I travel so much for work and I used to love that, it was part of the initial draw of the position. But it started weighing on me in a way it didn’t before… literally. Before I got this job I had so much time to go to the gym and keep myself in shape, but once I made this career change I was barely able to eat properly, let alone workout.
It wouldn’t have been such a huge deal except for the fact that I felt like I was dying when I carried my luggage through an airport. I hadn’t gained that much weight and I didn’t even feel that out of shape on a daily basis. But when I had three bags strapped to my body and was walking for a while trying to find my gate I noticed I wasn’t quite as fit as I used to be.
I think the last straw for me was when I missed a flight because it took me too long to get from security to my gate. I had to keep stopping to rest, before I knew it an hour had passed, and I missed boarding. A very expensive and frustrating mistake that easily could have been avoided if I had still been putting effort into my body.
It was at that point that I decided I needed to figure out a way to incorporate exercise into my daily routine again. Even though my schedule was much tighter and more rigid than it had been before, I knew I had to find a way.
It wasn’t an option to cut my hours back at all, I needed to learn how to use the time I had left in a day more effectively. I started by working out a little in the morning, thinking this would be enough to reverse what little I had lost in the year since starting my position.
Turns out, even if I woke up earlier to do a workout it didn’t necessarily mean I was gonna use the time for that purpose. I didn’t feel much motivation to work out on my own because my head was constantly swimming with the problems of my job and the next task that needed to be done. It had been so long since I had focused on myself that I almost forgot how to do it entirely.
I also didn’t really know how to meal prep. Heck, even if I did have the time to cook, I wouldn’t know what I should be eating. I had never cared about that before, my young and fast metabolism had always handled that little issue for me. Well, I’m not so young now and nothing about me is fast except my typing skills.
I needed to learn some new methods, and quickly. I was a little panicked that I had gained weight without noticing. I guess all that eating out was finally catching up to me. I started doing a little research on my own, looking up recipes that were easy and would give me lots of energy.
I was overwhelmed by all the information I found and didn’t know what to do with it. I also had never really been much of a cook so some of the recipes I found were entirely out of my league! I tried preparing a few on some random Saturday nights, just to see if I could get them to work. They tasted awful. I mean, almost completely inedible.
I felt a little trapped. How was I supposed to get healthier if I couldn’t eat right? Everything I read told me that food was just as important as working out when it came to losing weight. I knew I needed guidance.
A nutritionist was hundreds of dollars a month and although I could technically afford that now with my new job, it felt like a terrible waste of my money. I didn’t want to pay for someone to help me with food and then pay someone else entirely to help me with working out.
Even a gym membership on top of the expense of a nutritionist seemed like too much money, and I knew that I probably wouldn’t even use the gym if I didn’t have someone there pushing me along the way. If all my money was going into these two things I knew I wouldn’t have much money left over to save or to spend on all these groceries I knew I would be buying. There had to be a more cost-effective way to get the information and guidance necessary.
After a little more research, I found an app called CoPilot that offered both personal training and nutrition help at a cost well within my budget. For both things I needed, CoPilot seemed like a steal compared to other services I had been seeing. The app also offered a free trial so if I didn’t like it I could cancel before I was charged a dime. Perfect.
I may have been making more money, but that was no reason to not be frugal. I signed up and was immediately matched with a few trainers that I could choose from. It was also helpful to know that if I felt like I had chosen the wrong trainer for any reason I could switch, no problem.
Within a week of using the app and training with my trainer I knew I would be keeping it. It didn’t take much for me to realize that this was going to be the most effective use of my time. My trainer was phenomenal. After our first meeting, she developed a routine for me that could be split up throughout the day and completed on my breaks. She gave me workouts I could do in my office, at the airport, in my home, or at the gym.
She understood that I didn’t have much time and the time I did have was precious to me. I didn’t need to spend an hour every day in one single session. I could workout for 10 minutes in the morning when I first woke up and before I got ready for my day, 20 twenty minutes on my lunch break, and then another 30 minutes when I got home at night. I could break that up even more if I needed to. It took the pressure off completely.
I didn’t need to worry about whether or not I was finishing an entire workout in a reasonable amount of time because I knew the blocks of time I did work out were specifically tailored to get the most out of me, no matter how much or how little time I was able to commit to it. The nutrition guidance was excellent, as well.
I explained to my trainer that I wasn’t much of a cook and even if I was I didn’t have the time to prepare whole meals like I once did before my new job. She took that into account and gave me a meal plan that mostly incorporated healthy snacking throughout the day while I was working and then some meal prepping on the weekend when I did actually have time to cook.
Knowing what to eat and when to eat it empowered me so much. I felt a new appreciation for food and how it was good for my body. I could actually feel a difference in my energy levels just from the change in the food I was putting in my body. Some of it was common sense, snack on a carrot instead of snickers, but a lot of it was entirely new to me.
I learned quickly, and my trainer made sure of it. I know I couldn’t have made the progress I did so fast without her. I’ll be using this app for a while to come now, it fits so perfectly into my life. And guess what? I have never missed a flight again. I make it through an airport with all my baggage like an Olympian! I feel amazing. Thank you, CoPilot!
The story of CoPilot Member Joey V.
