Richard loses 42lbs (19kg) to beat high blood pressure after 3 years on medication

Richard had been on blood pressure medication for three years that made him dizzy and lethargic.

At 62, Richard was desperate to get healthy and improve his stats so he could come off the pills.

But he just couldn’t find a way to lose weight and keep it off. Working with a regular trainer for six months didn’t even move the needle.

When the pandemic hit, Richard just cut loose and used it as an excuse to eat what he wanted and stop exercising.

His health and his weight were even worse when life started up again post-lockdown. Richard knew to press ‘reset’ with a more holistic approach with expert help on diet, exercise and lifestyle change.

That’s what he got working with the world-class team at Ultimate Performance.

Now he’s 19kg down, and he’s off the medication. But he’s also built up the healthy habits and fitness levels that have got him back climbing mountains and enjoying life again.

“The results are absolutely possible. If I can do it, anyone can do it because I doubted it.

“When I first spoke with my trainer, he gave me that progression: ‘At six weeks you’re going to hit this, and at five weeks you’re going to be 81kg.’

“Yet I haven’t weighed 81kg in 25 years – that’s impossible. But here I am at 75kg. I’m still pinching myself, asking myself ‘how did I do that?’

“I guess I did it by focusing and following what I was told to do to the letter and following the diet to the letter, and the exercise to the letter. And here I am – it worked like clockwork for me.”

Here Richard explains how he motivated himself to lose the weight, the training he did, and how his mindset and lifestyle have changed for the better.

What motivated you to take the first step to start at Ultimate Performance?

I knew in my deepest of hearts that I needed to do something. I needed to make a big change. I was letting myself go. I was gaining weight, I was miserable, I was lethargic, and I didn’t feel like doing anything.

I knew I needed to do something drastic. I tried three years ago going to a personal trainer. It worked for a while, but there was no nutrition side of it. I contacted U.P., and I wanted to do it for health reasons.

I was on blood pressure medicine, and I wanted to get off that because it was making me feel worse anyway. That’s what motivated me. I needed to do something drastic and structured.

I used the pandemic as an excuse to not do anything. I had already started on that downward slope. I was in heaven that first month – ordering food from InstaCart, cooking breakfast and lunch and dinner. I was watching TV all day because I couldn’t go out or you couldn’t go and see people. I could have exercised, but the weather back here in March sucked anyway. I used it as an excuse just to let myself and my diet go.

When the pandemic was ending, and I got vaccinated, that is when I started this program.

I went from 0-60 or even 0-100. I went from not doing anything to working out and doing this diet – which was a lot harder and more intense than I ever thought it was going to be.

I was walking up to 10-12 miles a day. Something snapped, and it just worked for me; the structure of it worked for me. Now, 16kg later – wow!

What motivated you through the whole journey?

My motivation was to get off the blood pressure medicine, to lose weight, and to be healthier. As I started seeing results week by week, that motivated me even more.

‘I can do this; it’s working!’ and that made me try that much harder. As I started losing weight, I’d get up to 15,000 steps a day, 7 miles a day – I thought, ‘this is working’.

I’d get up to 8 miles, 10 miles, 12 miles a day, and I was thinking ‘maybe I’m overdoing it, but it’s working’, and I just kept with it. It makes me want to keep going. I’m at the point I feel like I’ve lost enough weight; I feel great, but I wonder where the end is for me. Maybe there’s not an end.

How has Ultimate Performance helped to improve your health and your blood pressure specifically?

Well, I’ve been on blood pressure medicine for three years now. That was one of my biggest motivating factors to start here because I knew that if I lost 9kg – 11kg, I’d be able to stop taking it. It has bad side effects; it makes you light-headed, dizzy, and lethargic.

Now I’ve accomplished that goal. That was my main health goal to get off the blood pressure medication and lose weight. I didn’t know how overweight I was when I started this. I had no idea that instead of carrying an extra 9kg around with me, I was actually carrying an extra 16kg – 18kg around with me. This is amazing to me, that I had that much excess weight on my body. I still can’t believe that.

Today, walking in here in the gym, I put a backpack on. Imagine if that backpack had an extra 16kg in it. That’s what I was carrying around with me. That is crazy to think I had that much – I still can’t believe that.

What other goals have you achieved thanks to being healthier?

When I first filled out the questionnaire when I started, it asked, ‘what health goal or something in your life you really would like to do that you are not able to do because of your health now?’

I remember hiking five years ago in New Mexico, from 10,000 to 14,000 feet. I had such a hard time just catching my breath.

I have just got back from Colorado hiking. I put [on my questionnaire] to do high altitude hiking – that was one of the goals I put on there. Sure enough, I was in Colorado last week, and I hiked from 10,000 to 13,000 feet on a three-hour hike. I didn’t have a problem at all. It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t have to stop and catch my breath. I felt great after I did it.

What are the most powerful lessons you have learned about training and nutrition?

Training and nutrition go hand in hand. The nutrition part of it was the biggest and most important part of the transformation. It was instrumental in my losing weight.

I had worked with a personal trainer three years ago for six months, and I got stronger. I could tell my physique looked better, but I didn’t lose any weight because there was no nutritional side of the training.

With this plan, if I’d have known how intense and detailed it was going to be, I might have shied away from it.

It was to the calorie every day – “You need to eat this; you need to do that”. I think I needed that structure. I always thought I ate healthily; I ate vegetables and meat, I stayed away from sugars and soda, but it didn’t cause me to lose any meaningful weight.

But this did.

When I started this, I got a scale and I told myself ‘I am not going measure everything that I eat. That is not me.’ But here I am, cutting a banana in half, putting it on a scale and putting it in my shake to make sure I don’t go over my carbohydrates for the day. But it works. It worked like clockwork for me.

That’s the biggest takeaway for me is that you have so much control over what you eat, and I took total control over that part of it. That’s why I saw the results happen every week within ounces of what my trainer said I was going to lose, and I lost it. I think it’s because I stuck to the diet so closely.

How has this transformation improved your life outside of the gym?

I feel like I have more confidence. The biggest thing is I have less stress in my life.

I feel like I have a lot more control over my life. There are so many things in your life you can’t control, and I’m now controlling the things that I know I can control – that is my diet, my exercise that I get every week, and my 2-3 hour walks.

I’ve taken control of the things that I can control the easiest for me. The other things that used to bother me, I don’t let them bother me anymore because if they are out of my control, I just brush them off.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START TO GET FIT, PUT YOUR HEALTH IN OUR HANDS LIKE RICHARD AND SEE WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE. ENQUIRE ON THE FORM BELOW…

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