Weight Loss Journey Update

Month 6: Positive energy raises motivation

By Holly Bedard
NH Mirror Staff

For Manchester resident Patricia Taylor, what started as a 10-week weight loss class has turned into a new support group of friends.

Patricia Taylor examines a model of five pounds of fat during the final "Thin Commandments" class at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester. (NH Mirror/Bruce Preston)

“The Thin Commandments,” run by Catholic Medical Center dietician Kim Dorval, may have ended, but the motivation and support its students found there will continue.

“Everybody there was going through the same thing. There was a lot of support through the group,” Taylor said. “We’re all going to meet once a month at different people’s houses.”

We first met Taylor, a secretary at Central High School, in the Jan. 3 issue of The NH Mirror. She was starting a weight loss program with Dorval, and allowed us to track her progress throughout the year.

Last month, we found out Taylor had hit a plateau with her weight loss. She was happy to report that she had broken through. She has since lost three more pounds and two inches from her waist.

Taylor said her new personal training routine may have something to do with that. Previously, she had been working out with Mathew Cote, her nephew and a trainer at Gold’s Gym. When Cote left the gym to work at FitWise, a personal training facility in Manchester, Taylor decided to give it a shot as well.

Now Taylor goes to FitWise twice a week. She said the friendly and encouraging staff has made it a really positive experience.

“It’s more personal there,” she said. “They teach you how to do things that are specific to what your body needs so you’re not wasting time and you see results.”

Taylor said she also prefers the smaller, more intimate atmosphere over the gym. Plus, there is a lot of personal attention and moral support.

“By the time you’re done, believe me, you feel like you’ve worked out,” she said. “I always feel like I worked out, but didn’t feel like I was killing myself to do it.”

For Taylor, one of the most valuable aspects of this kind of training is the knowledge she gains in each session. With individual attention, she learns the right movements for different exercises that she can then use at the gym or at home.

She said this one-on-one approach gives her motivation.

“The personal trainers want to see you succeed,” she said. “You can’t get anything more than that.”

June weight and measurements*

Weight: 174/189.4

Waist: 35”/40”

* January weight and measurements follow