Meghan Licata

“I have known James for more than 10 years. I began working with him in 2008 for weight loss and fitness training. While I loved training with him, after I got pregnant, I was put on bed rest and so ended my time with James. I did go back to working with James shortly after my child was born; however, it was a lot to manage that soon after having the baby.

James was very supportive of me and needing to take time to realign my life with a baby, returning to work and physical exercise after 5 months of bed rest. He is always supportive. I was sad to not be able to continue with James at that time because he was a positive force to have in my life. It was a while before I reconnected with James. When I reached out to him, he responded right a way and with his usual enthusiasm and encouraging nature. At that time, I was struggling with my weight, food and alcohol consumption, sleep, stress and managing physical activity. I didn’t feel like there was a solution that I could do on my own and then I reached out to James. We met to go over where I was physically, emotionally, nutritionally, and mentally. It was a great discussion and James took the time to understand my situation, which had changed since we had last worked together.

James explained different options for me to start back at living a healthier life and being physically fit to manage a small child as an older mom with an intense full-time job. James developed a tailored plan for me that took all my life-challenges into consideration, not just physical but some of the mental and emotional ones around my feelings about guilt, failure and disappointment. The great thing is that none of those words are in James’ vocabulary. I have to say that until I met with James, I was worried that the downhill slide I was on was not going to stop. It had been a long time since I felt like I could make changes to make me a better version of me. After I met with James, I felt like I could move forward in a healthy way and that anything was possible related to my health and wellness.

For the 1st month, we focused on nutrition, developing a routine, and my emotional state. Even in that first month, when I wasn’t exercising, I started to lose weight, sleep better, have more energy, and feel more positive overall. Once we felt like I had made my nutritional plan a routine for me, we added in exercise. This was especially fun, because I could feel and see even more positive results.

Training with James is an experience that is both extremely challenging and fun. He always inspires me to get stronger and try harder; but, I never finish my workout unhappy or in a bad mood. There are 2 reasons for this, 1-James is always encouraging and sending into the world positive energy and 2-he helps me to be better and stronger and face the challenges. Sure, I have bad days and head to training when I am in a bad mood; but by the time I leave, I am smiling and feeling proud. I have also done MAT with James. I was having some back issues after I took a new job with a lengthy commute. Doing MAT was a successful method to work on my back and then improve my daily living and training. James is one of the most positive people anyone will ever come across. He is not overly effusive or a super hero; he is just someone who cares about his clients while helping them make healthy living and optimistic thinking a priority in their way of life.”