Hello, I am Rebecca. I have been training with Ryan for the past 7 months and the progress I have made with strength, weight loss, and endurance is incredible. First, a little background. I have been active my whole life, in one way or another. I started playing softball when I was 9 years old and continued until I was 19. Around my senior year in high school I started to gain weight, and before I knew it the scale was at 190 pounds. I began working out 5 to 6 days a week. I mainly used cardio, but added some body weight strengthening exercises twice a week. I also stopped eating whatever I wanted and started eating healthier. By making these changes I was able to lose 30 pounds. I would continue to use a 5 to 6 day work out program for the next few years. Doing this allowed me to keep my weight between 155 and 160 pounds. While I was able to maintain my weight, I was never able to achieve definition in my arms, legs, or core. My legs were okay in terms if strength, but my upper body and core were terribly weak. I was never able to do push ups, squats with weight, and my whole body would fatigued quickly.
About 9 years ago, at the age of 25, I was diagnosed with an under active thyroid. Thank God, it did not cause weight gain, but I did have 10 out of 13 of the symptoms. After having my first son, my thyroid became over active, and it turned out that I have Graves disease; an autoimmune condition that gives me both over active and under active thyroid symptoms. This condition causes deterioration of muscle, fatigue, weakness, and much more. Looking back, I could trace under active thyroid symptoms back to my senior year in high school. Now I understood where the weight gain, lack of muscle tone, and fatigue came from.
After I had my second son, I really wanted to improve my strength and endurance so I would be able to keep up with my 2 boys, after all boys are very active. I gained 22 pounds with my last pregnancy and still needed to lose another 13 pounds, to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. My thyroid went back to under active, and it was going to be interesting to see if I could lose the weight, tone up, and increase my energy. Having such a complicated thyroid background could make it challenging, but I wasn’t willing to let this stop me! My goals were to get back to a comfortable weight while improving strength, energy, and endurance. So I started training with Ryan.
Six months into Ryan’s program, I met my weight goal while achieving definition in my arms, legs, and core. Under Ryan’s program, I no longer fatigue quickly, and I am the strongest I have ever been. Even with a complicated thyroid history and two children (the baby is 10 months and oldest is 3), I am in the best shape of my life. At 34 years old, 5 foot 8.5 inches and 142 pounds, I am happy with my body composition and even more pleased with my strength.