Hello and Introduction from Addie

I am really excited for John.  He is on a life-changing journey, and it is an honor to get to be a little part of it.

A little background on me:  I was always a little chunky when I was little, as I loved sweets and found ways to get them.  Then in high school I got into athletics for the social opportunities.  I really enjoyed soccer and tennis - not so much the running, as I was going too fast to enjoy it.

In college, I really battled my weight.  It never got too crazy, but it was always on my mind and I followed one diet trend after another.  After college I was involved in a women's gym that taught me some important habits (like drinking water, getting good sleep, dealing with my stress) in addition to nutrition.  I only started running when I had a new job and lots to think about which caused me to not sleep so great - so running helped me get some thinking time in.  Then, I started doing races and got totally addicted :)

Like he has said, we have been running together since the summer of 2009 - I had just moved "home" after dating long distance for a year, and was excited to be near family again.  I was already signed up to run an East coast marathon, and was excited to have his support.  John would follow me on his bike for the really long runs, and run along side me for the shorter ones.  He watched me cross the finish line, and wanted to experience the same feeling someday.

Then, after we got married running became our routine.  We signed up for 10K races, as well as a half marathon.  Then, we took the leap of faith and signed up for a marathon.  We did months of training, and John was frustrated not to see more weight come off than was already.  Knowing that his weight gain was from a decade of fast food eating from his bachelor days, I thought maybe we had to take it up a few notches in difficulty.  More than just steady runs - we needed to sweat, tackle our diet even more, and see what results could come.

SO!  Here we are.  After lots of reading, we decided on the following routine:  daily exercise for about 45 min to an hour, first thing in the morning.  We use the Jillian Michaels "30 Day Shred" DVD, Gunnar Petersons' "Core Workout" DVD series, running, and weight training.  Additionally our diet is more protein heavy:  we are following the Abs Diet by David Zinczenko.  I liked this one because you eat every 3 hours or so, it is not calorie counting, and the food is healthy and balanced.  The meals tackle weight around the middle by incorporating DAIRY - something we've stayed away from for too long.  I've avoided milk for awhile now, scared of the hormones in it.  Instead, I buy organic milk for our smoothies :)

I am excited to contribute on here from time to time and share my own results.  Currently, I am pretty happy with my looks, but I know there is always room for improvement.  I am looking forward to getting more fit, and spend time with John and keeping him encouraged.