A women called me a year ago for a personal trainer. I worked my butt off to get her what she needed I put the trainer out Lauren, and poor Lauren didn’t get the job. Lauren said she would do the personal training job for basically a FREE price to help this women out because I push so hard for the clients. The lady says she just got divorced she has no money etc. We worked so hard… I will leave it like that! On Wednesday night at 11:30 PM she calls HTG and leaves a message saying she wants a personal trainer. She said I remember how hard you worked for me and I felt bad I didn’t use your service. I still can’t get the 10 lbs off and I decided to call you back. Of course I was thrilled to help her. Thursday as my office works on 5 other packages and everything else she calls five times or more anxious if we found her trainer. 3:00 PM with such little time we finally place a female trainer with her. We tell her the rate for the 6:30 am time and she’s not happy. I explain 5:30 is whenthe trainer has to get to drive to you. Next she doesn’t want to sign our paperwork. Fine, I let her set her own rules 1. to accomodate her 2. she called a year ago. All day she kept calling she yelled at Billing, she was nasty to everyone. Never have I ever had a client call our company wanting services and yelling at us.

This morning she called me and actually hung up on me. I refuse to sell anyone services that thinks they have the righttreat my staff so bad.

To turn something so ugly into something so good. I am giving away 18 FREE Sessions so the trainer doesn’t lose the work. I called the Cancer Society to donate them and they are going to get back to me. IF YOU KNOW ANYONE NEEDY of personal training and they can not afford it please email sales@hometraininggroup.com

Summer is a great season to BURN the calories….Summer is my favorite season because there are no restrictions (only your excuses!), the weather makes it so easy to get out there and start moving! Try something new. This summer I actually started running Manasquan Reservoir everyday in addition to my Personal Training regiment. Do something until you love it…. just keep moving, going, and burning those calories!

Recently, I had gone to a “family b-day party” and my brother in law said, “Candice, go on the swings…..” I did, and OMG, what a great work out that was. I can’t believe when I was a little girl I literally could do that forever! I wanted to do that forever! Me and my sister or a friend fought over a swing! I can assure you today there would be no fights. I got to thinking as I was pumping my legs higher and higher. In my mind I felt grateful, for being able to fit into the swing. I could remember how even almost 1 year ago on my weight gain up swing how hard things started to feel for me again.

Most people don’t realizeif they don’t know me that just a few years ago I was REALLY unhappy and very unfit. However, mentally it’s something that never goes away and something I will never forget or take for granted. THE TRUTH IS I DON’T WANT TO FORGET IT. I can’t pretend it away, and I can’t not have this part of my life. It’s who I am. It does not define me although for a lifetime it has if that makes sense?

The ability to move my body in any which way I want and when ever I want is HUGE! It’s only when you lose the ability almost fully that you can truly appreciate a silly moment back on a swing. The freedom of using your body!

I think everybody this summer should commit to going back to the years when you were a kid and it wasn’t about exercise! Go back to the days that you got up and went outside because it was FUN! Then tell me about it!

The following are my 10 suggestions of FUN calorie burning outdoor activities YOU should start with! Perfect for the MOMS with too many excuses!

1. KICKBALL
2. SPUD
3. SWINGS
4. HOP-SCOTCH
5. MARCO-POLO
6. JUMP ROPE
7. HULA HOOP
8. FREEZE TAG
9. CATCH LIGHTING BUGS FOR 1 HOUR
10. TRAMPOLINE

Shooting my story for In New Jersey Magazine consisted of three shoots. No touch ups as you can see, no make up The first shoot was done at the end of Feb. start of March and looking at the pictures I can even see the difference. During the first shoot I was training with Jimmy on and off at Super Gym. Jimmy is very busy and I thank him but I needed to turn things up and he just didn’t have a schedule that open for just me. Then as usual my search for the perfect personal trainer for me continued and let me just say I have never had that hard of a time finding anyone a personal trainer like I did for ME!!! I have been searching for a personal trainer for myself over 8 months when I came across Carlos. When I told Shannon Mullan the man who interviewed me from In NJ Magazine he was so excited for me he came all the way to a private location very low key where Carlos and I have chosen as the main location for our workouts. I love to workout outside and aside from that Carlos gets RAW!  I was prod to see the photos over 5 weeks later and the changes my body made. When Shannon saw me he said, “Wow Candice I can see the progress your making!” I am getting stronger, fitter, and leaner day by day and these are small success’s that make me hang in and very PROUD! This is hard work. Nothing has been handed to me and I like you pay for every personal training session.

I would like to personally thank In New Jersey Magazine and all of the photographers and staff that dedicated their time to my story. Telling it accuratly and in very good taste. The article is a reflection of the hard work I continue to put out and the results that come out from hard work! i am a mere reflection of opportunity, and a vision. We all have them so dig deep, and go!

Thank you all for you support and reading my story!

Best Always,

Candice Belfer

THIS IS 5% LUCK
20% SKILL
15% Concentrated and WILL
5% PLEASURE
50% PAIN
AND 100% the reason HE WILL NEVER FORGET MY NAME!

I am 100% CLEAR the bridge is burned.

LET’S GO! Hands down I sware on my life when you do something from your heart with 100% LOVE and with everything YOU GOT in YOU! It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. This has been a hard year for me. But I get it… I have been and went through exactly what I needed.

I have learned a lesson 100 times or more until I finally GOT IT!

EVENTUALLY…. We all do.

God Bless.

Candice

Posted on April 9, 2011 (BLOG RECOVERED)

I just finished day 3 of the most intense workouts ever! Since September my personal training program had done a 360. Everything I had done had totally changed because my personal trainer changed and my location for training changed. I started working out in the gym and gym training is very different then HOME training. I love as I have said every personal trainer that has touched my life and continue to help me reach my goal but the truth is personal training is a personal connection and that’s why we are in search of so many…

My fitness goals at this point are very different then the average person right now as well. I am getting ready to run the Vermont Marathon Memorial Weekend and I am also training to do the climb of my life in August. I will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa with 5 other people. This climb will be the challenge of my life! I am so excited but am also preparing myself mentally and physically. Which means my personal training program had to change! If you follow me on face book or here in these blogs then you already know I have had an uphill sometimes very downhill battle that I have lived very forward for all too see. Just to recap briefly on my training and weight loss:

1. I started in 2007 at 334 lbs in a small personal training Studio in NJ which was very EXPENSIVE and very slow….

2. I joined Centra State Fitness Center in NJ in January 2008 at 290 lbs in also participated in their Fitness Challenge in which I lost 79 lbs in 3 months with the toughest personal trainer they had. He was fired from that facility on the day the challenge ended and I was beside myself.

3. We took the personal training HOME, and he continued to train me and I was very inspired and motivated by him, and thought everyone should have this opportunity. Hence, I founded www.hometraininggroup.com

4. My personal trainer got very busy training and occasionally trained me however, I continued to do all of his group classes. I tried to work with a few other trainers but my loyalty remained to the person I came to know and trust.

5. HTG was a vendor at obesityhelp.com and became very active in the bariatric community… at the end of the day this community only has a tool and it’s a misconception to think that this will make them automatically THIN! There is no magic, I also visited with many Biggest Losers and developed relationships with many… recruited many personal trainers and drove as far as KY to meet some.

6. I visited support groups for obesity and spoke all FREE… of my time regardless if anyone used my services… I spoke to people who shared similar stories with weight and common weight loss goals… I even stood before groups admitting I owned HTG and my weight was creeping back on, and my trainer couldn’t even help me anymore.

7. I was heartbroken, unmotivated, and had no one to help me.. I was in over my head with HTG as a ground up company 2 years in by July 2010 and up over 40 lbs, without any help. Yes my trainer was a friend but was no longer training me. He was frustrated by unwillingness to stop with my nighttime emotional eating which you can read about in the Emotional Eating Newsletter on our website www.hometraininggroup.com.

8. I went to Utah for 5 weeks to reclaim the fitness work I had done and lost 35 lbs there. I was thrilled, recharged and came home ready to win my fight! In total control… I quickly learned my trainer had moved on…. that’s all I will say on this topic.

9. Super Gym in Jackson, NJ gave HTG the opportunity to bring it’s home training program into their gym and to their members. THANK YOU SUPER GYM! We have sold over 70 personal training packages and have the top Monmouth County Personal Trainers working there. We are changing lives everyday… Super Gym became the place I worked out everyday and still continue to work out everyday! I started my training with Jimmy, and appreciate the huge motivation and introduction to weights he gave me. However, Jimmy got totally booked business became business. At the end of Feb. 2011 I re-found my old trainer from college Carl, and together we started training. Carl quickly realized an openly admitted I needed to find a higher level personal trainer with more time than he had living in Monclair, over an hour away he was willing to give me all he had but just felt I needed more. I hesitated with the change. I knew if I wanted to work with him and forced the issue he would give me all he had but professionally he was always brutally honest. My personal training history from my first trainer was the training I needed and I became very distant and very sad once again, unable to forge ahead.

10. I went back to Utah to try to bury all the HATE I had inside because I felt “left” – Here it was I was changing everyone else’s lives I have all these personal trainers and I can’t find in my area the one style of personal training I need…. Continuing to never gain a pound and only lose a few additional I lay in limbo.

11. I decided to change it all. I call Carl tell him the TRUTH… I need to kick it up, he agrees. I work with Mike or Jimmy here and there at Super Gym and continue my cardio on my own… I research until I find… and then I do…..

12. His nick name is “Chippy” and that’s all I am saying. I can’t afford to lose any time. He’s a boxer, a personal trainer, a police officer and he is kicking my ass with the MOST insane workout I have ever had in my life!

13. It’s non-stop grueling intense high plyometric, drills, TRX, Insanity, boot-camp, academy, military 2 hour ass kicking training with over a 6,000 calorie burn daily.

14. I am shocked. I have never in my life had personal training at this level. I am losing over 1 lb per day, and am pushing and dragging the punching bag across the room, running to the beach and dragging him across the sand jogging. Boxing, moving, jumping in out over and around, and I can’t keep the sweat out of my eyes. He is checked into me 100% and I know for the very first time I am going to finish this journey I set out to do… FINALLY!

Bring it or should I say it has already been BROUGHT! lol…

I feel alive again. I feel free and I am ready to make the biggest changes ever!

Posted on September 21, 2010 (BLOG RECOVERED)

I truly believe so many of us get stuck with “weight issues” as adults because everything we do in life has a reflection of a memory and a time of what once was! It may be that you were just driving down the road…. and (emotional trigger) that memory comes back to mind of a happier or sadder time of a place in your life – (an old friend, an ex-lover, partner, husband, past relative etc..) and the first thing we EMOTIONAL PEOPLE do is grab for FOOD! It now becomes your ticket to stuff it! For me personally, my life has been spent living with the different emotional triggers that made and still make me eat. (It’s amazing how we can all be wired so differently). When those moments happen my suggestions are to grab onto the emotional part of it, and OWN it, feel it, and change it the best that you can! Recognize that if you can’t own it and control it… it will control you! Most of my weight that was re-gained nearly 50 lbs this past year (Now at my lowest weight ever!) was all EMOTION! I ate every night in the middle of the night. Night time eating to me is the HARDEST emotional barrier to break! At 3 am, it’s very raw, it’s very quiet, and noone will see! (But that’s a whole different post for me!) Of course, my suggestion for a trade off would be EXERCISE! Even if it’s the last thing you want to do! It’s the very thing you should do! When you exercise everything starts to work better, and it’s amazing how much easier it is to JUST LET IT GO… even if it’s just for a short period of time! That’s exactly what I am doing everyday! I happen to be so mad and hurt by someone at this very moment, and they just aren’t WORTH IT! So this time instead of them sending me to the fridge, I’m HOLDING onto the EMOTIONS of it and literally, WORKING IT OUT! Have a great week!

Posted on January 30, 2011 (BLOG RECOVERED)

I’m 5’10 and I never stood tall. Even when men called it “SEXY” I felt OVERLY TALL. I didn’t wear heals, I only purchased them. I admired my closet shelves that showed them off and also all the shorter petite women 5’4 feet and UNDER that wished they were taller because they wore those heels (and the jeans that never fit) PROUD! Today, I do see…I have only got 1 ME, and today I’m going to celebrate that and put on the tallest shoes, and greatest jeans I have and lOVE them!

I NEVER wore jeans period because they clung to my body, I needed a larger size and I hated the material on my body. My butt didn’t look like hers, and you know what I was curvy, I always will be and noone is ever gonna say my body is wrong! I am FIT, healthy, and alive, and today I love my jeans, and my butt even if it’s fuller than what we say is the “NORM” should be! I’m tired of my closet rocking the clothes and shoes I buy! Why on earth am I afraid of what people may say or think of me? It’s ridiculous. I love my body, and it’s the only body I’m ever going to have! I am going to celebrate it for all it withstands physically and emotionally for me!

I never dreamed in a zillion years I’d be wearing a size 8-10, and NOT THINK I did good for me! What’s up with that? I am amazing! I am FREE and I am ALIVE. I will fight this forever! Harder than MOST other fights! Here’s why! FAT finds friends, and the moment I take my eye off the prize YOU ARE SO RIGHT…. (my first trainer said) I will be FAT again… HOWEVER, not as long as YOUR ALIVE!

I don’t care who can do 15 pushups more… or run at 7.5… I am me, and I don’t have time to be angry or mad that you didn’t see strength in what I was doing! I steadily run for 5 miles at 5.5. I am running, and less then 3 years ago I didn’t move! What don’t you get? What didn’t I get? My body is amazing. It is transformed, and I have worked hard. In my own right when all is said and done I LOST 189 lbs! Come talk to me about stamina, heart, and strength.

I am living everyday to pay this forward at an affordable price to those that want to find SUCCESS, and if I fail on my mission then I fail but just like my weight loss I AM NOT GOING OUT WITHOUT A FIGHT presenting the best fitness professionals in AMERICA that can save lives!!!

Thank you all, and GOD BLESS!

Xoxoxoxoxoxo, Candice

Posted on October 27, 2010 (BLOG RECOVERED)

How long does your pity party last? Mine has practically lasted me a lifetime. But the question is when does it stop for you? As I often say to many… “Life Happends, and life will continue to happen!” That said it’s now FALL and you can chose to continue to do nothing with yourself and keep falling or pick yourself up and start a program.

There are no miracles! There are no short cuts! I assure you of that. If there was OPRAH would let us all know. So, if you are waiting for things to just happen in your life the reality is it wont!

Starting a program is never an easy step. Failing, and feeling life you fail year after year makes this choice even harder. Trust me, I know first hand! The hardest part of making the choice to change is the actual first step to start and of course the commitment you make to just hang in there when the results seem slow, and unworthey of your efforts.

I love the Fall season for so many reasons. The beauty of the outside natural changes of course. The weather changes here for me in the tri-state, and the mere fact that Summer is far enough away that I can dream of all that I want to accomplish physically without the RUSH and madness of not finding the right clothing or not looking the way I want. Fall is the perfect time to start a realistic program because you have the needed amount of time to work hard through the winter, look good for the holidays that will be here in no time, and be the FANTASTIC you that you dream about for the summer!

Hometraininggroup.com has affordable packages for everyone. Supporting you fully with NO EXCUSE’S! Designed to help match you with the appropriate fitness professional. So stop falling, and get started TODAY! Get 1 FREE personal training session with no obligation, and see what’s it’s like to have a Personal Trainer come to you and help you get where you want to be!

Posted on December 9, 2010 (BLOG RECOVERED)

Just in case one would ask or want to know with my weight loss what it is I have done or tried and what I have not… I have decided to publish it…. I think if I do chose to publically share the deatils of my weightloss journey it is important to share the TRUTH with all or anything I have tried “diet wise” and my opinion in the past three years or findings as well….

Yes I have:

 *Weight Watchers. I loved the program and found the points an easy realistic approach to counting calories.

* Jenny Craig on and off a month or two. I trained really hard one week mid way and lost over 17 lbs in one week on the program and the lady had to re-enter the information in their system because the number was so high it didn’t think it was entered properly. The next week I lost 3 lbs. Then I stopped. The frozen food was very hard to take with me as a busy mom and business owner. I was not at a desk, and if I could have a microwave in my car life would’ve of been great! I also get bored fast!

* In Motion Meals another frozen food line Flash Frozen and made fresh from a Chef in Fairview, NJ. The Eat Clean approach and I would of loved it if I could live that lifestyle but I am a Calories In and Calorie Out Gal.

* Bodybugg – Calorie Management Technology. Loved Bodybugg. I loved to see my caloried burn but didn’t have a heart monitor.

* Polar – This is my latest and greatest picked it up at Fitness Ridge and everyone had one there. It Changed everything because it didn’t have a yearly fee. One price to run it, and did have the heart rate and Calorie Managment as well.

* Fitness Ridge – I went to Utah for 5 week. The Biggest Loser Ranch. I had gained over 35lbs back and was mentally struggeling to stay on track. Removing myself from the situation was the best thing I could do for myself.
Fitness Ridge changed my life.

* Phendametrazine – I have taken diet pills on and off. With an Amino Acid B-12 Shot. The problem with any diet pill….. THERE NOT MAJIC! My body adjusted to them and they no longer worked for me. Without diet, and exercise it became useless, and was not healthy or recommended for steady use. It also messed with my metabolism I felt, and weight returned faster when I stopped.

* Personal Training… The reason behind this company. I started this company because I was motivated by the changes I made with my personal trainer, Bernie. I worked with Bernie in the begining almost 5 days a week. This workout continued up until the creation of my company HTG. Bernie stopped training me on a regular basis but I continuously went to his classes over the years, and worked with me when he had time at an estimated 1-2 days a week. When he saw my intrest stop, he gave up and was clear that he was not going to train anyone who was gaining weight. My training stopped with him officially in June 2010. I stepped back from the very thing I loved in June 2010 with deep sadness. I had become a reflection of +35 gained and very sad. Finding another personal trainer that I wanted to work with was very difficult for me. Today, I work out with Jimmy 5-6 Days a week and I am thrilled to say I am mentally and physically stronger than ever.

* Chefs Diet, I loved!!!! Delievered fresh to my door daily and on ice. Yummy food! Lost a huge amount of weight! It was not affordable for the long-haul.

* Protein Shakes I take almost everytime I finish working out.

* Slim Fast, I tried for a week… they taste good but I like food too much.

* Cardio or Group Classes I will continue to do and support at least 1 hour – four days a week in addition to my personal training schedule.

I have NOT:

Taken an recreational drugs

Baratric Surgery (I looked into a lap-band in May 2010 and even met with Dr.’s in NYC, scheduled an appointment to have the surgery and canceled).

Prayer (I think prayer is important and I am looking to now incorporate some meditation).

Beads Behind my ears

Optifast

Plastic Surgery (although I feel I need a tummy tuck, I have had no plastic surgery at this moment).

Or any other FAD diet not mentioned above has not been used or tried.

Posted on October 13, 2010 (BLOG RECOVERED)

I met Tawny on my first day July 4, 2010 at Fitness Ridge. She was one week ahead of me. I was just walking around with my friend Kara checking out the grounds and getting a feel for what lay ahead when this beautiful read headed burst of sunshine walked right over to us and said, “you guys will be just fine! you will love it here! How long are you here?” I jumped in and said, “5 weeks!” thinking I take the cake! When in fact Tawny said, “6 months!” My friend and I walked away saying to each other, ”Did she just say 6 months?” YES SHE DID! We thought she was the luckiest girl on earth! As time past I questioned that? I was barley able to finish my 5th week. I only made it 3 days into it! Mentally I was SPENT! It was grueling day in and day out and to be honest every weekend I took off to Vegas! I had too! I needed the mental break! Although, it was an opportunity of a lifetime, Tawney set out on a journey different from most! Many of us use a place like Fitness Ridge as a JUMP START, Tawny signed up and literally is a masterpiece in the making! We had some important and valuable conversations on Facebook and so I decided to share them with all this week! But, first Congrats to Tawny for her huge weight loss of 67 lbs in 15 weeks! I know you are home now healing but as you are home I hope you really take that moment to admire the work you did until you face part 2 of your journey there!

So, our conversations go something like this:

Tawney: Its getting sooooo hard.

Candice: I bet! But this is your moment! Own it! Love it and do what you set out to do!

Tawney: I wish I felt like I used to, I feel worn out and tired of it all. This always happens. I start out mega gung ho and within a few months I get bored and am ready to move on to something else, only to get tired of that too. Wisdom?

Candice: Too much wisdom my friend! Its a 3 year battle in the making for me! Its very easy to get burned out especially @ the level you are doing things and the length as well! However, it is not forever! Nothing is life is forever only by chance and a choice! It is a CHANCE at life that rarely anyone with our disease will ever see! YOU and o…nly YOU have to find a way to dig deep and finish this journey with every ounce of flesh, fiber, tissue, and tear! Do the unthinkable, accomplish more than your brain is capable of thinking! Shock yourself and embrace it! Chose to make this something not boring and do it for everyone watching but most of all YOU! Need I ask Y? You know the answer! Please fill it in with a Tiffany response…(Girl, I lost a lot beside weight in UTAH-) Life will never be the same- but YOU gotta get 100% Real when it gets hard!

Tawney: Wow I love it. Thank you so much. That is everything I needed to hear. They need someone like you here. Though the staff and trainers try, they don’t get it. They haven’t been where we have. I know the nutritionist rachel lost 100 lbs when she was 16 so if anyone she understands.

Candice: I am in your boat paddling the same water! In my water there have been huge rocks, stones thrown at my boat, I lost both ores, my boat tipped over many times, my clothes got really wet, and I still changed them, the boat went back in the wrong direction, and I tried to turn it around and it wouldn’t, I got out in the water and pushed …it! It poured for months, the boat filled with water, so to sum it all up in my own words and excuse my language, I got my ASS out of the boat and stopped bitchin’ and decide I needed to walk or fuckin swim it! Do it different until I found my own beat! It didn’t matter anymore who thought what cause at the end of every night the only person who was gonna be sad not going for the only thing they wanted was ME! I lost 154 lbs and every pound has legs, they screamed, shouted, and faught me everyday and that was just FINE because I decided there not gonna WIN! Your the winner when YOU take care of YOU! Fight Tawny- YOU GOT THIS! Xo

We all go through many of the same emotions on our weight loss journey! Every story is different YES! Celebrate YOUR LIFE, you only have one and you never know what tomorrow will bring you- LITERALLY! This is a journey you drive! You have the power to change it anytime. When in YOUR life can you actually say YOU CONTROL THE OUTCOME? Well, in this case YOU DO!

Congrats Tawny we are ALL routing for you! Keep up the great work! xoxox – Candice