I found Coach Brian after I had lost a significant amount of weight but due to some very big life stressors, my weight was slowly creeping back up despite my continued exercise. I knew I needed to do something differently and that I needed to be more strategic about both my exercise and nutrition.Working with Coach Brian has been an experience of developing more self-discipline than I ever thought I would be interested in attempting. It’s been a journey of self-discovery, growth and stretching my limits - a process of coming to be really happy with who I am, how I feel physically and emotionally, as well as how I look, while simultaneously being constantly inspired to improve.Brian is direct, honest, and no-nonsense but always respectful and supportive. On our first call, the first thing he did, as I was multi-tasking, banging around my kitchen doing dishes, was to say, “Kate, I want you to stop what you’re doing, sit down and focus. If you can’t show up for yourself, no one else will...” Right then, he made it clear that the only way to succeed in my weight loss and fitness goals would be to give it my attention and effort. I respect that he looks for clients who are serious and committed. He expects a lot of his clients but by setting a high bar, and providing consistent, reliable support, he inspires me to work hard. When I started working with Coach Brian, my knowledge of nutrition was quite basic. I thought I ate fairly healthily but I really had no idea what I was doing and I wasn’t thinking about nutrition a great deal. I just knew it was a weak link I needed to correct yet it felt overwhelming. Four months later, I am still learning but my diet has changed significantly and my knowledge base has grown considerably. Brian has a wealth of knowledge regarding nutrition, fitness and stress management that he puts at his clients’ disposal. He continues to educate me constantly. After an initial observation period of about a week, he changed my protein/carb/fat ratios and a few months later the results are obvious looking at how my body has changed. I was exercising daily but not strategically. He gently pushed me to integrate weights into my routine and has walked me through the process every step of the way, responding to questions and providing critiques and celebrations throughout. This has been a challenging habit for me to integrate into my lifestyle but after a couple months of relatively light strength training (2 x week), I both feel and see the difference in my body. Where there used to be flab, my arms are now taught, strong, and much leaner. I get comments all the time now about the muscle definition in my arms and I can feel how the increased strength is improving my ability to perform in the sports that I do. He also gently moved me into tracking my calories and macronutrient ratios, which is something I didn’t think I’d ever be willing to do. At first it was overwhelming but he patiently and without pressure led the way until I was able to do it independently. Brian got me to change habits I never thought I’d be willing to change- and the results are evident. Between the diet changes and shifts in my exercise routine, I’ve lost thirteen pounds so far, 3 inches off my waist and 9 inches total from my body. My clothes that were getting too tight to wear all fit great now or are even getting too loose in some cases. Time to go shopping! Working with Brian is a pleasure. He is responsive daily and will field questions as they arise. If I am in the gym, doing a new weight resistance exercise and have a question, he will respond whenever possible. Or if I’ve had a question about something I’m about to eat, he’ll often fire back a quick response. He stays in tune with my life’s daily challenges, whether it’s a business trip throwing a wrench in my exercise and diet plans, going out to eat, or other life priorities coming up… he will provide guidance and support for getting through while staying on track with nutrition and exercise. He also responds to the type of support that I ask for based on my particular challenges. At the same time, he will not hesitate to tell me what I need to do differently. It’s a good balance.Brian is realistic. He doesn’t expect his clients to never have treats, or bad days where diet or exercise go out the window. I feel like he understands that we’re all human and he just expects that we get up and keep trying our best. He is hardline about sticking to goals but there’s never any shaming. He acknowledges importance of balanced life and that people also have other important priorities of family, jobs, etc. and he helps to work fitness and nutrition in and around those.Brian got me to take stock of my priorities and works on me constantly to simplify my life – to make time for the important things and get rid of the clutter that wastes my energies.He takes a holistic approach to health and will address your stress... whatever it is keeping you down but always in a respectful manner. Brian is an amazing cheerleader. When I was sick for days, frustrated and down that couldn’t exercise, he sent me a series of personal video messages intended to lift me up, and they did. When I was facing some very difficult issues his response was, “I’ve got your back. I want the best for you.” He has honed in on my vision for making changes in my professional life, gotten excited about it, and is encouraging me to follow through to make it a reality.
