The following is a letter I wrote to the manager of our local Gold’s gym on July 18, 2016.
Today marks 6 months since I began the 12 week challenge. I have lost 48.5 pounds in total so far. I injured my knee during the challenge and I had to slow down my activity in the gym since then – but I never stopped; I just did less.
I wanted to let you know of something I believe is far greater than the number of pounds lost on a scale. I’m not sure how many people know this about me, but about 4 ½ years ago I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Literally one week before the challenge began I was given a blood test called the Vectra DA to measure the level of activity of the disease (the rheumatoid arthritis).
The results came back with a 39 – which if you look at the chart below you will see that is in the moderate range teetering towards high. I was crushed with this result because I hadn’t had any “symptoms” of the arthritis for a few years and I thought I would be in the low range.
Fast forward to today – I repeated this blood test just last week (6 months and negative 48 pounds later). My result was a 16. I hung up the phone after receiving the results and jumped out of my chair and screamed with excitement. Good thing everyone was upstairs and I didn’t scare anyone.
I have been a fan of Gold’s Gym Clifton since before these doors opened and we were in the office space nearby. But I cannot say enough about Ryan and Mana and how they have taught me so much about nutrition, weight training, muscle groups, goal setting, goal crushing, etc. And they have always, always believed in me. That is huge.
Huge accolades to those two for helping me improve the quality of my life. My family is so thankful as am I.
