you know! Amanda, Justine, it’s really, really cool. And now there’s another gang at 9 o’clock, because now I try and do double sessions, which is fun. But yes, people are extremely friendly and non judgmental; you can be any size, any shape, any fitness level; you can have issues and problems and you’re still walking out happy. So I’ve made a lot of friends, really nice.
Josh: Good. And we will have to do our best to try and convince new people to the gang that you’re not just saying this!
Anna: No I’m not! It’s really funny, I’m not – it’s fact.
Josh: So if you were to recommend a friend to the DVCC, what would you say?
Anna: It’s *life changing; it’s not just all about your body, because it’s had such a great impact on the way I feel, how happy I am now, how much more patience I have with my children, how often I smile during the day. It wasn’t like that before, I was pretty miserable. But this, endorphins and exercise and all that – it’s not just the body and the looks. I was never really that wrapped up in the look, but then looks help you to feel good.
Josh: It’s really great to hear that, because I think a lot of people come initially looking for fat *loss, but it’s small things like you say, smiling more often, having more patience with your children, they’re the really, truly *life changing things that you notice every single day. And it’s great to hear you say that, Anna, it really is.
So, Anna, thank you very much for being so open and sharing part of your journey with the DVCC. Guys, look forward to further updates from Anna because, as we said, we are only 3 months along the line and there is plenty more left to come from Anna! So guys, have a lovely day – it’s goodbye from me and goodbye from Anna!
