Meet My Coach

Meet my coach, Gabrielle, which also happens to be one of my best friends. Without her, I don't think I would've lived to see past my mid 30s with the lifestyle I was living. To me, she's Julz. Julz means more than life to me. In fact, she saved mine. She is my coach, mentor and confidant. She has stuck by me even when I wanted to give up on my own transformation. She's someone I've laughed with, cried with, argued with, and fought with. She's the one person who has always told me what I didn't want to hear and showed me what true friendship means. On my bad days and bad nights, she's come over without me even telling her I was in need of a friend. We've gone through a lot through the years of our friendship which developed in 2012 and I'm thankful for, whatever reason, she decided to move to one of the smallest towns in Florida.

With her guidance and support, I'm going to continue to transform my life. I thank her parents for raising such an amazing, selfless individual. From the beginning, Julz has been more excited about my transformation than I ever was. Now, I can finally say that I've matched her excitement. I've finally found what works, what doesn’t and what I love. She's been patient and understanding, but has also been the boot camp coach when needed. See, she doesn't sugar coat the truth, she reasons with my sadness by helping me figure it out. Her kind of friendship makes me want to grow into a better person. She makes me a better person in knowing her. Her influence has helped me achieve things I've been trying to achieve on my own for the entirety of my life.

To many of my so-called friends, Julz was overly dominating. But, you know what? One thing my friends, and often times even I, didn't realize is that truth that she has had my back more times than I did. I was ready to give up, but she never was. I wanted to quit, but she never did. She has fought for me, against me, and, in the end, we’re both winners. To the less educated, she was my lesbian lover because we spent so much time together. But, try being an obese person fighting fast food cravings amongst many others. Try being a person who suffers from grief because of the lost two huge pillars of strength in my life (one of which who passed away from preventable diseases). Try being given up on because you lack continuous self-motivation. Only she has understood the emptiness I often times felt. See what it feels like when someone comes into your life that isn't willing to see you give up. I owe no explanations for who I am and what I do and I refuse to make your negativity my own! (Thanks Keith J.)