“I truly believed that it would be like all the other gyms and I wouldn’t like it.”

Victoria has lost over 40lbs, but more importantly, she’s greatly improved her relationship with both food and training. Getting to the gym is no longer a chore, it’s something that Vic looks forward to at the end of her day.

What made you start personal training with PP?

More like “who made me start personal training”? It was Sam, my husband, and fellow PP-er.

We were due to move to a new area, and after some investigation, Sam found PP. Before we moved, he sent the link by email to my work. I deleted upon receipt. I thought “Super, another gym membership that we won’t use”. I didn’t want to pay for another membership that wouldn’t be used and constantly feel guilty for not going. After we moved house, Sam asked if I’d looked at the email. I told him that I didn’t remember seeing it and it had probably gone through to my junk mail. He sent it again and although I looked at it properly this time, I filed it away and moved on. I felt awful, but deep down I knew there was no way he was letting me off the hook, he was extremely keen on this one and I was only delaying the inevitable. A month or so later Sam emailed the details of an appointment he’d made for us both with Jerome. Great!

To put a face to a name... This is Sam. — Let’s put a face to a name… This is Vic’s husband, Sam.

I was nervous just walking in through the door. It felt small and personal and I wasn’t fading into the background here. Jerome was very personable and ran through everything in detail with no pressure or judgement. He offered to send through nutritional info and advice even though I wouldn’t be able to start straight away due to a tennis elbow injury. Although my trial wouldn’t start until I was medically cleared, I was encouraged to join the online member’s group and begin weekly accountability check-ins. We also ran through calorie counting on Myfitnesspal and a level of self-accountability, but overall the feeling was that PP would be there for support.

Speak to us about our 30 Day Trial (£149)

How were you feeling before training?

Mentally and physically I was stuck. I was the heaviest I had ever been and didn’t think I could get myself out of the rut. I had resigned myself to a life of elastic clothes & avoidance of mirrors. Getting dressed in the same ‘fat’ clothes every day was depressing. I had high blood pressure, tennis elbow, my back was sore most of the time, I was even struggling to move in layered winter clothes to be able to walk the dogs. I was generally tired and food was ruling my life. The brief enjoyment of eating was now met with lengthy periods of guilt and disappointment. Motivation zero.

Related: Ann Loses 17 kg and drops from size 16 to size 10 (at 55)

What did you want to achieve?

When I agreed with Sam that I would give it a go and sign up for a month’s trial, my only goal was to get through the trial. I truly believed it would be like all the other gyms and I wouldn’t like it. I’ve never lifted weights in my life and I didn’t want to weight train and end up putting on weight and looking bigger from muscle gain. If I could last the 30 days, it would be a miracle in itself.

Related: Lisa Creaghan Fighting BPD with Strength Training

What results have you seen?

I have lost 43lbs and I’m no longer on blood pressure medication. I lift weights and feel like I’m part of this new family with a renewed sense of vigour. I barbell squat, hip thrust, take double HIIT classes when I can, and always find myself encouraging whoever is on the prowler or doing a challenge.

It’s actually quite difficult to quantify the results. Although I have changed physically, I find myself wanting to say the main difference is mental, but without the physical change, I wouldn’t have the mental, and vice versa. It’s all relevant, as I’m slowly learning. It’s hard to change habits of a lifetime but my relationship with food is a lot healthier and I find myself planning food and making better choices in order to feel fuller & to fuel, rather than snacking on whatever I can find. My mindset has changed, and with that, my goals.

Speak to us about our 30 Day Trial (£149) Victoria Beach edited 2_00043

Why would you recommend PP?
It’s like no other gym I’ve been to. It’s not the egotistical grunting muscle man environment that I’ve seen before. There is no judgement.

You get drawn into training and this general feeling of wellbeing and the more you invest in your results, the more you want to change. PP invest in you. They invest their time in you, their money in new equipment and on-going improvement of social media. They get to know you, they believe in you. The trainers have this uncanny ability to know how far to push you and you feel the need to prove them right and before you know you know it you’ve become the ‘I can do this’ person you’d always hoped you could be.

Both Victoria and Sam have made incredible progress since joining us. With a combined loss of 80lbs, that’s not bad going at all. If you’re yet to read Sam’s story, you can do so here: Sam’s Dropped 40lbs & Got Incredibly Strong After Just a Few Months.