With over 15 years in the fitness industry, Texan born Jessie Pavelka has trained countless people from all backgrounds how to shape their bodies. But Pavelka is a trainer with a difference – he specialises in extreme weight loss, true health and corporate wellbeing.

 
‘It was when I started working with a Gastric Surgeon in my early 20s that I started to love what I do. I had learned how to tone and shape my own body and could help others do the same, but it was working with people who really needed help to simply be involved in life that I found my vocation.
Pavelka’s empathetic but practical approach caught the attention of TV networks on both sides of the Atlantic, and his raw, organic shows ‘Obese: A Year to Save my Life’ and ‘Fat: The Fight of my Life’ are still being aired across UK Sky TV channels.
Although he still lives in Los Angeles, he regularly visits the UK to work on his business Pavelka Limited with his UK Business partner.
I love the UK. It’s a second home for me and I get on really well with the British people. They are salt of the earth and remind me of those who I grew up with in Corpus Christi Texas.
His good looks and athletic physique is definitely a draw for his audience in Britain, but Pavelka feels that his philosophy of health is the value he has to offer.
 

 
I help people lose weight, but I also want to be able give everyone the tools to ‘feel good’ on a daily basis. That’s what we all want, right?. I also think that things have become so complicated. There are so many programmes and plans to follow. It’s a mine field!
Pavelka works with his Four Elements of Health: Eat, Sweat, Think, Connect.
‘I encourage people to look pragmatically at their lives and then start making small changes within these four areas.
Eat is a simple one, but one people can get so hung up on. I start by getting people to put more colour on their plate, eat 3 meals and 2 healthy snacks a day and include carbs, lean protein and leafy greens with each meal. It’s very simple stuff. I’m not a fan of calorie counting – it’s too much like a second job to me. I think food should be fun, nutritious and enjoyed. I do think portion control needs attention from a lot of people, but that’s down to education.
When it comes to Sweat, I have always been active and as kid couldn’t keep still. I’m lucky as I love to live through my body. It helps me to get out of my head when things get too much. But not everyone is like me. I know that. So I tell them to fall in love with the feeling of exercise. It takes work but it’s so important to move every day in some shape or form.
Think is a tricky one for some. We all get food and exercise, but the mind is not so easy but in my opinion, this is key. Everything starts with a thought, right? Becoming aware of your thought behaviours and patterns is crucial when dealing weight loss or with any journey when someone is wanting to improve their overall health. If you build an element of awareness into the way you think and behave, you can take a beat and shift perceptions and decisions accordingly.
 

 
Finally, Connect. I say we should connect in 4 ways. To the self: Understanding who we really are giving ourselves time to work on this part of our lives helps us deal with what comes our way with confidence. To another person: We all need someone to turn to when in need. Whether it’s for accountability, advice or just someone to talk to. To a group: I love the diversity of the human race and connecting to a group can open your eyes to so much and it’s the perfect antidote to isolation. To a higher power: Call it God, religion, the universe. I don’t care. It’s what you see it to be. Mine is when I’m out in nature – all my problems and issues become so much smaller then.
To me, wholesome health is about balance in all of these four areas of life. When we create small changes in all of them we create a sustainable way to be healthy for a lifetime.
Pavelka is spreading his philosophy across the globe with his work with technology giants, Cisco Systems where he is the ambassador of health for employees in their EMEAR (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia) region.
There’s a huge amount of science around health and wellbeing in the workplace, but Pavelka feels that simplicity is key and his Four Elements is the no nonsense, easily applied and effective way to achieve overall, true health.
Find out more about Jessie Pavelka and his 4 Elements at pavelka.co.uk .

via GIPHY