Mom of 2 drops 27 in 10 (check out these pics!)

Guest blog post by Transformation Tuesday success and mother of 2, Ryan Barnhart…

I am a stay at home mother of two. Rylee- age 7. Levi- turned 2 at the end of Feb. Until I had my son, I had worked at a salon from the age of 17. I loved being in the salon. I loved my clients, my coworkers, the things I could create with my hands, I even loved going to work everyday.

How many people can say that? Once I got pregnant with my 2nd child I decided to do what was best for my family and give up a job I loved so much.

I know there are millions of women out there that would kill for the opportunity to be a stay at home mom. It’s a gift. I know this. My husband works so hard and countless hours to make this possible for our family.

The problem with this is that I am the one doing the lions share for the kids and the household. I’m not complaining. They’re my everything. It’s just easy to get lost in.

I went from having a job at a trendy salon that I would wake up every morning and get dressed to the nines for(hair, makeup, heels)… To wondering if I brushed my teeth?

Truthfully, when I was working I felt like I had more time for myself. Maybe because there was one less person I was taking care of? Now, there was never anytime for me and I had become complacent.

With my first child it took me a little over a year to get the baby weight off. Naturally, I assumed that this would happen for baby #2. Wrong!

I didn’t workout my entire pregnancy and I literally remember scarfing down Snickers bars like it was my last meal and thinking to myself “I’ll just work it off as soon as I pop this little body intruder out”. Nope!

About a year and a half into it and that baby weight was still hanging on. I mean can you even still call it “baby weight” when your “baby” was almost 2? I needed to do something. I had been taking Zumba classes for a while, but I needed to kick it into high gear.

That’s when I noticed my friend Jill had started coming to LiveFit Bootcamp. In my opinion Jill didn’t have an ounce of fat to lose on her.

But soon she started posting pictures… and she had abs! Real abs! Not airbrushed ones. The real deal.

I decided to FB message her and she gave me all the info I needed. Thank you Jill!

It still took me a few months to pull the trigger on trying it out. But eventually I talked my ride or die friend Lindsay into coming with me. We would both be newbies. And that somehow seemed less intimidating to me.

I was nervous that first day. I was so afraid I wasn’t going to be able to keep up and would look like an idiot. But if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s laughing at myself?. It’s really the secret to life people!

I probably did look like an idiot that first day. But I can tell you no one made me feel that way. Everyone was so friendly and encouraging.

No one judged! I love that! People encourage you here. They aren’t here to knock you down. This is how life SHOULD be.

I can’t say that I LOVE working out. I mean, I basically have a love/hate relationship with it. But I do LOVE how I feel when I’m done working out. And that’s what keeps me coming back.

I am about 10 months in on my fitness journey and I’ve seen significant changes in my body. I’ve already lost a little more than half the weight that I wanted to, but what’s more then that is that I’ve got muscles! Not big ones(yet), but they’re there.

I guess before I was under the delusion that that because I was skinny, I was in shape.

See, before my 2nd pregnancy I was a size 4 and was in what I thought to be the best shape I’d been in since my early 20’s. I exercised all the time and was quite proud of my body.

Now I realize that I was just skinny/fat. I admit it, I was a cardio-whore. My workouts consisted of pure cardio.

When I first got to Bootcamp I couldn’t even do a push-up. Ask Rich! I was somewhat challenged in doing some, what I thought to be, pretty basic exercises. And here I’m seeing people that have years on me do these exercises with ease. That’s when I realized that if they could do it, so could I.

Everybody has to start somewhere. And so I began…

A turning point for me was when I decided to add a level of fitness by starting to train with Rich a couple of times a week. So glad I did!

What a difference it has made. It has improved my game so much. I am less challenged when it comes to things. I wouldn’t say I’m great at doing any of it. But I’m continuously getting better at it. I’m also happy to report, I can do that push up. I even found out during the murph challenge that I can do 200 of them(although not consecutively). I know this is through the help of Rich.

I’m also probably Rich’s worst nightmare. I am difficult. I talk back. I curse like it’s my J-O-B…. But like the nice guy he is, he puts up with it and continues to push me harder. Thank you Rich!

In May I decided I decided to apply for Sara’s Little Black Dress program. I decided I loved it so much, I did it a second time. I had great results. I’m not always the best eater and I loved the fact that I had somebody holding me accountable. Sara is awesome at doing just that without making you feel guilty.

She along with JT, Derek, and Rich have been so motivating to getting me to where I need to be.

I would just like to take a moment to thank all of the LiveFit trainers. You all are so dedicated at what you do and are always pushing us to do better.

A Special thank you to Derek Kuryliw for opening a kickass Bootcamp and for all your continuous nutritional coaching and endless texting support. And lastly I’d like to thank my friend Lindsay for taking the leap and coming with me.

I’m going to end my story with a quote from my favorite fitness T shirt.

I Hate you.
I Hate this place.
See you tomorrow.
(#REALLYNOTREALLY)