Nature's Bounty

As we all know, one of the main components of weight loss is a healthy diet and it's about time I jumped on the bandwagon.

It has been brought to my attention that consuming excessive carbs does not pave the way to a fitness utopia but it more than likely paves the way to an obese hell. This is quite unfortunate news in the land of Ryan. Ryan loves carbs (and referring to herself in the third person apparently). Although I do eat fruits and veggies regularly, I eat WAY too many carbs on a daily basis.

It is now my mission to cut out some of these little weight gaining devils and focus on nature's bounty. I need to get back to my roots- literally and figuratively- and concentrate on the delicious foods nature has provided me. I'll admit it...I often fall victim to the quick and easy fix of a bag of chips or crackers when hunger strikes and I realize I need to quit being such an idiot about my diet and grab an apple or perhaps some crispy carrot sticks instead. So here's to you nature! You got me!

Nature 1 Ryan 0

#8: Train-ultery

Most people are aware of the first seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride for you heathens out there) but few are aware of the eighth and final deadly sin: train-ultery. What is that you ask? It's cheating on your trainer and its a sin. Now you might be thinking, thanks for the morality review, Ryan, but why do I care? Well I'll tell you...

Yesterday I was sitting at my desk and received a disturbing phone call. It was a rep from my new gym wanting to make sure I was pleased with my new facility. "Well how attentive," I thought to myself and assured the gentleman that I was speaking to (we'll call him Bob) that I was quite happy with my new membership. Bob then informed me of a complimentary 3o minute massage by the masseuse on staff at the gym that is offered to new members. How delightful! This new gym is absolutely fabulous! At this point, Bob had me wrapped around his little finger by the prospect of a free massage...until...he said it, "Oh and I'd like to offer you a free session with one of our personal trainers too. It also comes complimentary with a new membership."

If only he could see my face he'd know how truly horrified and disgusted I was at this offer. Does he know who I am?? I'm one of J.R.'s clients! What kind of woman does he take me for?? Some tawdry lady of the night that has one-session-stands with other trainers? I THINK NOT! I'm in a happily committed (and somewhat contractual, but let's not split hairs here)relationship with my trainer! I DO NOT cheat on him! And I mean sure, he might have other clients so I guess its more of an open relationship in that sense but I certainly do not go around hooking up with every trainer that offers me a free session. Free session, buddy?! If you want someone who's that easy how about you go hang out at the bars at closing for the 2 o'clock scramble and maybe then you'll find someone who will go for your cheap free session. How dare you Bob...how DARE you.

Better Recognize!

It's been brought to my attention that I did not give a proper shout out to "the student" that has made a lot of this possible. To make amends I promised I would not only identify my friend but post his picture as well. So now, I present to you Harrison Wittels... philosophy & business student extraordinaire and provider of trainers!!Harrison, thank you so much for introducing Katie and I to J.R.!! It was so nice of you!! :)

Flying Solo

While Katie is jet setting off to places like Hawaii, I've been left to grind it out in the gym by myself (no bitterness here haha).

Honestly, I was a bit nervous arriving at my first solo session with J.R. not knowing what kind of torture awaited me now that he can focus all of his time and energy on me, but it wasn't that bad! I actually had a lot of fun! My hamstring is still quite a bother, but all and all "legs extravaganza" was good! I have a feeling J.R. took it a little easy on me given my injury, but based on the fact I can only muster a painful shuffle right now I think he accomplished his goals. :)

J.R. seems to think that my hamstring problem might be stemming from built up scar tissue from a previous injury that is now putting pressure on the nerves in my leg. He showed me a few exercises to try and remedy the situation so with a little luck I'll be back to fighting shape in no time!

Well I think that's it for today! If you see me walking around today try not to laugh too hard at my awkward little shuffle!

Did you just touch my balls?

Hey...I know what you're thinking and that's just gross. Get your mind out of the gutter people! I meant a medicine ball and exercise ball! Geez...

So today, J.R. decided to take it easy on us. And, of course, I use the term "easy" loosely. Don't kid yourself...I won't be able to lift myself out of bed tomorrow. But seeing as it feels like someone took a cheese grater to my right hamstring and then afterwards decided to punch it repeatedly, J.R. decided to postpone our "legs extravaganza" for tomorrow. So today we again focused on our upper body.

J.R. had us doing circuits of The Circle (of Doom). Well, I added that last part. And if I'm really being honest I kind of liked The Circle. It was various arms and abs exercises with a little cardio mixed in there. But it just goes to show that no one ever seems to grow up and juvenile jokes will always prevail. Despite the grueling workout, our many reps and sets were peppered with wisecracks about our (workout) balls and strangers, or each other, bumping into them. I must say though, that the jokes are an excellent way to get my mind off of what we are actually doing. So I don't really mind the fact that I, at times, have somehow regressed back to being a 13 year old...boy. haha

Diet Coke - The Gateway Drug

In talking with J.R., I have come a conclusion - I am going to have to give up one of my favorite things in the world... Diet Coke. Those of you who know me well know this is definitely going to be more difficult than the working out. Diet Coke has so infiltrated my life, I not only drink 4 or 5 a day but it even was my computer password for a time. What we have dubbed the ultimate "gateway drug" to trigger sweet cravings is going to have to go. Out with the old and in with the iced tea!!! I'll be keeping track and logging them here so keep me honest people!

Day 1

Diet Cokes - 0

Tomorrow is going to be hell. Bring on the headaches!

Last thing- I have to give major props to Ryan for the blog redesign. I take full responsibility for the first version - I got a little overwhelmed by this whole blog thing and really couldn't even begin to try to even change font colors. Cheers!

Face Lift!

Hello all!

Sorry for the multiple posts each day but we're still getting the blog up and running! I've been tinkering with the layout of everything trying to make us look a little fancier and maybe gain a little street cred. Let me know what you think!

Third Session

Well...I can't feel my legs.

And what I can't seem to figure out is how my legs resulted in Jell-O when we were working out our upper body?? How is that possible?!

I will say this though, after our first two sessions with J.R. I thought I was about one workout away from being in a full body cast but today my level of pain and soreness has decreased dramatically. At this point, I think I will actually live through this! AWESOME!

Hopefully, if J.R. is feeling merciful, tomorrow will continue the trend of life over death but I'm not about to start making assumptions! Until then, pray that I live to blog another day! :)

FEEL FREE TO JOIN IN!

Now that we are on our way to a healthier lifestyle, we would love for all of you to join us!

I know I sound like a cheesy infomercial right now (my apologies) but really...everyone is welcome! Katie and I still need to work out the logistics but we are going to orchestrate a weekly weigh-in so we can update everyone on our progress and if anyone wants to do this "remotely" then feel free!

You can either email Katie or me your stats each week and we'll add them to the blog. Obviously Katie and I have pretty big weight loss goals but even if you only want to lose a few pounds please blog about it! I know it will help Katie and me stay on track because we have a long road ahead of us and seeing some of our friends reaching their goals first will be an awesome motivator.

Also, if anyone wants to blog about recipes, new workouts or products, races you're doing, The Biggest Loser (greatest show EVER)...well pretty much anything, please feel free. :) We would love for all of you to be apart of this!

Seacrest out!

I Suppose I Should Spill Also...

Hello all! Per Kaite's post I'm sure you are all aware of our new quest in life. Kaite explained what got her to this point so I guess I should share my side of things!

Obviously, my weight has been something that I've sometimes worked on (but, unfortunately, more consistantly joked about) for several years now. I can't say that I was unaware of what was happening, after all you don't just wake up 30 or 40 pounds overweight but it was more a matter of not being ready to change and frankly laziness. I am lazy. There I've said it. I'm lazy and although I've desired to look better and lead a more active lifestyle my desire to lay around, relax, and watch TV always seemed to trump that. But I had a come to Jesus moment not too long ago with all aspects of my life and over the last month I've been working on changing things. It started with my job and conveniently once things were underway there I received an upset phone call from Katie telling me about her doctor's visit. And as she explained in her post it was only a matter of time before we came up with this scheme. For me, Katie's call and the following happy hour were the catalyst that I needed to get the ball rolling with my weight loss. It was the first time in years that I was truly excited and dedicated to losing weight and I finally had someone next to my side that not only understood where I was coming from but shared my same drive to make a change.

From there things happened pretty fast! It reminds me of a converstation I had with my Dad once. I think at the time we were discussing careers but his statement applies to all aspects of life. He said something along the lines of "if you're trying to do something and you keep hitting road block after road block sometimes that might mean you're on the wrong path. I've found that, generally, when I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing things seem to fall into place." And that is certainly how we discovered our new gym and trainer J.R.! A casual question to one of my students on what gym he's a member of ended up spurring on an hour long conversation, my friend putting us in touch with a wonderful trainer, and in a matter of days we were in the gym. :)

So here we are at the beginning of our little journey. I hope you guys follow and help keep us accountable!

Here's to getting ripped!

Ryan

Waist Not Want Not - A New Beginning

This story begins with a not-so-often trip to the doctor. I haven't exactly been in about 5 years so I was way past due for a check-up. This check-up, of course, starts with the obligatory weigh in and that's when the shock kicks in..."I'M 20 POUNDS HEAVIER THAN I THOUGHT I WAS?!?!?!" In an instant, every woman's nightmare has become my reality. I mean, I knew I didn't look the way I wanted to look or used to look, but then again, who does?!? But now, here I am and it is worse than I thought! I am certifiably obese. In my head, I always could say "Yeah I'm a little overweight, but I carry it well" or how about "I'm 5'8" and naturally athletic/muscular. I'm going to weigh more than other girls." No more - I am way way way heavier than I should be and no mountain of excuses can change that.

I then proceed to meet up with my girlfriends Ryan and Brew for dinner and drinks (nothing like a good HH to cure the blues), and we get to talking about the Biggest Loser, the TV show. Ryan declares that it is the most inspiring show she has ever watched and insists that we have to start watching. This, of course, opens me up on the traumatizing course of events of the last few hours and Ryan and I come up with a new resolve. We need to change our lives like the people on Biggest Loser. Ryan says she's "clinically obese" and I just broke the CC barrier and what are we doing to make a difference besides complaining about our appearance? For the past 5-10 years, I haven't been taking care of myself. I keep coasting with the status quo and not even realizing that I have consistently gained 4 or 5 pounds annually over the last 7 years. If the people on that show can commit and change their lives, even when they have so much weight the feat seems impossible, why can't the two of us?!? We're both fairly stubborn people and once we set our minds to something, we're committed, so let's set ourselves up to where we are held accountable and change our lives.

So here we are, at the precipice of this great adventure and new life. We asked around and decided to get a trainer to get us kick started for the first few months - enter J.R.!

J.R. was recommended by a friend of Ryan's and he is now our personal fitness Maharishi. Check him out - the guy is definitely an Adonis of fitness. Ryan and I are now working out Tuesday-Thursday with J.R. at 6 freakin' A.M. every week. I'm really excited about the opportunity to do this right and have someone else pushing me to really push myself. In the past I would work out but I certainly never ran further than I wanted to or held that yoga posture longer than I wanted to. Now we've got J.R. regulating what we do and don't do and that is a tremendous help.

I heard once that at every end there is a new beginning. I am embarking on a new adventure and it is certainly going to be the end of a lot of things. The end of sloth-like behavior, the end of Whataburger chicken fingers (oh and how I love those), the end of sleeping late on work days and God-willing the end of the "Cleaveland jowls." Here comes the start of blogging (a new foray for me), consistent workouts, and eating healthy.

Ryan and I are going to do this together and get our lives in order. I've created this blog as a way to keep ourselves accountable and chronicle the events of the next several months. I'm grateful to have such a great friend alongside me in what will certainly be a difficult time. There are going to be days when I'm tired, sore, and want nothing more than to make a quick stop at Domino's. I'm so thankful to have Ryan with me so that I can rely on her and vice-versa to stay committed and get ourselves back to the good ol' days of high school physique.