Jason and I are so excited to train all of our clients at our new location. We are now located in the Elk Bridge Center (near Tuscany Tavern) in Bergen Park. The new center is beautiful! We now have 4 private training studios, a cardio room with new state-of-the-art equipment (flat screen tv's on each piece of cardio), lockers, shower room, and more! All current clients who refer a friend who become a CLIENT will receive 2 free sessions. All new clients receive 2 free sessions. Limited time only.

Thank you for your support and for helping to make this expansion possible!

We are now sponsoring FREE outdoor activities and seminars for our clients. See the calendar below for upcoming activities. If you are not a member of Fitness Together and would like to attend our seminars and get more information about our one on one private training and nutrition programs, please call Brooke at 303-905-7988.


FITNESS TOGETHER AUGUST EDITORIAL

Keeping fit has been a lifetime battle as well as a passion for me. My weight escalated out of control during my college days as I packed on pounds due to binge eating, finding comfort in food to ease emotional stress. I had to work hard to lose over 30 pounds in my early 20’s, but through that miraculous experience I meet my husband, Jason, who was my personal trainer and now my best friend, soul mate and husband.

Now another miracle has entered my life, and this one has challenged my body big time. His name is Ty Michael Paulin, our 11-month old son. What a joy it is to become and be a mother, and what a challenge I have faced to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Jason and I opened the doors to our gym, Fitness Together, over six years ago, and I have cherished being a personal trainer, supporting, encouraging and celebrating with our clients when they achieve amazing fitness achievements. From the moment I met Jason, I knew he would be a wonderful father, and we could hardly wait to start our family. I was so self-assured that I would quickly return to my pre-pregnancy physique and weight because I not only workout at a gym, I own one. The truth is, the past 11-months have been more challenging than I ever realized to get back into my favorite pair of skinny jeans.

I gained 32 pounds during my pregnancy, and I ate very healthy. I worked out until the very week before Ty arrived, doing weights and cardio. Okay, I confess I gave into chocolate ice cream during the last month, but hey, it was August, and it was hot. I loved being pregnant and felt great throughout the nine months. I trained clients until two days before giving birth to our precious son, who was truly a gift as he was born on my birthday! Delivering Ty was easier than what I thought, as he came fast. My labor lasted a mere five hours, and I instantly lost 15 pound weight. I naively thought it would be a cinch to lose the remaining 15 to 17 pounds, thinking it wold take a few short months to return to my pre-pregnancy weight. It’s taken 10 months of hard work and clean eating along with frustration, exhaustion, true grit and determination! I did it in a little under 11 months with little sleep, a new born and working from home! I discovered being sleep deprived played into the effort to lose weight. Through the process of packing on pregnancy weight, and the challenge to lose it, I discovered it wasn’t as easy as I thought, but I’ve managed to reach my goal, and I know you can too.

You may think 11 months is not a lot of time to drop over 30 pounds, and several mothers have shared with me that their child is now 5 years-old, and they are still trying to get weight off. As a personal trainer, athlete and fitness competitor, it’s my job to motivate, inspire and help others in their quest to a healthier and fit lifestyle. I was determined to walk my talk when I became challenged to lose the baby fat, and it all started when one of my clients emailed me and said, “ I bet you are back in your size 2 jeans weeks after giving birth.” First of all, I was a size 4 not 2, and when I received her email I was sitting before my computer, cradling my newborn, wearing maternity pants! I was tired, sore, and low on energy, desire and determination, but that email encouraged me to embark on a new program, and the motivating force for the program was wrapped up in one word, goals.

I signed up for my first half marathon, which took place six months after Ty’s birth. When he was one-week-old I started doing cardio, and it was laborious to say the least. When Ty was four-weeks-old, I returned to strength training, again, challenging. I was out of shape, out of breath and frustrated which shocked me as I worked out my entire pregnancy, ate great, felt awesome, but after giving birth I felt flabby, weak and my butt was bigger than I thought it was when I was pregnant.

I continued to persevere, running three to four days a week and weight training two days a week, and I confess that I was so tired and could barley lift a weight. Ten-pound weights might as well have been 50, and executing lunges were burning holes in my legs, and let’s not even discuss how excruciating it was to do pushups. Prior to pregnancy, I used to do one-arm one-leg push-ups. Sit-ups were a thing of the past, and my abs were so weak I could barely do pull-ups, which really work your ab muscles. I was starting over, realizing I took for granted how strong I once was.

All too soon the day of the marathon was upon me. I finished it with a time of 1:59:32, thanks to the two men in my life. There are benefits too numerous to reveal about marrying your personal trainer. The love of my life and my favorite personal trainer, Jason, met me when I had two miles to go, and he ran with me, setting the pace, convincing me mentally I would make it when my body was screaming to stop. Thanks to Jason, and seeing the beautiful face of my baby beaming at me from the finish line, I achieved the goal and finished the race, and two races several months after that! I was on my way.

New mothers know energy lags when you’re breast-feeding and your baby’s not sleeping through the night. I needed calories to function, and it was tempting to eat anything I wanted, straying from my clean eating habits. I persevered, eating lean protein such as lean ground meat, chicken, fish, eggs and turkey. I ate healthy fats such as peanut butter, almond butter, olive oil and nuts. I made sure I ate complex carbs such as yams, oatmeal, oat bran and brown rice, and I consumed plenty of my favorite blueberry protein pancakes and muffins for energy. Then there were the weekend treat meals that makes eating healthy a lifestyle and not a diet.

I made cardio exercise fun, running outside with Ty tucked into the jogging stroller, and we’d enjoy leisurely walks to the grocery store instead of driving. My son’s father, did I already tell you he’s my favorite personal trainer, wouldn’t let me renege on scheduled strength training. On Saturdays we take Ty in the jogging stroller or put him in back carrier, turning weekend outings into a family hiking, biking or jogging event.

The day came when I was five pounds away from my goal, but that’s a lot on a 5 foot 3 frame, so I decided to pull out all the stops.. Another goal was before me in July. My sister was married in St. Thomas, and I knew we’d have fun on the beach, and it was my goal to look great in a bathing suit. In preparation of this momentous occasion I increased my cardio to 45 minutes 6 days a week, and increased my weight training. Lifting heavier weight speeds up your metabolism, creating lean muscle that burns fat. Ty started sleeping through the night more and more, which in turn made me feel stronger.

Through my struggles to lose my pregnancy weight I often thought of my clients and their own frustrations trying to achieve instant results! I relate to them now more than ever. It’s taken longer, and it was harder than I thought it would be, but I did it! It took 11 months of hard work, but I reached my goal weight. I feel fit, lean and energetic. I don’t have my competitive fitness physique from my days of being a national figure competitor, but that’s okay. I feel comfortable in a bathing suit, and isn’t that enough?

It takes hard work, dedication and most of all consistency. You can do it too, without owning a gym or being married to a personal trainer. Weigh yourself only once a week on the same day at the same time, keep a food journal, and stick to your strength-training regime. Lift hard, be faithful to your cardio workouts and don’t eat more calories then you burn. I didn’t get stretch marks, and I have very little cellulite because I did my strength training, cardio, and ate healthy during my pregnancy. I read articles stating pregnant women and new moms shouldn’t weight train as fat equals bulk. There’s nothing further from the truth! I not only wanted to loose the baby weight, I wanted to be lean, tight and not jiggle in my bathing suit!

Jason and I now have a new goal before us, and that’s to have another child, with a goal of getting pregnant again in December 2008. I look at my beautiful son and realize every pregnancy pound I gained was worth it, and it’s worth the hard work to lose the weight. Now I just need to figure out how I am going to train this hard when number two comes along!

I would love to hear from you. I couldn’t bear missing a moment of watching our son grow, so I currently work from home doing marketing and nutritional consultation for our gym, and I’m a representative for a wellness company promoting non-toxic products and nutritional supplements. Please visit my website, check out my personal journal, new recipes and email me any questions, concerns or tips! I am here for you, and I can certainly relate to women who can’t lose their pregnancy weight, no matter how old your baby might be.

The personal trainers at Fitness Together and I would love to help you start a new fitness program. . .no excuses. . .just results.

OUR FITNESS TOGETHER GOAL

At Fitness Together, our goal is to provide our clients with quality, private, one on one, personal fitness training. Our philosophy of "1 Client - 1 Trainer - 1 Goal" says it all. Our clients reap the benefits of our unique training programs as we help them achieve all their fitness goals in our private training suites.

Call today for your "FREE" consultation and training session.
Phone: 303-670-3830