About Our Company
My wife and I founded Personal Training Associates ten years ago with the objective of helping people over the age of 40 with their exercise programs. As it turned out, our highly personalized approach employing lots of support and assistance worked well not only with mature adults but with clients of all ages and skill levels.
Without exception, our clients got stronger and felt much better. However, when weight loss was the primary objective, particularly when the client had 50 or pounds to lose, the situation was more problematic. It is possible to lose large amounts of weight with exercise alone, but it requires very disciplined effort over a long period. Two or three hours a week with a personal trainer will not do the trick, particularly if the same bad old lifestyle habits obtain for the remaining hours of the week.
Since we knew full well that at least 75% of short term weight change is attributable to diet, it was clear that we needed to provide more nutritional help for our weight loss clients. So about six years ago we hired a Registered Dietitian to develop healthy eating plans for all of our clients and to be available for individual consultations. Her name was Debbie Jeffery and she’s still with the company. Debbie became an important resource for us and clients who followed her advice benefited greatly. Clients who just filed her eating plans away somewhere, not surprisingly, did less well.
On reflection, the clients who just filed Debbie’s eating plans away were sending us an important message. It was a message that said: “We don’t need any more “information”. We know what we should be doing, what we need is help in changing how we actually behave.” How does one work through the process of changing behavior patterns when it comes to tough, complicated issues like choosing what you’re going to eat, how much are you going to eat, and so forth.
Clearly, we had to focus on this all important issue and provide our clients with the expertise in behavior modification they so desperately needed. On reflection, the answer now seems obvious; the experts on behavioral change are psychologists. They teach us how to track thought patterns that may be contributing to weight and other struggles, how to challenge these thoughts, and to restructure them. This helps us think about and react differently to what is happening in our life. They empower us to change our relationship to food.
All three of the Licensed Clinical Psychologists on our team have many years dealing with eating issues. Their expertise combined with that of our Certified Personal Trainers and Registered Dietitians forms the basis of what we believe is the ideal weight management program. To make it all as easy as possible, with the exception of the meetings with your psychologist, all services are provided in the convenience of your home.
We’re very excited about this program. If you really need to lose weight and want a permanent solution that makes use of the best research and most highly qualified people, give us a call on 703-904-7063. We’d love to talk with you and answer any questions you might have.
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