JUNE 2020 MEMBER OF THE MONTH - ZAC & JACQUI Z.

The LIVE WELL Community is excited to introduce both Zac and Jacqui as the Member of the Month for June! This dynamic duo have been members at LIVE WELL Oakville since 2018. Congratulations Zac and Jacqui!

Everybody’s journey is different - this is ours…

December 2018 was a turning point in both our lives. After many years of putting it off and living in the illusion that we were in good shape, albeit a bit unfit and eating healthy, our annual check-up set us up for a big shock!!

With a pre-diabetes diagnosis for Zac and high cholesterol for both of us forced us to take a relook at life. Our physician prescribed medications that we agreed to avoid after researching the negative side effects. We felt there must be a better way and we would only use the medications as the last resort.

LIVE WELL Exercise Clinic kept popping up on my Facebook account. After surviving a particularly bad flu and the shock of the medicals, we decided to take a step in the right direction. On January 4, 2018 at our appointment with Kira at LIVE WELL Oakville, we signed up for six months thinking there will be an early escape if we did not like it. Little did we realize how important those six months were going to be for us - it became the basis for our new healthy lifestyle.

After an initial assessment we were set to go. An individual exercise routine was mapped out for us, together with weekly set goals, a health vision and a three-month plan. The weekly goals are there to make you accountable for your actions during the week but soon it became a habit.

We have two fixed scheduled sessions with LIVE WELL and this helps to maximize the benefit of our exercise sessions. We also fit in daily walks and a longer walk on the weekend. We have since added a 3rd remote session at home, which Kira helped us set up based on the equipment we had at home.

We have never been fond of the “gym” culture as it typically includes people prancing around in Lycra and showing off their bodies. At LIVE WELL Exercise Clinic, the sessions are small and this promotes a more individual attention. Everybody’s reasons for being at LIVE WELL are different and the program is tailored to address those needs. We find the program is total – not just focusing on exercise, but providing guidance and information on nutrition, mental health and injury recovery, amongst others.

The staff are attentive and are always there to check your exercise form and will make any adjustments if needed. The class sizes are limited so no one is falling over each other. LIVE WELL does not operate in isolation and our family physician, along with other health care providers are kept up to date with periodic reports. Seeing our fellow member’s wins posted on the walls serves as an inspiration. The banter with the clinic staff and other members at our sessions is always good to lift the spirits. We see the staff not as service providers but as friends, likewise with the other members.

The LIVE WELL staff are committed to keep you on track as they discuss the program with you and work through the exercises scheduled for you. They are on hand at all times, keeping an eagle eye out for those not doing the exercise properly, as well as those just slacking! They motivate you each week with a motivational quote of the week and have a short health discussion. They identify health issues and how exercise and lifestyle changes can help you overcome those issues. We have enjoyed the extra curricular discussions with the clinic staff, along with other health specialists about exercise, mental health, metabolism and balance. The staff are always providing you with tips to a healthy lifestyle. Discussions on eating healthy, meal planning, nutrition information and weekly health lessons are sent out with your Weekly Planner. They are also on hand to answer any health related questions – if they do not have an answer right there, they will do some homework and feed back in the next session.

Since we made the decision to join LIVE WELL in January 2018, we also made some major changes to our lifestyle. As we both have different medical reasons for the change, we decided to combine our issues and decided what is bad for one, the other will give up. That way we have one lifestyle that fits us both. We cleaned out the pantry – no more unhealthy snacks, no more added sugar and no more refined carbs!!! With the help of Kira and the staff at LIVE WELL we have become food label boy scouts! In doing that we have both reached our goal – to live healthy and exercise regularly! Now there is a healthy competition between us both. We are both accountable for each other – no chance in skipping a session. Even though our short-term goals have been largely attained, it has become such a habit that no thoughts of stopping have been entertained.

After the first three months we aced the cholesterol test as well as the A1C test! The numbers are far better than anyone expected. We feel better than we have felt for many years, we have lots of energy, sleep better, better skin, the list goes on. This would never have been achievable without Kira and her team at LIVE WELL Oakville. Exercise plays a huge role in our lives today, a year later and we are maintaining the combined weight loss of 80 pounds!!

Our advice to anybody who is contemplating joining LIVE WELL for a medical reason - just do it…it is your health. What an investment it was for us, it could be a great experience for you too!! With the world crisis that is COVID-19, the team have not stood still. Even though the physical gym attendance had to stop, the team was quick to reach out to us individually in order to keep us on the right track.

We are counting the days until we can get back into the gym and catching up with all our friends!