Then we realized that we were modeling terrible behavior for our kids, and we were allowing horrible circumstances, and other people's actions to ruin our health, and take years of our life away.    We decided to really change our lifestyle. Part of our decision was the realization that we were headed into a death trap.  The women in my family have a history of heart disease, and the major cause of it is obesity.  In Ryan's family, the major health concern is diabetes, which is caused from obesity as well.  We didn't want to deal with these things if we could help it, and we didn't want to set our kids up for these health problems either.  The lifestyle change  has taken some time, and it has been a very gradual process.  We started by doing the South Beach Diet.  We wanted to train our minds and our stomach to not turn to sugar and carbohydrates every time we were stressed.  We changed jobs to get ourselves out of the major stress causer.  We started saying no to the long hours, and no to people's demands on our family time and our time off of work.  By making those boundaries and changes, it empowered us and gave us the confidence to live life to the fullest and make the most of it. We both lost the weight that we wanted to, but then realized that we would have to add the physical fitness aspect into the mix in order to truly be healthy. (Ryan has lost 50 pounds in the last 4 years!)

In November of 2007, Ryan started jogging with my brother a couple times a week.  He discovered that he loves running, and now it is a daily routine for him.  He runs six to 10 miles a day now.  On Memorial Day he decided to enter a 5k here in town.  There were over 300 runners and Ryan came in twenty-first!  I am so proud of him for his self-discipline, and for taking his health seriously.  He is totally an inspiration to me!