DMV Fitness logo

Read Our Success Stories

Stacey Raeburn

before weight loss
after weight loss

After seeing some photos of myself at my friend’s wedding, I realised that I had to do something about my weight. I got positive and started to cut things out of my diet, started running and dropped 3 and a half stone to my target weight. I still wasn’t happy with what I saw. Yeah I looked better in clothes, but due to my only exercise being a bit of cardio when I could muster up the energy to drag myself to the gym, I was not fit and I was not toned! I still had the skin that housed the big girl I had been before.

My boyfriend had been to DMC before and had known Davie for a long time, so he suggested I go along and try the one-to-one sessions and see if it was for me. I was up for it but I was also terrified. I had been to group circuits a couple of times and it was really hard going so the thought of being put through my paces on a one-to-one basis scared me. I could not have been more wrong!

The first 3 weeks were all very relaxed – takings stats, doing fitness testing and talking about nutrition. That was the big shocker for me. I’d lost weight, I thought I had a healthy diet…wrong!  I had a ‘low-calorie, don’t eat too much’ diet. That session talking to Pablo about how little energy I had, how I felt about myself and how I wanted to feel was an eye opener.  How I felt over the next couple of weeks after implementing the changes he suggested was when I realised these guys knew their stuff.

After those first 3 initial weeks, my energy was up, I was sleeping better, my mood improved and I felt different already. I started training with Julie after nutrition week and unlike other trainers I had encountered before, she was friendly and understanding. She had been there herself – she’d been the scared person walking into the gym for the first time (scared but hopeful) and now she was stronger than some of the men I know but with an amazing feminine figure! Week on week, she put me through my paces, talked about what had gone well and what had not, talked me through some negative input from friends and family and then pushed me a wee bit further until there was a lot of swearing! My opinion of fitness and health have totally changed.

I’ve gone from being that girl that had to drag herself to the gym for 30 minutes on the treadmill to being the girl that can’t wait to get in about a workout that’s gonna make me ache like mad the next day.  After 18 weeks with DMC, I am way past my target weight, I have improved my fitness level more than I could have imagined, reduced my body fat to single digits and I can lift things that are almost weigh the same as me!  After my 18 weeks was over, I left Glasgow and after a holiday in Thailand (where I was comfortable in my bikini for the first time ever), I came to Abu Dhabi to live.  I have to say, saying goodbye to Julie and the rest of the team at DMC was just as sad as saying goodbye to some of my closest friends. I have learned so much from these guys about nutrition, fitness and most importantly, myself.  They have given me all the tools and support I needed to take with me and continue my self improvement and if I’m ever back in Glasgow, DMC HQ will be one of the first places I go.