Growing up the fat kid in her Long Island neighborhood, 36-year-old Morit Summers hated who she saw in the mirror.
He weighed over 200 pounds, and doctors recommended fad diets and weight-loss surgery. She only made her feel worse.
Then, when she was 14, her family hired a personal trainer who worked with her on strength and movement training. She got stronger and her self-esteem improved. But working out didn’t put her on the path to becoming a skinny gym rat.
Instead, it set her on the path to helping other people achieve their health and fitness goals without worrying about a number on the scale.
“I have no idea how much I weigh. I haven’t stepped on a scale in three years. It’s a toxic place,” Summers, now a certified trainer, told The Post. The 5-foot-6 powerhouse estimated that she is somewhere in the 250-pound range. And that’s fine for both her and her clients.
“If your goal is to get lean, have no body fat, and cry during your training session, I’m not the trainer for you,” Summers said.
Morit Summers became a Certified Fitness Trainer to help other plus size people get their gym and fitness activities done.
People looking to get stronger and healthier, but don’t obsess over weight loss — are turning to plus-size personal trainers, both online and offline. In 2017, Summers opened Form Fitness in Brooklyn Heights, where she trained more than 100 clients, including curvy supermodel Ashley Graham. A recent TikTok video of Summers doing jumping jacks to a remixed hip-hop track has earned more than 561,000 alone, while the #PlusSizeTrainer hashtag has more than 4.6 million.
“Everyone’s goal is not to be skinny when enter a gymsaid Summers, who charges $150 for a single session. “Most people just want to feel better. They want their bodies to feel healthy and strong.”
Summers has endured criticism from cyberbullies who have call her “fat” Y question with hate why would anyone want to work with someone who looks like her, but her bigger physique It is precisely for this reason that some come to her.
“Many of my clients come to me because I look like them. I have a belly too,” she said. “I know what you’re going through.”
sarah taylor, a 38-year-old trainer in Toronto, she also uses her struggles with weight and self-esteem to connect with clients.
During her training sessions, Sarah Taylor promotes self-talk as the key to achieving overall health.
While leading clients through her hour-long virtual classes, Taylor provides modifications to ensure that each client, regardless of weight or mobility level, can complete the movements.
“I know what it’s like to absolutely hate yourself. I know what it’s like to work out three hours a day, six days a week and throw up after every workout because you hate yourself,” said Taylor, who weighs about 250 pounds and is 5-foot-11.
While working at a commercial gym before becoming a trainer in 2018, Taylor recalled being embarrassed by a woman who gave her a dirty look and asked, “Are you medically cleared to work out here?”
The incident, while hurtful, inspired his professional fitness journey.
“What I’ve learned and what I tell my clients is that you can’t change yourself if you hate yourself,” Taylor said. “The only way you’re going to see true change is to truly love yourself.”
She preaches self-appreciation during her weekly 60-minute group training session that she hosts virtually through her own fitness app for a $55 monthly subscription fee. Workouts include upper-body strength-training routines. , lower body and core. For each exercise, she provides modifications for users who are uncomfortable or unable to perform a full movement. Under her tutelage, the weight of a person is never discussed.
“I am a personal trainer. I just exist in a plus-size body,” she said. “My approach is very different than a typical personal trainer because my goal is not to force people to lose weight, it’s about empowering women to feel comfortable in their own skin.”
Las Vegas plus-size trainer Jessica Goins never discusses the scale with her clients, either. She doesn’t force them to do a lot of cardio training, nor does she force people to track their food intake.
Instead, she kicks off each of her virtual fitness courses conducted via Zoom by putting her clients in a positive mindset through an open dialogue about their physical, mental, and emotional challenges.
As a recovering compulsive overeater, Jessica Goins invites her clients to talk about their personal difficulties and struggles before each workout.
Goins, of Las Vegas, says sharing the details of her eating disorder with her online community helped her achieve more than 500 binge-free days.
Because of her past, Goins is committed to helping her clients be healthy from the inside out.
“We start each session by talking about how they feel,” said Goins, 33. “We work through any obstacle, whether it’s mindset, nutrition, or how they feel about themselves. And then after that, we get into training.”
For Goins, a recovering compulsive overeater, having a fresh mindset helped her overcome her disorder.
“My goal as a trainer is to make sure my clients are healthy: body, mind, and soul,” she said. “It’s not just about losing weight.”
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