The Before and After Files #2 - Tracey's Transformation

The Before and After Files #2 - Tracey's Transformation

Tracey came to me wanting to completely change her life. This wasn't just a 'I'd just like to feel a bit healthier' kind of job - this was, 'I'm completely fed up and I need to change'. She had also dreamed of completing the iconic Tongoriro Crossing on New Zealand's north isaldn, but for that she'd need to be able to walk about 20km in one day. At this starting point she was struggling to walk the 15 minutes from the train station to her work on the flat pavement.

So that's what we did!

Tracey trained with me twice per week, hitting the weight room hard. Full body compound movements, within her limitations of bad knees that she'd developed from years of being overweight. Outside of that, she did one short walk of about 45 minutes up the hill behind her house, and one long walk on the weekend. The long walks started at one hour and month on month she eventually built up to doing three hours in one hit! Tongoriro crossing was on the horizon and would soon be completed.

Diet wise, we reduced the carbohydrates initially to help increase insulin sensitivity and also removed many hyper-allergenic foods such as Soy, Gluten and Dairy because Tracey has Chrone's Disease, which makes her digestive system quite sensitive.

In 8 months, Tracey dropped 32kg and over the next few months lost a further 8kg for a massive total of 40kg!

Here's what she had to say

"I made one of the best decisions of my life when I decided to seek help to make some pretty significant life changes back in January 2015. It is the year I turned 50 and had reached that point of pain where my weight and lack of fitness were just too much of a burden and not how I wanted to be defined for the next 50 years!

I count myself really lucky that it was Ben who was the first person I came upon and after that first initial meeting, I felt confident that he was the man for the job. Over the next 7 months I worked with Ben twice a week, followed his sound nutrition advice and in that time achieved overwhelming results, 32 kilos of weight loss in 7 months.

Ben’s commitment to my goals, his understanding, extensive knowledge, personalised approach and support were key to my success. I can hand-on-heart say I looked forward to my training sessions as I knew they were doing the job. Ben asked for nothing less than honest effort from me and in return he kept me motivated, injury free and focused.

For the first time ever I feel like I have the tools to keep me on the lean side of life and every day I enjoy the ease of life without all those extra kilos – thanks Ben, I could not have done it without you."