Bev Robinson and Marilyn Mons know all about weight loss issues from personal experience.
The Ideal Protein coaches at Pharmasave Ladysmith and Chemainus are imparting their wisdom on clients about how to lose weight on the program and keep it off.
“I saw the program,” said Robinson, 57, who lives in Cassidy. “What I did was I watched people for a year. I watched them lose and keep the weight off. I’ve done absolutely everything and was not successful.”
Mons, 37, is new to the team and eager to help others realize the same remarkable weight loss that’s given her a new lease on life.
Robinson once weighed as much as 250 pounds and lost about 20 on WeightWatchers. Doing the Ideal Protein program met with more dramatic results.
“When I decided to do this, I actually asked my husband for support,” she said. “Everything we’ve done, we’ve done together.”
Husband Floyd Robinson is 75 and “it actually saved his life,” said Bev about going on the program. “A year ago we found out he needed open heart surgery.”
He had the surgery and dropped 90 pounds in three and a half months. Bev lost 92 in 11 months and is now at 141, close to her ideal weight of 139.
The two working hand-in-hand was a godsend for both.
“I would not have been able to be as supportive, as strong as I needed to be, if I hadn’t lost the weight,” conceded Bev.
Mons came to Chemainus about three years ago and weighed 320 pounds at the time, prompting a warning from a personal trainer that she was at third stage obesity. She started doing everything possible - hitting the gym and watching what she ate that included going on a plant-based diet for a while - to shed weight initially.
“I loved food,” Mons conceded. “I was not a fan of eating healthy.”
She was extremely stressed out previously working in mental health and addictions and let herself go.
“I am empathetic,” Mons said. “Going home with people suffering wasn’t doing me any good. I would go home with their suffering.”
After replying to an ad, she was hired as the new Ideal Protein coach in Chemainus around Remembrance Day and it’s proven to be the perfect fit.
“Once I found that ad, ‘this is great, this is what I need,’” she recalled saying. “I hadn’t heard of Ideal Protein before.”
Since embarking on the program herself, Mons has lost an additional 15 pounds and is now down 150 overall to creep within 30 pounds of what she considers her ideal weight.
More importantly, Mons is in sync with something that suits her values.
“I am truly thankful to be working with people who are fighting the same battle so many of us are,” she noted.
Robinson said Mons’ resume just jumped out at her and the Pharmasave owners.
“I read this woman’s story and I felt the hurt she had,” Robinson indicated. “I’m scoring her all fives.
“I called her the same day. We met each other and there was an immediate connection. Our owner met with her and felt the same thing. A lot of our connection is through our journey and our hurt.”
Robinson first became a coach a year ago coming up in March and Mons obviously more recently.
Robinson is pleased the Chemainus clients will be in good hands to continue what she started there while she concentrates on the Ladysmith location.
“I know our customers adore her and could relate to her right away,” praised Robinson. “She’s real and that’s a big piece of what we do at Ideal Protein.”
Both are committed to making a strong connection with others in need of focus and direction.
“We give people the education that’s necessary to make the lifestyle change,” said Robinson.
“With this protocol, it burns body fat and spares our lean muscle mass.”
There are various phases to the program, including stabilization for 12 months.
“It takes your body that long to say, ‘I want to stay at this weight,’” reasoned Robinson.
“Ideal Protein’s focus is that after your goal weight is established, we still work together to keep it off,” added Mons.
It’s a happy relationship between coach and client.
“It’s been such a rewarding experience,” summed up Mons. “I feel I’m at a place in my life where I’m connecting to where I need to be.”
“It’s a privilege and an honour to be able to do this job, to be entrusted with this,” offered Robinson.
“I’ve never had a more rewarding job in my life.”
