The Amazing Sarah Kretsinger and Her Journey to Health

You’ve probably watched The Biggest Loser, seen the “Joy Fit Club” on the Today Show - or even looked in awe at “before” and “after” pictures on infomercials - where someone goes from morbidly obese to the vision of health. It makes you question the “non-typical” results. Are they taking some magic pill? Is this only possible if you can have a personal trainer and chef on-call 24/7?

Enter Sarah Kretsinger – an amazing woman who is on the ride of her life. She is a woman on a serious mission to lose 160 pounds, and in the process has inspired many others around her, including me.

Here is her journey…

The beginning is a very good place to start
Sarah grew up with an Air Force Dad and moved around a lot before the age of 9 when her family settled in Weatherford, TX. She remembers being overweight as a child, “I was always one of the heavier people in my class. I think I went from small to XL without stopping in between.”

Sarah also recalls when she was 12 years old her aunt giving her hand-me-down clothing that she no longer wanted. It was hard for her to admit that she was the same size as a grown woman who had given birth three times.

Sports weren’t her thing. She preferred to curl up on the couch and escape into a good book.

Fast forward
By the time Sarah reached her late twenties, she got to the point that it was painful to look in the mirror because she hated what she saw.

“I would brush my teeth and look everywhere but straight ahead. I didn't want to go anywhere because I didn't want people to see me. If I did go out with friends I didn't want to blend in, I wanted to fade into the background so no one could see me or judge me. I hated how I looked.”

And then the ugly side of Facebook struck. Her sister posted a picture from their family Thanksgiving and Sarah was mortified. She immediately thought she looked fat and ugly, and assumed that is what other people thought of her. Here is that fateful picture...



Enough was enough.

She approached her doctor about losing weight and diets, and was immediately steered towards weight loss surgery. Sarah was not interested. She had seen several people go through the recovery; the side effects were bad and the financial burden was daunting.

So ignoring her doctor’s recommendation for medical intervention, Sarah decided to go it alone and joined 24 Hour Fitness.

Jumping in head first
Since Sarah had never worked out, she didn’t know the first thing about the equipment and what to do. So she tapped into the knowledge of a personal trainer. She met with her personal trainer once per week and continues to do so. She even posts fun and helpful trainer tips on her Facebook page.

Sarah started out slow and did cardio on the recumbent bike almost every day. As she got stronger, she worked her way up to higher resistance and incline. Then she changed to the elliptical trainer and again worked her way up on resistance and incline. Now she does a blend of elliptical, treadmill and glider.

And she has found a love of the Group X room.

And this is how Sarah came into my life. My Saturday kickboxing class is huge. I regularly have 50-60 people punching, kicking and burning major calories. I remember the first day that Sarah came into my class. She stood in the far back. Little did she know that I make my rounds around the entire room. I noticed her immediately because she was smiling! Despite the intensity of the class and the fact that she had never taken the format before, she was determined to work hard. And she was smiling.

She was clearly having fun and that made me smile.

Sarah has branched out with group fitness and tests out a variety of classes that challenge her in different ways – boot camp, athletic training, aqua, 24LIFT, kickboxing and Zumba.

Sarah exercises every day. No excuses.

Her goal
Sarah’s sights are set on a goal – to be healthy. She has discovered that the average weight for her height is between 113-150. She has a medium skeletal build, so a realistic goal is closer to 135.

Sarah says, “I'll be happy with 150. Of course my body may say I'm staying at 160. I just have to remember that I'm aiming for the healthy goal, not the number that I think will make me ‘beautiful.’ That's the main goal – which is a little daunting when you start out at over 300 pounds so I make short term goals.”

Sarah’s first goal was to lose 50 pounds in 5 months. And bam! She succeeded. Her second goal is to have her weight start with a “1” by her next birthday.

“Even if it's 199.9 I’ll be happy!” Sarah muses.

Changing her eating habits
Exercise is only part of an overall healthy lifestyle. Sarah learned this, so she took strides to correct her bad fast-food habits, cut calories and nourish her body.

She tells me “I count calories. Which is ironic because I never wanted to do Weight Watchers because I thought there was too much counting. Now I count to 1500 instead of 33 or 36. Go figure.

Sarah uses the Apex program to help keep tabs, which you get free when you work with a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness. She logs her food and it calculates the calorie count and percentages made up from fat, carbs, and protein.

She keeps her calorie count between 1300-1500, which she says, “sounds small, and I never thought I'd be the person to say this, but I can't eat much more than that or I feel sick. I used to hate people that made that kind of statement.”

Fitness is life
Sarah recalls “the first time I really got into [fitness] was when I went to the tailor to take my clothes in FOUR sizes. Then just last month people at work started asking me how I was losing the weight. And a lady at work decided she was going to change the way she ate and asked me for nutrition tips!”

Yes, there are set-backs
“Most of the set-backs have been mental.” Sarah reports, “I've made all this progress, and a small part of me is afraid I'll somehow go backwards or gain the weight back, so I tend to push myself harder.”

She tells me “it's still a little hard to get out of my comfort zone. I still think people are watching me and judging me as the ‘fat girl,’ but I know if they are watching me it's probably to see what I'm doing. When I do cardio I watch to see what other people do in case I want to try it.”

Staying Motivated
To stay motivated Sarah just has to go as far as her mirror. She can see (and feel) the progress.

“Today I weigh as much as I did when I graduated high school, but I'm in much better shape. I can actually see muscle definition! I am so much stronger now, too. I can actually jog for 2 minutes straight. When I first started I was sweating by the time I reached the top of the stairs to start my workout.”

Sarah is a real person
Whenever I feel burned out at the gym or like drowning myself in thumbprint cookies, I think of Sarah. She is not only inspiring, but is healthy, confident and beautiful.

Sarah says of her journey “I thought I had to be thin in order to be beautiful. Now I know I'm beautiful, the rest is just numbers and outer appearance.”

Sarah is real. She doesn’t have a live-in chef, nor does she get wake-up calls from Jillian Michaels. She didn’t have surgery, starve herself or take a magic pill. My friend Sarah is doing it the old-fashioned way – regular exercise and healthy eating. 82 pounds down. And she shows no signs of slowing.

And I am lucky to be part of Sarah’s beautiful journey in a small way.

A new treat: Skinny Cow Style

Ad man wanted a treat from SONIC after dinner, so being the loving and wonderful wife that I am, I went out and got him an ice cream sundae. Truth be told, I went when he asked because I wanted a treat too. But then I thought better of it when I placed the order. I didn't need some high-calorie mess tonight! I didn't even work out today! Wednesday is my day off.

And then I remembered an article I read about how Renee Zellweger ate ice cream to gain weight for Bridget Jones Diary. Was I going to willingly eat something that people eat to purposely gain weight? Heck no. Seriously think about that whenever you decide to sit down with a tub of Haagen Daz. I mean it may as well have a "Eat me if you wanna get fat" sticker on it.

Ice cream on VERY special occasions? Ok. Otherwise I would TOTALLY skip it!

I got home and passed off Ad man's sundae to him. Which he then added MORE caramel sauce to. I looked up the calories on it and it was 381 Calories, 12.4g fat (8.4 saturated fat), 39mg cholesterol, 233mg sodium, 53g sugar).

Yep I can see why Renee Zellweger gained weight having one of these babies each day.

As I watched Ad man eat his delight, my sweet tooth got its panties all in a bunch. So I had to have something.

I dug into the freezer for the new Skinny Cow mini ice cream cup that I picked up at Target yesterday. Yum. I was pretty proud of myself for avoiding the junk until I read the ingredients (after downing the whole thing). High fructose corn syrup. Damn. It was staring me right in the face.

Other than that it wasn't too terrible. 150 calories and 2 grams of fat for the whole thing. It felt like a good portion and it was yummy...

But the HFCS really irked me.

My overall review - Scale of 1-10, 10 being awesome

Taste: 7
For a low-fat treat, just for a basis of comparison I consider a warm chocolate chip brownie with hot fudge, vanilla bean ice cream and whipped cream an 12 on the scale. So this tasted pretty good).

Texture: 7
Sometimes low fat is too watery, this was decent.

Nutrition: 6
Not terrible, but 1g saturated fat, sugar of course.

Presence of weird ingredients: 3
HFCS, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and cottonseed oil and a bunch of other garbage that I cannot pronounce...

Overall: I give it a 5, it would be a 7 without all the junk slugged in it.

Oh so sore-y

I am so sore I can't stand it. It hurts to move, pick up the baby and laugh. How did I get this way? Three crazy hard classes that I taught in the past 72 hours, that's how.

I inflicted this pain on myself.

But I like it.

Here are some great sore muscle remedies:
1. Hot shower or bath (hello obvious)
2. Lots of water to flush out all the lactic acid from your muscles
3. More exercise, especially some light cardio - it helps to again flush out the muscles and get things worked out. So many people skip the gym when sore. It is important for your body to repair itself, but light exercise when sore can make the soreness disappear and allow the body to repair more quickly.
4. Tiger Balm - this is similar to BenGay, but SO much better
5. Stretching - take long slow stretching movements. Hold them for 30 seconds per stretch. Hold the most sore muscles for 45 seconds to 1 minute.
6. Massage - Sports massages are great. I've had one before and wowza, I felt great afterward. They are a little more intense than your traditional spa massage, but they really get at the sore areas.
7. Complain (i.e., brag) - tell someone how awesome you are for doing such an intense workout.
8. A pedicure = ok, maybe it doesn't totally help with soreness, but it sure is relaxing. I'm in desperate need of another one by the way.

Side rant: pedicures from Hawaiian Nail Bar, while wonderful and relaxing, do not last that long. I had one two weeks ago and the polish is teetering on the edge of embarrassing and trashy. Most long-lasting pedicure? Elizabeth Arden. Pricey and not on the part-time working Mom budget. [Insert dramatic sigh here].

Goodnight Naked Stretchers.

Ingenious or Desperate? My latest sort of lo-cal treat

I'm trying not to eat unnecessary sweets. My mind says "you don't need it," but my taste buds say, "eat it!" I've been doing well for the past few days - no dessert, no treats, nothing sweet other than fruit.

Well tonight was my breaking point. And low and behold, nothing sweet to be had in the whole house! No skinny cows, no fruit popsicles, nary a 100-calorie pack. What's a girl to do?

Get innovative.

++=YUM, YUM, YUM!

I drizzled (ok poured) Hershey's chocolate syrup over the top of a 90-calorie granola bar. And then drizzled (really just a drizzled) caramel sauce on top. No fat in either syrup, but plenty of calories and sugar. I'd venture to say that I had 1 TBS of caramel and 2 of chocolate. So I had myself 200-250 calories of make-shift dessert.

Ingenious or desperate? You decide.

The Skinny Mom: Tip #3 - Smoothie Move

Baby E has entered the picky eating stage. It was like a switch was turned and he went from being a great eater to a child that spits out former favorite foods and would prefer to decorate the house with cheerios.

He essentially eats on goldfish and drinks just about anything put into a sippy cup. So, I got creative. I started making smoothies. I take baby yogurt, whole milk, ice, any type of fruit that is around the house, whole grain rice cereal and veggies and throw 'em into a blender. Whirl, whirl, bam! He sucks it down (especially if I forgo the sippy cup, put it in a big glass and hold it for him to drink through a straw). So, now I get my sweet boy to eat some good stuff. I am not opposed to goldfish, clearly, because that is what I can get him to eat, but that is certainly not enough nutrition for a little growing boy.

With all the use of the blender, I decided to give it a whirl for a Mommy smoothie. I dump in fat-free vanilla yogurt, fat-free milk, ice, honey, avocado, fruit (and sometimes peanut butter). Whirl, whirl, bam - an on the go, low-fat and good-for-you version fit for a busy Mom. I can sip on it as we run errands, as I chase Baby E through the house, or on the off chance that he sits quietly and plays, I can sit and leisurely sip.

I pair my smoothies with a half sandwich (turkey or peanut butter) and I am set.

I love these cool treats on these 100+ degree August days.

They make single serve blenders, too, so you can even do this at the office.

Over-exertion Headaches

I tend to get headaches on Saturdays after my back-to-back classes. It's two straight hours of cardio. I push myself for sure. And I find if I don't drink tons of water I get a headache. Like right now. I have a headache. Blech...

Must drink more water.

On days when I do an intense workout, I need more than my normal amount of water. They say to drink half your body weight in ounces - so for me that would be about 64 ounces of water = 8 glasses. On Saturdays I should drink closer to 10 glasses of water. And I have to say I did not come close today. That's a lot of water, but worth it to avoid the headache.

And over-exertion headaches are pretty common. The solution? WATER and Tylenol.

Well it's off to bed with a big old glass of water. Yes, it is 8:30 and I'm going to bed.

Good night Naked Stretchers.

The weight gain experiment

On Friday mornings I kick off the weekend with a 5:45 am class called X-Treme Drills. Great class, great group of early morning people. The format gives me the flexibility to do a lot of different things - strength and cardio - all leaning towards the extreme side.

In light of all my nostalgic reminiscing about myself a year ago (me+ 40 pounds of baby weight to lose), I wanted to see what it would be like to do that class with an extra 20 pounds on me. So, in between cardio stations I had the group use heavy hand weights to do a weight experiment. We did jumping jacks with 10 pound hand weights down at each sides, then ran in place with knees high with hand weights at our sides. Holy moly is that hard. It was 100% easier when we set the hand weights down and essentially did the same drill.

It made me realize how glad I am that I don't have that extra 20 pounds on me. Now granted an extra 20 pounds wouldn't necessarily be concentrated in one area as our hand weights were, but you get the idea.

And what if you had more than 20 pounds to lose - what if what 40 or 50 or 100?

20+ pounds is not too hard to gain BUT certainly hard to lose. It takes time, but the benefits of this type of weight loss far outweigh the effort to lose it!

What can 20+ extra pounds do to you?

1) Much more strain, wear and tear on your knees and ankles - a huge portion of knee and ankle pain can be attributed to carrying extra weight.

2) Extra strain on your heart - This causes the heart and blood vessels to harden or clog, causing the heart, lungs, and other organs to suffer from decreased blood flow.

3) Lessened mojo - Extra weight causes two problems in the bedroom: 1) Women who feel "fat" or "unattractive" have less interest in sex because of poor self image. For women much of their sexual energy is derived from "feeling sexy" 2) Extra weight can equal less energy

4) Sleep apnea - This is where you stop breathing while sleeping, and your body then has to sort of 'kick start' you back into breathing mode. It can an incredibly serious condition, and being obese is a major cause of the condition. Research suggests you are 30 times more likely to develop this condition if you are obese.

5) LESS ENERGY - who wants this? It is harder to carry around weight! This makes everything harder. Do a test, carry a few hand weights around the house as you clean or put on ankle weights. You do get some extra toning during this test, but you will soon realize that less weight equals less strain, less effort and MORE energy.

6) Contributes to Type 2 Diabetes, Stroke, Cancers, Heart Disease, etc. - All of these things can be directly attributed to being overweight or obese. All preventable.

7) Make you buy a whole new wardrobe - new clothes, hooray! But those clothes won't look nearly as good and won't make you feel good. Who wants to celebrate having to buy a BIGGER size?

8) Shorten your life - According to NaturalNews online, "a study conducted in Sweden spanning almost four decades has suggested that overweight persons, and not just those who were obese, may also be subjected to increased risk of premature death. It also suggested that the adverse effects of excess weight on mortality may be as significant as smoking cigarettes."

9) You might be underestimated - If you carry extra weight, your mental and physical capabilities socially and professionally might be underestimated. Unfortunately there is a stigma associated with being the "fat guy" or "fat girl." According to Buzzle.com, the widespread stigmas that overweight people are lazy, unmotivated, or stupid have a profound effect on their ability to lose weight. According to studies by researchers at the Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (http://www.yaleruddcenter.org), the stigmatization and bullying of overweight children by their peers may result in higher likelihood of suicidal thoughts and eating disorders. Overweight children as young as three may experience the effects of this stigma from their peers, teachers and even parents.

There is a great article on this stigmatization Buzzle.com

10) Make you feel yucky. Losing weight can give you a boost of confidence and just generally make you feel much better.

All of this is easy for me to say since I am not overweight nor have I ever been. But I do know that anyone can lose weight if they dedicated themselves to exercise and nutrition. Move more, eat less. No they may never be a size 2 (heck neither will I). But they can find a healthy lifestyle. And for some, medical intervention might be necessary - if they have a thyroid issue or other thing that prevents them from losing weight. I've written a post about this previously. Click here

I have a friend that takes my classes that has lost 82 pounds so far (and that is half-way to her goal). She has done it through good old fashioned diet and exercise. She is an inspiration to me as a fitness professional and as a self proclaimed "pro-dieter." I will be sharing her story later this week; she is an inspiring and wonderful woman! Stay tuned!

The day that my life changed...

Baby E was born a year ago today.

Here he is at one day old...



Here is what I know... when Baby E was born, my life changed. I am less selfish, more loving and more forgiving of my own faults.

I cannot express how much I love my little boy, my heart.

He has taught me so much in the past year about unconditional love and about myself. Any new mother knows that the first few weeks can be rough. You are so tired, frazzled, breastfeeding non-stop and trying desperately to find something in your closet that fits. My body self-image was low.

And then, he smiled at me. This big, sweet, wonderful smile. And the extra few pounds in my mid-section didn't seem to matter. All that mattered was holding Baby E every second, giving him thousands of kisses each day and cherishing each sweet wonderful smile.

Today, a year later I have lost all the weight. I still have a little extra skin at my middle despite my exhausting workout routine. But I don't care. It is a reminder to me that I was given the most amazing gift. A gift that keeps on giving. He has continued to smile, grow, roll over, sit up, crawl, babble, stand up and took a few steps (today in fact). Yep that little bit of extra skin doesn't matter when you see the little wonderful boy that Ad man and I created. He is the most amazing baby. And almost not a baby.

I forgive myself for having a flaw or two. The journey to earn that little extra has been wonderful.

Here is baby E at his Birthday party this past Sunday...



Happy Birthday Baby E! And many more!

A year ago

A year ago today I was 40 pounds heavier, anxious and sitting in a spotless house. Today I am 40 pounds lighter, a little less anxious and sitting in a cheerio and toy littered living room. A year ago today I was on the eve before my induction. I had scrubbed the house top to bottom, folded and refolded onsies and mentally and physically tried to prepare myself for a baby.

I did workout that day.

My belly at 6 weeks prego...



A pic of way prego me (this was actually at about 32-33 weeks). I was quite a bit bigger at 40 weeks!

An update on the lingering candy buffet

It no longer lingers.

I packed up a big bag of candy for hubby to take to the office and threw away the rest (even the cake balls).

The only thing I kept was a handful of chocolate-covered pretzels. I can't go off sugar cold turkey tomorrow. I might go into shock. I gotta wean myself.

Then Thursday it will be a sad day.

Oh wait, that's Baby E's actual Birthday and I'm going to make him cupcakes. So, I guess I will have a cupcake and then I will send them immediately to Ad man's office.

Cupcakes? One and done. I promise. Wish me lots of willpower!

Candy Buffet = Off the Wagon

I fell off the healthy wagon. Hard.

Two words: candy buffet.

Let me explain...

Baby E turns 1 on the 12th and we had a his Surfer Boy themed birthday party this past weekend. It was magical. I have been so busy getting every little detail perfect. And then the birthday party was upon me and it was just like I pictured it: He dug into the cake, smiled, laughed, clapped, opened presents, swam in the pool. Didn't cry a single time. He was charming and delightful.

I had this brilliant idea to create a candy buffet to serve as a fun decorative/themed element and for people to fill up a bag to take as a favor. The buffet was brightly colored and full of all the best goodies: thumbprint cookies, surfboard cookies, cake balls, chocolate dipped pretzels, rock candy, gumballs, M & Ms, gumdrops, gummi worms, homemade candies and more. Sugar, sugar, sugar. But it's a birthday party - my baby's birthday party - so I had to go over the top. Here is the bar in all it's glory...






I have to say, people L-O-V-E-D it!

But then it came time to clean up and I was left with oodles of candy, leftover cupcakes (did I mention we made cupcakes, too?)...



...and food as far as the eye could see. I gave as much as possible to friends and family, but came home with a grocery sack full of treats.

And I've been eating my way through it since Sunday. I want to stop. Really I do. But have you ever tried a cake ball? Heaven in the round.

I need an intervention. I need to give it away.

But maybe just one more...

My advice to myself: Sin and then repent. I have stuffed my face with goodies and now I must sacrifice my body to the gym gods. Today I eat a little more. Tomorrow I throw what's left away and hit the gym HARD!