Amoy Lawrence is one step closer to her health and fitness goals

Amoy Lawrence has a very interesting love-hate relationship with health and fitness. But when the emotional eater found herself hitting high numbers on the scale, she decided that enough was enough. Now 40 pounds lighter, she’s shedding some light on her journey: the trials, triumphs and misconceptions.

“I’ve never done anything harder than this and never expected the journey to challenge me this much. In my ideal world, everything I take on must be smooth and easy,” she told Lifestyle. Lawrence has walked down the healthy path many times over. Never seeing it through, she switched it up this time around by running with a personal trainer.

One of her biggest hurdles to jump over was her poor eating habits. “I would sometimes eat one huge meal for the day or not eat at all. All of which were poor habits I developed over the years due to different circumstances. From simply not wanting to eat breakfast to sacrificing a meal at school to save my lunch money to ensure my mother had lunch, which was usually a patty meal from Mother’s that we shared,” she said.

Finding her rightful place with virtual trainer, Orandy Smith, she was equipped with the ideal meal and workout, tailored to her desires and needs. Embarking on his version of the lifestyle and fitness journey, she says, really opened her eyes to how misinformed people are about nutrition, weight loss and weight gain. “The most we cut out is refined sugars; we are limited to a tablespoon of sugar per day. We don’t drink juice – only water, tea and black coffee. We avoid ‘complex’ meals like stewed peas and avoid mixing proteins. For example, it’s never baked beans and salt fish; we stick to one or the other. What’s surprising to many is that we eat rice and bread, but we never have cheat meals,” she added.

While she would prefer to attend the gym during what she describes as that sweet early afternoon between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m. when the building is completely empty, she currently does morning workouts. Her trainer, Smith, is a drill sergeant who shows great compassion for his clients. “I haven’t gotten to the place yet where I’m interested enough to know the ins and outs of the fitness world. Workouts are strictly up to him, but the routines are usually two hours maximum, four times daily.” A new routine would take more time, depending on how quickly or slowly it is grasped by the trainee.

She also has her fit squads. Lawrence shared that she is grateful for the support she received from a group of like-minded individuals sharing common health and fitness goals: big up Team Goodbody and, more specifically, Batch 10 Snipers.

While COVID-19 threatened to undo all of her hard work and dedication, Lawrence is back on track with high hopes of maintaining this healthy lifestyle, extending her lifespan, and to look and feel better and younger. “I appreciate how much this journey brought me face to face with myself. We do so well with taking on the identity of our profession that we bury who we truly are. I got to see who I was on the inside and realised that it wasn’t only the outside that needed work. That brought the start of the true journey; lasting change is something that has to be fought for, so we continue the fight,” she said.

Her advice to those in the weight loss struggle is to get professional help, avoid quick fitness fixes and get the assistance you need to reach your goals. “There are many virtual programmes run by trained fitness professionals; Orandy Fitness is just one of them. There’s ReNewYou by Anna-Kaye Greenwood, VAIN Fitness by Courtney Francis, O’Shane Bryant Fitness and many others,” she revealed.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com