Thirty pounds ago, Becky Edwards signed up with club in Abbotsford. Shed been a chronic dieter who thought the path to losing weight was eating only two meals a day.
Today, shes the nutrition and fitness manager for Lindens Club 16, which is opening its new Canada Place location with gorgeous views of Coal Harbour and the coastal mountains on April 16. Shes glowing with wellness and packs a pretty hefty lunch bag when she heads off to work.
We have to change the way people look at food, she says. Instead of being about deprivation, its fuel.
Her advice: eat breakfast within half an hour of waking up and eat every three hours after that. Eighty per cent of the time you should be conscientious about what you eat by following a healthy regime, but for the other 20 per cent, have a little fun.
Edwards says, More people are under-eating rather than over-eating and then they wonder why they are tired and relying on Red Bull or coffee to keep them going. Ive lost 30 pounds going from a low-carb, two-meals-a-day diet to eating all day.
Her involvement with Club 16 and its women-only offshoot, Shes Fit, has been life changing. Shed never been a member of a fitness club and what she found was a place that welcomed and supported her, rather than intimidated her. She lost her fear of feeling she needed to be perfect and, in doing so, became a role model for her young daughter and women of all ages.
Sometimes a fitness centre can make you feel like you have to be fit and buff before you even walk through the door. Linden is deliberately creating an atmosphere that welcomes everyone, of all ages and fitness levels. His goal is to make people feel good about themselves and experience has taught him that exercise is an important way to make that happen.
Its important from a physical state as well as a mental state, he says during a recent Breakfast TV segment at the Coal Harbour facility. When Im exercising, I think better and Im a better friend and husband.
To further his goal of making everyone feel comfortable in his clubs, he created Shes Fit. Some women might be intimidated walking into the co-ed Club 16, or not want to exercise with men for religious reasons. As Edwards says, it ups the non-intimidating factor. We want there to be no barriers so if being intimidated is a barrier, take away the barrier.
She admires Lindens approach. Fitness is part of his life and it wants it to make it part of everyones life.
Linden rejects the idea of exclusivity and his prices reflect that. Although the downtown club membership fee is $19.99 a month (up from the usual $14.99), for $24.99 you get access to any Club 16 in the Lower Mainland, including the Club 16 in the LuluLemon headquarters in Kitsilano. Another factor that makes the Canada Place location ideal, he says, is that it has lots of free parking early in the morning.
For more information about Club 16 and Shes Fit at Canada Place, call 604-558-1600 or go to
.
