Lori, a member of Anytime Fitness Anderson CA, had always struggled with her weight. After a complicated pregnancy and the birth of her first child, Griffin, she left the hospital weighing around 300 pounds, but Lori shrugged it off, knowing she could always lose the weight.
Six years later and 40 pounds lighter, the birth of her daughter, Bailey, was even more complicated, and led to Lori spending three full weeks in the NICU. When Bailey was finally able to go home, Lori found herself trying to balance her daughter’s multiple appointments, therapy sessions, and daily health concerns, in addition to taking care of her 7-year-old son. As someone who dealt with stress eating, she struggled. After about a year, Lori finally felt that she was in control of Bailey’s schedule and her own life – but she was also back to weighing 300 pounds. It was a wake-up call for her, and she started to diet and exercise.
Nine months later, Lori’s third child, Benjamin, had similar struggles to Bailey, and was in the NICU for 29 days, which threw Lori’s health and wellness routine for a loop. It wasn’t until his third birthday that she finally felt like she’d established a routine between all the appointments, visits to the doctor, therapies, and school. Lori finally had a minute to focus on herself, and she knew it was time to start making changes in her lifestyle.
Lori knew that Anytime Fitness was opening in her neighborhood in two months, and she started a diet and exercise regimen while she awaited the grand opening. When the gym opened, she, her husband and her oldest son all joined, and Lori and her husband took turns working out and caring for the children. She hit the cardio machines hard and lost 65 pounds in her first six months… then hit a plateau. Not one to give up, Lori kept hitting the gym three to five times a week and finally lost another 25 pounds at the end of 2019. But then, COVID-19 hit and gyms started shutting down, just when Lori had started attending the gym’s Saturday Build class. Around the same time, she and her husband had adopted a fourth daughter, Brystal, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism.
Thankfully, the gym’s owner provided online home workouts, which helped Lori stay active and keep making progress. When the gyms opened back up, she was more than ready to get out of the house and back to what she called her “me time.” Lori’s personal trainer, knowing that she had four growing kids to care for, encouraged her to add weightlifting to her regimen to build her strength, instead of just returning to her regular cardio. When Lori agreed to give it a try, she soon realized it was what she calls “the best decision ever.” She now attends all five of the club’s strength training classes, plus personal training and her own cardio sessions, too! Lori is at the gym every day and feels she’s in the best shape of her life. Her days are busy between caring for her four kids, and she’s thankful for the gym as it’s a place to work off her mental stress. In total, she’s lost 138 pounds, but what she focuses on is that she’s gained the strength to care for herself and her family.
“I’m so much stronger and get to experience so many small-scale victories,” she says. “It really is a game-changer.”
