Rudy's Comments: Kylie is my step daughter. One of the first rules of personal training is never train your significant other, or probably anyone in your immediate family. The only thing you can do is "walk the walk," and hope that some of it rubs off. I'm proud of Kylie, I think she's climbed a real mountain. Notice the progression over a long period of time.
Kylie Adornetto
I suppose everyone has that moment, or at least what feels like a moment, when they make up their mind and say to themselves, “This is it, I have to do something about this.” For me the motivational moment, or motivational day, was when I was with my one-year-old daughter at the park. I remember trying to help her toddle around the park, and I just felt like I couldn’t move. I was short of breath. I could barely play with her. I remember thinking to myself, “She’s only a toddler. What am I going to do when she can really walk? I’m only 23 years old, and I can’t play with my daughter.” I remember seeing my picture (the “before” picture above) and thinking to myself, “I can’t believe that’s me.” That picture was taken when I was 22, two months after my daughter was born. That was probably my heaviest. I was about 225 pounds.
The next day I started doing something. As I said before, I couldn’t do much. I had an old step aerobics tape I had used a few years before. I put it in the machine and started to tentatively move. I could only do about fifteen minutes. I started to do that tape every other day or so, adding a little more time with each session. After I had started this workout routine, each time I’d go to park I’d have a little more energy. When I wouldn’t work out for a few days, I’d really feel the difference.
Within a few weeks I could do the full one hour tape. I bought some new ones. I did only step aerobics for about nine months, continually getting stronger. I started to feel better right away, but as time went on, although I was feeling great and more energetic, I didn’t see that much difference in my body size. After the nine months I was down to about 200 pounds.
My step dad is a fitness trainer, so I had some knowledge of weights and what they could do for me. He never pushed it on me, but I would hear him talk about some of the great results he was getting with people. I decided to try adding some free weights. Not really knowing what to do in the gym, I decided to fall back on the method I had already used. I ran into a series of videos put out by a company called “The Firm.” All their videos use hand weights. I started training with these. I was doing one hour videos about three to four days a week. This proved to be much more effective, and I went down another 20 pounds in the next three months. So by the end of one year I was down to 180 pounds.
I was feeling stronger and knew that I would benefit from adding more than just the three hours of strength training I was doing with the tapes. I had done some running in high school, so I decided to try it again. Because of cardio from the step aerobics I was in pretty good shape. I also had a girlfriend who wanted to try running. I started to walk/run with her, and it didn’t take us long to be able to run/jog for 45 minutes. After a short while we could run about four miles in 45 minutes. So I was now running one to two days a week along with my two to three days of strength training. In about four months I lost another 15 pounds. I was down to about 165 pounds. After the four months it seemed like I began to plateau. I stayed at 165 for the next few months.
Then I added diet. My step dad had read the book Eat To Live. I saw the results he had achieved. We talked about the book, and he encouraged me to read it. With my strength training, running, and changing my eating habits from what I learned in Eat To Live, I lost another 20 pounds. I’m now down to145 pounds.
My goal is to weigh about 130 pounds. I’m not sure what the right weight is for me. I know that muscle weighs more than fat, and I know that with strength training I’m gaining muscle (not bulging muscle, toned muscle). I’ve had to change my whole eating and workout routine recently because I am now 4 1/2 months pregnant (my “after” picture). I’m working with pregnant videos which are usually bits of cardio, strength, yoga, and birth preparation. I plan to gain just the minimal amount with this baby.
I’m already planning for after the baby with a post-natal workout I’ve gotten. I’m looking forward to the time when I can start up my former routine in earnest. Looking at my picture at 225 pounds I can still almost feel what that felt like. I hope to never feel that way again. It’s hard to tell people how great it feels to be strong and lean. As for exercise and a good diet, I just have a craving for them now. I don’t really know how to say it, but there’s nothing like the feeling of having a lot of energy and just feeling tight all over.