Over three decades as an entrepreneur in the nutrition business, Charles Remington’s journey to raise awareness about eating healthy has been rocky and colorful.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, he and a partner took their Beverly Hills Concepts fitness center in Rocky Hill and began franchising them across the country. Over a two-year period, 72 clubs were opened in 28 states. As one of the country’s fastest growing businesses, Remington’s venture attracted a lot of attention, including Connecticut’s bank regulators. In 1992, they ordered an immediate halt to the operations because the company did not have the required registered trademark needed to franchise. Thus, the massive franchising effort, the state said, was illegal. Remington was now on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“You can’t imagine how devastating that is,” Remington, now 57, said, recalling his days as a young man in his 30s driving around in a Porsche, living his dream and making money. “Where did that leave me — with nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing.”
He eventually filed bankruptcy.
Apparently, Remington’s lawyers — the prominent (and now defunct) firm of Schatz & Schatz, Ribicoff & Kotkin — made a startling faux pas by not completing the fairly routine task of making sure a client’s trademark was registered. In 1996, a Connecticut court awarded Remington and his partner $15.9 million in a malpractice award that Lawyers Weekly USA at the time said was the largest malpractice award in state history. But that verdict was overturned two years later in state Supreme Court. Remington and his partner received nothing.
After the “cease and desist” in 1992, Remington reached out to Physique Plus fitness center in Cheshire and forged a different partnership. The two-time Mr. Connecticut body building champ was the brains behind a personalized nutrition plan he was marketing. Remington felt his nutrition expertise would be an added benefit to the gym’s clients. The gym owners liked the idea of having a nutritionist in their building. As the clientele started to grow, Remington realized that most of the customers were not gym customers, but overweight people who heard about him from the gym customers.
In 1995, encouraged by the growing clientele, Remington, backed by a wealthy client, entered the infomercial world. There, the self-styled “Fat Loss Coach” became a 30-minute marvel. Remington cuts quite an imposing figure. He is 220 pounds and has 7 percent body fat. Bald like “Mr. Clean” with biceps like Popeye, each of his guns is decorated with a barbed-wire tattoo. He sounds a bit like Hulk Hogan when he talks; a Fu Manchu moustache and beard covering his mouth.
In other words, Remington is the central casting image of “The Fat Loss Coach.”
Through his partnership with the now dissolved World Media TV, Remington said $10 million worth of Fat Loss Coach nutrition plans were sold from 1995-96. He was supposed to receive a 5 percent royalty per quarter. The company owed him $500,000. The first check he received was $35,000. Remington said he never received another one. World Media TV had apparently overextended itself with its other infomercial products. Remington, once again, missed out on a lot of money. The two parties agreed, Remington said, that he would own the software the production company created for the Fat Loss Coach. In exchange, Remington agreed not to further pursue legal action.
Throughout the bumps and bruises of entrepreneurship and trying to create a national brand; Remington says he never lost faith in himself — and renewed his faith in God. The trials and tribulations of business have given him empathy in helping out-of-shape clients push through the arduous challenge of reducing body fat and consistently eating healthy.
“You grow through what you go through,” Remington said in his office at Physique Plus. “And man, I’ve been through a lot. The character of a guy is not seen when he is up; but when he is down. I’ve had a lot of things that have happened (regarding) my personal and business goals… And I’ve kept pushing forward. That’s why when clients say to me ‘you don’t know what it’s like to face adversity’, I look at them and say ‘you don’t know my story, man’. Nobody has faced more adversity.”
These days, Remington, who is married with two stepchildren, runs a thriving weight management practice in Cheshire and Glastonbury. He says it generates a six-figure income. He sees about 15 clients a day and has partnerships with Physique Plus, and Meda Spa 1064, a laser cosmetic surgery and skin rejuvenation firm. Remington also has an online presence. Over the past 30 years, he estimates that about 100,000 nutrition plans have been developed for clients.
Remington pitches nutrition with a minister’s zeal and conviction. His message is simple: Be more focused about shedding body fat, not just losing weight. Portion control with the meals is key, as are the type of food you eat and the times of day you are eating. Controlling the body’s blood sugar and metabolic rate with the proper meal plan will keep the fat burning embers stoked.
For most clients, that will mean about four meals a day. The Fat Loss Coach program develops a 12-week personalized program, with a three-day meal plan. The cost is $450. Remington, pointing to before-after pictures of clients, says his success rate is about 70 percent.
He emphasizes that his program is really about re-training the mind, body and spirit to embrace a new lifestyle — not just new food on the menu.
Remington’s journey to create a business with a legacy of fit bodies has indeed been rocky and colorful. He’s on the path now to “prosperity.”
Stan Simpson is host of “The Stan Simpson Show” (www.ctnow.com/stan and Saturdays, 6:30 a.m., on FoxCT). His ‘Faces in Business’ column appears monthly. Know someone who’d make a good subject for ‘Faces in Business’? Contact Simpson at stansimpson@comcast.net
