Testimonials

The Fit Solution

The Fit Solution is excited about the success of many of our clients. We are looking for the next clients for our makeover. To qualify you must be an official Fit Solution client (schedule an appointment at least once a month). The next top Makeover contestant will recieve a FREE Royal Carribean Cruise, a photoshoot, professional make-up and hair design, image consulting/ styling, personal training and free perks from our sponsors. Here are the selections from the last Makeover featured at the City Place Mall "Healthy You" Health & Fitness Expo in downtown Silver Spring. We want you to be next! Appointments may be scheduled between 5:00am and 9:30pm Monday thru Saturday. In order to have a better chance to secure your favorite training times please schedule at least two weeks in advance.
	Kristen Dear Yusef, I wanted to lose weight because I knew that I was really overweight. I also did not want to get any major health problems, related to being overweight. Many people told me that I needed to lose weight, including my doctor. The students in my high school really motivated me to lose weight. Most of the students in my high school were a lot smaller than I was. Some of the students in my high school would also make fun of my size. I became very tired of being overweight and being made fun of. I wanted to be the same size as all of the other students. I knew what I had to do in order to become their size. I knew I needed to lose a lot of weight. I decided that I was going to lose my weight. I began to walk a lot, do a lot of aerobics, ride my bike, and eat more wholesome foods. I would try to do these exercises every single day. Each day I would eat cold cereal for breakfast and for lunch. For dinner I would only eat one portion of whatever I wanted. If I was still hungry after I have finished eating I would snack on either some fruits, or some vegetables. I began to slowly lose my weight. In about a year I lost over fifty pounds. I really enjoyed losing weight. When I lost my weight it made me feel a lot better and look a lot better. I am very pleased with all the weight that I lost. I would like to continue to lose weight. I would also like to maintain a healthy body shape. I do not have to worry anymore about being unhealthy, or people making fun of my size. My final goals are to get down to 140 pounds, have a good metabolic rate, and to get more into shape. Thank you very much for helping and encouraging me to lose weight. I greatly appreciate it. I promise that I will try to continue to lose weight. Love Kristin Cousins
	Rachana When I was asked by Yusef and The Fit Solution team to write my motivation behind my body transformation, I waited as long as I could to write it. You may think it’s because I didn’t have anything to say, or didn’t know what to say—on the contrary-- I didn’t know where to star! I asked myself if I should start with the fact that my entire career evolves around promoting health and I wasn’t healthy. Or perhaps the time when I tried to run a mile on the treadmill and could not finish the mile because I was board out of my mind and out of breath. One hectic day in the office while I was running around planning health promotion programs for Suburban Hospital, I happen to glance at a picture my director took of some of my colleagues and myself. Honestly speaking, I stopped dead in my tracks! Was that me in that picture? How could I possibly go out in the community and preach about healthy weight, nutrition, and heart health being obese and sedentary? I was seeing myself in a brand new light it seemed—in a way I had never seen myself before. I new there was this outgoing, vibrant, energetic, funny person hiding under there somewhere—people just didn’t see it because it was camouflaged by all the negatives. I discretely removed the picture and put it in my planner. From that day, I decided to have my action speak louder than words. I decided to make a change! Once a decision in made in your heart and mind, it is only a matter of time before the change takes place. First thing I did is Google weight loss strategies. There was so much conflicting information that I didn’t know if where to begin. I did however sign up at the local recreation center. I then decided to email Yusef and his team for direction. The Fit Solution went to work by mapping out my fitness and lifestyle goals. They explained to me that simply doing cardio was not enough—to maximize my benefits, I must combine it with weight baring exercise and good nutrition. They even performed the necessary screenings (body fat analysis, resting metabolic rate analysis, total height and weight, etc. etc), to ensure that I was not over or under working out. Their monthly news letters and fitness tips kept me in the loop of the latest and greatest in fitness news. Before I knew it, I was down ten pounds, than twenty, than thirty! To this date I have lost 33 pounds, gained muscle, improved my body composition, endurance, and flexibility. In fact, remember the mile I couldn’t finish on the treadmill? Well, I am able to run a 9.5 minute mile and am competing for the Marine Core Marathon in 2008! I heard a story about three frogs once. They were all laying around on a leaf floating in a pond. One of the frogs decides of jumping in, how many do you think were left? Most people say two. The answer in fact is three. There is a huge difference between deciding to jump in, and actually jumping in. Once you decided to make a change, it brings you a bit closer to your goal, but there is no substitute for action! Everyone is busy and wishes we had thirty hour days, but we must love ourselves enough to make it work in twenty four hours. Now, when I am trying to meet Suburban Hospital’s mission to reach out to build a healthier community, I am confident because I AM practicing what I preach. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, make the change today! Your partner in health, Rachana
Jeffrey Banks Before: 525 lbs. and 67% Body Fat This has been a tremendous year for me, and The Fit Solution has played a key role in helping me to achieve success! Over the past 16 months, I have lost over 250 pounds. In January, Yusef Battle took me to meet a health colleague named Dr. Andrea. Between her expertise in treating obesity and The Fit Solution specializing in designing fitness programs, I had the ingredients to reach goals I never thought I would reach. I've worked on and off with Yusef for a number of years, but I never had the dietary portion in tact. I maintained my top weight of 525 pounds for about three years. At the beginning of 2004, I felt myself slowing down. My exercise regimen would be like so many Americans--on again, off again. The irregularity along with the lack of consistency made it difficult to achieve any significant progress. Finally, I committed top partner with The Fit Solution.
Hard work does not come without conflict, and Yusef challenged me every step of the way. Through maximizing my workouts, I have been able to make phenomenal strides in my weight loss journey. I lost 16 pounds the first week and 13 pounds the second week. I lost 100 pounds in only three months, and within an eight-month time period, I lost 200 pounds. After being diagnosed as a diabetic in September 1992, I have been able to get off all of the diabetes medicine. I stopped taking insulin in June 2004, Glipizide in September 2004, and Glucophage in November 2004. I'm able to maneuver much more efficiently, and I have a lot more energy. As I exercise, I continue to burn fat, build muscle, and improve my physique. The building of muscle has helped me to increase my metabolism. Also, my skin has contracted quite well. My body fat has decreased from 67% to under 19%. I have lost over 20 inches in my waist alone!! The Fit Solution has challenged me to achieve my personal best, and through partnering with them, I have been able to achieve miraculous results! Jeffrey Banks Now. Simply Amazing Results!
	Sahtiya I decided that I wanted to be healthier the day I went to the doctor and the scale balanced at a whopping 210 pounds. The doctor came in and told me that I had officially reached the point where I was considered obese, and that I ought to lose about fifty pounds to be considered healthy. Now, I had been a pretty serious athlete for most of my life, and it was only after college that I stopped being physically active. Throughout college, I did work out pretty regularly but not with a team. I would say my weight stayed at about 180 pounds, give or take 5 pounds, throughout college. I knew that I had always been deceptively heavy because of my muscle mass, but the 210 the doctor's visit showed me had nothing to do with muscle. I began by really looking at my eating habits. I had just broken up with a guy who wanted to eat out all the time and would make late night fast food runs to satisfy a craving. It was easy to go back to my natural habits of cooking for myself, and I stopped stocking unhealthy foods in my cabinets. I started working out with the exercise class offered twice a week at my school that was run by The Fit Solution. The convenience of the class, and the dedication to teaching us exercises that didn't require any equipment meant that there was never an excuse to not workout. I stayed motivated by my desire to feel "normal" again. After taking a really hard look at the way my body felt and functioned, I realized that I felt bloated all the time and that my energy was non-existent. I had attributed all of these things to the amount of work and energy it took to be a teacher, but I realized that the teaching only explained a certain amount of emotion energy depletion, the reality was that I was just unhealthy. Having a set place to work out with someone to meet with gave me the structure I needed to stick to a work out plan. Having someone with expectations kept me on track, and I have lost 30 pounds since last December. My goal is to get through the plateau I have been on and drop another 30 pounds by next May. I encourage everyone to take an honest look at themselves and think about how their unhealthy habits have affected their lives. The smaller size and weight loss are only secondary benefits to leading a healthier life.
	ChiQuita Nearly three years ago, I decided to prepare to enter the world of pageantry again. Pageants always brought out my very best, and at that time in my life I needed something to help me rediscover the great things in my life. I did not realize at that time how hard it was to shed the pounds. I had developed such bad eating habits and it was affecting my fitness results and causing me to have yo-yo results. Yusef gave me an exercise program with eating suggestions which helped me to get started. He would constantly challenge me to take my fitness plan on as a personal project and mission. The first two years, I would lose ten pounds, but always gain it back later. I realized that if I did not do something about my nutrition and lifestyle, I would be headed down a dangerous path of constant weight gain. In January of this year, I was the heaviest that I have ever been. I weighed 183 pounds and I felt my health really being affected. Every year The Fit Solution has a program called the Survival of the Fittest Body Transformation Challenge. It's during this challenge that Exercise Physiologist, Yusef Battle, brings in Registered Dieticians and have exercise programs throughout Montgomery County during February to around May. It was then that I decided to take health more seriously. I attended the survival workshops on a weekly basis and pushed pass the lazy tendencies that I had developed. At first I found it difficult, but I realized that I had to press on. Attending the class on a weekly or bi-weekly basis really helped me to push pass the most difficult times of my transformation journey. Once the classes were over, I asked The Fit Solution to create an exercise program that I can continue on my own. By that time, I had built strength and endurance and exercising became easier. I had also enrolled in a community program conducted by one of the Survival Registered Dieticians in order to learn more about healthy eating. I have lost 30 pounds, countless inches and reduced my body fat significantly since working with The Fit Solution. During my pageants this year, everyone constantly remarked how great I looked. It felt good to know that it was all done the right way. One piece of advice I wanted to leave with everyone is to always remember to follow the food pyramid. It is not about dieting and following the last eating fad, but about a lifestyle of balanced nutrition and exercise. Our bodies will thank us for it.
	Lisa At the end of March, I signed up for The Fit Solution - Survival of the Fittest Challenge. Prior to joining the program, I felt like I was always tired. I wanted to loose weight and to be more active but I was completely unmotivated to go to the gym or to do any type of exercise. I thought that I ate a healthy diet but as I continued to gain weight and to feel less energetic, I knew that I needed to make some drastic changes to my lifestyle. Yusef Battle created an exercise program for me based on the results of various tests and evaluations. The program involved a combination of strength training and cardiovascular exercise. I also started a food log to track my daily food intake. After about 6 weeks on the program, I began to see and feel visible results - I had a lot more energy and I consistently worked out an average of 4-6 times per week. My body had more muscle definition and my clothes felt looser. With the assistance of my food log, I was able to track and make healthy improvements to my diet. It has been 5 months since I first started the program and I am very happy that I took that first step. I have had fun working out, meeting new people, and learning important facts about my body and exercise physiology. I have not lost as much weight as I initially expected to but I feel good about my progress so far. I am now 1 clothes size smaller, I have replaced excess fat with muscle, I feel more energetic, and I consistently eat more frequent, healthier meals. My friends and family members have seen the difference in my body and that encourages me to keep on going – despite what the scale shows. Rome was not built in a day and neither was I. I made a commitment to take back control of my body and to change my lifestyle and I am doing just that with the help of The Fit Solution.
	Roxanne What got you interested in being healthier? I decided that I wanted to take off the weight that i put back on two years ago. How did you get started? I got started by riding my bike 30 minutes a day. Then I started taking classes with Yusef on Monday & Saturdays. How did you stay motivated? That's a hard one to answer. I stayed motivated by thinking about the results that would come out of the work out. Plus I know that Yusef is going to ask who did how much cardio, weight training on Monday. What do you consider your results to be? I consider My results to be great! I got my total cholesterol down from 206 to 183 in one months time. How did the Fit Solution Help? The Fit Solution helped because it taught me different ways to exercise…also healthier ways to eat. Plus Yusef works you out. What are your future or long term goals? My future plans are to lose about 20lbs, to keep it off. What tips can you share to encourage others to do the same thing? Come and exercise with a group of friends, you will have a lot of fun while working out and talking trash.
	Lydia What got you interested in being healthier? • My high blood pressure became uncontrollably high; • I had to have a pace maker placed because of a heart condition; • The increased national news and health coverage of the poor state of people’s health in the U.S.; • I would like to live to be 100 years old in order to see and experience as many of the new world developments as possible and be with my family members. How did you start? • My husband and I joined a local sports club to exercise; • While a member of the club, I exercised twice weekly with one of their trainers, Yusef Battle; • I enrolled most recently in a weight control counseling program. How did you stay motivated? • My doctors, the weight counseling programs, reading health books, and my trainer, Yusef Battle, keep me motivated and are supportive of me and my efforts. What do you consider your results to be? • The results have been disappointingly slow, but I realize that had I not started the weight and health program, I would have perhaps gained even more weight with my overall health suffering as well. How did the Fit Solution Help? • The one-on-one exercise sessions with the continued and untiring, positive and encouraging support from Yusef Battle have kept me faithful to the program. He has reinforced this program with additional group exercise sessions and nutritional lectures and demonstrations. What are your future or long term goals? • I would like to loose an additional forty pounds and maintain that weight for the rest of my life. Given my erratic attitude toward initiating an active physical regime, I will have to push myself to be more consistently physically active even when it is discomforting to me or inconvenient for me. What tips can you share to encourage others to do the same thing? • Whatever your goal is, remember that you have failed only when you give-up. Otherwise you are either in the process of learning or you have reached your goal and it’s time to achieve something else. Lydia I have had a life long struggle with maintaining what I consider to be my ideal weight of 140 pounds. Through the years, I’ve vacillated between that weight to upwards of slightly over 200 pounds. Each time after losing the desired weight, I would become comfortable with the results but slowly and almost unnoticeably, regain the pounds lost and more. Realizing that exercise is important to maintaining a long and active life, my husband and I joined a health club where I met Yusef Battle, who was one of the trainers at the club. In order to reach my weight loss goal and to assure that I would maintain a regular exercise program, I started working out with him on a regular basis. Yusef Battle is not only interested in the physical work out program but he has programmed on a regular basis nutritional workshops with highly qualified nutritionist conducting the sessions. He has also added group exercise sessions to the individual programs. These sessions came at a most important time in my life as my health was in a steady decline. I did not have to look far as to where to go and what to do to improve the situation. I had found Yusef Battle, who with the cooperation of others, have saved my life. The weight loss process has been slower than I would have liked but the direction is sure and the more effective way of being at my physical best.
Fit & Fabulous Laurett Arenz is a former Mrs. America and Mrs. USA 2003.
Survival of the Fittest participant Renee Before
Diligence & Dedication Renee recently lost 40 pounds!
He Trained Like an Athlete Matt accomplished his goal of being able to bench press 225 pounds ten times. His body fat decreased from the 20th percentile to the teens!
Perseverence & Purpose Janell Before I have known Yusef Battle for over three years. I became acquainted with him when he worked as a personal trainer for my reluctant daughter, who was ten. I was impressed by his ability to motivate her and design a program that met her individual needs. While observing them from the vantage point of the treadmill, I decided that perhaps I could benefit from Yusef's help as well. I knew that I needed to make changes if I did not want to repeat my family history of heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure, and enjoying sailing with my husband! My goal was to develop more flexibility and endurance so that I could walk up stairs without pain, sit on the floor again and go for a walk without becoming breathless. I had a goal of losing 40 pounds in six months, when I planned to take intensive sailing classes. I made that goal, helped by Yusef's Survival of the Fittest Body Transforamtion Challenge. I have gone from taking ibuprofen daily to taking it less than once a week. I no longer have difficulty climbing stairs or gardening. Throughout this time, Yusef's steady encouragement and ability to work with my changing goals has been the key to my success. A life-long problem of tight muscles contributes to my limited flexibility. Stretching, therefore, has always been an important component to my personal training lessons.
Yusef has focused on functional training and the development of core strength when I've needed to work on balance and flexibility. He has moved me into intensive strength training to boost my metabolism and help spur my weight loss. He knows how to alter the workout if I have a period of joint pain. He has provided metabolism tests to help me determine how to structure my diet plan. He helped me cope this winter for major surgery by focusing on my overall fitness before the surgery and then gently reintroducing me to exercise as my body recovered. Yusef has always listened to my own goals and needs and has adapted his work to them. Our relationship is an important one to me, making the "personal" in personal training very meaningful. Janell Now Wow!

Weight Training:

We offer a wide variety of high quality weights and exercise systems through our health club affiliates (and coming soon!!...downtown Silver Spring Studio), including both free weights and weight machines. Our weight room also includes efficient abdominal weight machines and benches.

Cardio Training:

The Fit Solution’s cardio training affiliate facilities are second to none. Bikes, steppers, treadmills and elliptical trainers - we have access to machines to fit all your cardio needs.

State-of the-Art Clinical Fitness Testing:

Resting Metabolism Analysis and VO2 Max Cardiovascular Testing are offered exclusively for The FitSolution clients. All of our consultants are highly qualified and can create effective custom designed fitness programs from the test results.