Introductions

I feel so alive Hello and welcome to the inaugural

episode of Fit Ready Go Weight Loss and Healthy

Living. I'm your host Steve Megatron Phillips

and joining me in this episode is my wife for

the very first podcast she's ever recorded. Hello

Mary. Hello. So I think a fun way to introduce

this podcast would be to kind of tell a little

bit about yourself first so people get to know

who you are. Okay. Well, I'm Mary and I'm 27

years old now and I actually am very passionate

about health and about just living a healthy

lifestyle because I actually have always struggled

with weight since my childhood. I was made fun

of in grade school and it's always something

that had bothered me and I had ended up getting

very big in my early adult and I guess my late

teen years. And I actually ended up over 300

pounds. With that, I could not ride a bike. My

husband, well, who's my husband now? When we

were dating, I remember trying to ride a bike

and we got not even around the block and we had

to stop and rest and then we had to turn around

and walk our bikes back. And then... I didn't

realize really then how big I was. It was kind

of a denial to me, I think, where I had put myself.

The thing that really opened my eyes is we went

for Halloween with some friends to Cedar Point.

And my husband and one of the friends, they didn't

want to go on the dragster, but my other friend

and I, we went and stood in line for the dragster.

We were in line for about three hours. When we

got up, to the beginning of the line we kept

texting my husband and our other friend and we

were like oh we're gonna be on the next one and

so excited well when I went to get on the dragster

I sat down and I couldn't latch the seatbelt

I didn't understand. I remember turning to my

friend Josh and saying, I know I'm big, but I'm

really not that big. I don't understand why this

won't buckle. And I just get off and I was crying.

He was gonna get off with me. I told him, no,

we waited three hours in line. You just ride

it and I'll see you in a few minutes. I got off

and I went over to Steve and I was in tears.

I didn't... I hadn't realized I had gotten to

the point that I couldn't do the normal things

that people could do. So I actually lost, after

that I lost about 20 pounds. It was about, that

had happened about seven months before we were

to get married. And we were planning the wedding,

I already had my dress picked out, all of that.

Well then a boot camp came on the radio. I'm

like, okay, I'm gonna go ahead and... try this

boot camp. Well, when I went to the boot camp

and I went to figure out how much my dress could

be taken in, the way my dress was, they told

me only two sizes. Of course, that was an easy

excuse. Well, then I don't need to do this. And

I had lost 20 pounds at that point. So I didn't

do the boot camp. And we went to Jamaica for

our honeymoon. I couldn't ride the Duns River,

or couldn't climb the Duns River Falls because

I knew I didn't have that in me. and we wanted

to do the horseback riding. I was over the weight

limit. The weight limit was 250. Every day when

we went, we were out and about, I had to go back

to the room to sleep for probably about two to

three hours because I was just so worn out. I

couldn't just do things. And really all we were

doing was we were in the pools and kind of laid

around and ate a lot. So when I got back, I think

that's when it really, my life changed because

I decided to go back and see if there was a way

I could do that boot camp and just start later.

So I did. I went back. I started that boot camp

and... And I remember the first night you went,

you were like, I'm never going back. That was

pure hell. I can't do this. And I'm like, no,

you can do this. It's just, you know, the beginning

of it. Well, there were two other girls that

night and they were... All we were doing was

running around the room. I mean, well, we did

some other stuff too, but I remember running

around the room and they're just running laps

around me. I mean, I couldn't even run around

a room and we're not talking a big room, we're

talking a small room. Granted, we had to run

around it like 15 times, but still, like one

or two times around that seemed impossible to

me. But I continued going and... Thanks to that,

that's what really put my life on track because

I did that for about five months and I lost about

80 pounds and then I've continued from there.

Yep, and in that she's managed to force me and

in her habit to get healthy to also kind of think

healthier. Even though that's still a struggle.

It's still a struggle because as my Regular co

-host Blanchard knows because I talk about it

a lot and he's like you just Quiet or he'll say

quiet you he'll he'll get mad at me and say You

know You suck for not gaining any weight Which

we live with that and have a trouble with yeah,

yeah He's down to one bowl of ice cream a week

though, so I'm pretty proud. It used to be seven

days a week, so we're down to one. I used to

blow through a gallon of ice cream a week, among

other things. I used to go through that popcorn

I used to eat a lot. I didn't know what a vegetable

was when we moved out together initially. Slowly,

she sneaks more food and different kinds of food

in there, and I have no idea what I'm looking

at half the time. Oh, even vegetarian foods and

vegan foods now, so that's been fun. Yeah. I'm

still not a fan of that, but I kind of... Thanks

to my new friend. Yeah, I kind of don't have

a choice. I don't cook. Oh, but you can make

cheese out of vegetables, and it tastes like

cheese. It's great. Quite real. I like real cheese.

It's not as thick and creamy as real cheese,

but it still tastes close enough, but it's not...

If you know cheese, and you like it swamped on

your stuff, then you know the difference, but

if you don't get it swamped on, you really won't

notice all that much. Yeah, and I still, when

I make my spaghetti squash for my spaghetti,

I have to make him noodles. I try to do whole

wheat noodles most of the time. Which I'm fine

with. I don't like spaghetti squash, but I'm

a picky eater, so. He is, but at this point I

just kind of cook and he has to deal with it.

I don't know how to cook, so she kind of feeds

me what she wants to feed me, and if I don't

eat it, then I'm kind of stuck. Yes, because

we don't keep a lot of processed in the house.

That's one thing I've learned is if it's not

in the house and it's away, it's better, because

if I have Oreos in the house, I mean, I'm not...

perfect by any means. If there's Oreos in the

house, I'm gonna eat Oreos. If there's something

I really like, it's hard for me. Whereas if it's

just not here, it's better. Well, it also makes

it harder if one of us decides to crack open

the bag first, because usually we both have self

-control until that first one opens the bag and

then the bag is gone. Yeah. Because, like, you

opened a bag of cookies, like, a couple, like,

I don't know, a while back. But anyways, I took

the bag the next, like, time you weren't home

and I ate the rest of it and put some of it for

my lunches, but I did eat half of what was there.

It's also why I don't get as much junk at home

is because I have to think a little bit more

consciously about it because... What I may do

may influence what she may do so like when she's

feeling weak and is like I really want some ice

cream I'm like, no, we can't have ice cream wrong.

He's gotten much better for those I get a lot

of questions from my friends that You know, they

don't they have the spouse. That's not really

They don't need to lose the weight or they don't

want to do it. That is very difficult. It's very

difficult living with someone that doesn't need

to lose weight that can eat anything he wants

and not gain anything. That's made it difficult

along the journey. He's always been right by

my side. I mean, he was with me when I was 300

pounds. He's still with me now. And it was hard.

And in the beginning, it was hard. And over the

years, it seems that he's getting better. There

actually are times that I'm like, I want ice

cream. And he's like, no, you can't. Like, we're

not having it. So it's nice to finally have him

on my side. And sometimes he gives in and he's

like, yeah, I want ice cream too. But there's

actually been times he's telling me no. So it's

nice to finally have that on board because even

though I'm like, man, why won't you just let

me have some ice cream. If you can't tell, sweets

is what I... If I didn't like chocolate, I would

be skinny. Like... skinny as my husband because

chocolate's what is my my problem area, so Yeah,

I eat candy. That's probably why I get a lot

of metal in my mouth Because I don't have self

-control with that which is why she doesn't buy

it because if I she buys it then we're paying

cavity bills So Yeah, and then like part of like

the weight issue is we couldn't afford anything

so we used to eat a lot of processed food, and

like popcorn, hot dogs, boxes of mac and cheese,

stuff that's high in salt and high in everything

else, and then even though we couldn't afford

it, we'd go out to eat a lot, so that really

wasn't good either. And that's another thing

I hear all the time is, well, eating healthy

is expensive, and it's not, because so many people

that don't... cook at home, they eat out. I mean,

and so if you're going to McDonald's and buying

a McChicken and a fry, let's say, that's three

dollars. And then most people get a pop or something.

And then you do that for lunch, and then you

may eat something else. Yeah, maybe it is off

the dollar menu again, but that's another three

or four dollars. So when you average it out,

you're talking, what, nine, ten dollars a day

to go out to eat. So where is that being? affordable

to eat bad. Even hot dogs, yeah, you can get

those in the store for a dollar or two a pack.

But now, but with me now, what I do is I actually,

because I mean our finances, we have two babies.

We both work, I work part -time and I'm home

with the babies the rest of the time, but it's

hard because we do kind of live paycheck to paycheck.

you can make it smarter like I go to the meat

section and Like my Kroger and any Kroger I've

ever been to anyways They have like reduced meats

and normally I shop in the morning anyways because

that's when I have the babies and he's at work

and stuff so and They'll have the reduced meats,

so I buy it and then I freeze it so if I know

we're low on ground turkey let's say they'll

have it in the reduced section for maybe two

dollars a pound. Well, I'm gonna pick up a couple

of those. I come home, I actually make them into

turkey hamburger type things. Well, she's got

a molder that just puts the ground meat in and

then puts it in wax paper. Yeah, the freezer

paper. And then I date it so I know when I got

it and I freeze it. Well, that way if I want

a turkey burger, I can pull it out and it's already

been shaped into my turkey burger. But if I want

to make spaghetti out of it, or I want to make

tacos out of it, it still, it doesn't matter

that it's already shaped like that because I'm

just going to break it down anyways. So the only

time that I might need to go and buy fresh is

if I'm going to make meatloaf or something, but

really, who likes meatloaf all that much? So

that's not very often. That's every once in a

while, but not too often do I make that. But,

um, so there are definitely ways and The farmers

markets for the vegetables and the fruits and

the and buy whatever's in season like right now

I've been buying a lot I'm not a huge fan of

squash depending on how it's made, but I do really

like spaghetti squash I make it for my noodle

in the fall. It's very cheap so I Make it for

my noodles for my spaghetti in the fall I make

actually a maybe I need to put that on my website

that recipe for I make hash browns out of spaghetti

squash. And does it taste like the hash browns

that you're gonna go to a restaurant? Of course

not. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you it does.

But you can make them crispy. You put a little

bit of salt on them, because I try to control

the salt, of course. But you can make healthy

food. It's more time consuming, but you can make

it affordable for whatever your budget is. And

you can also make it taste good. So there's your

your food lesson of the day. Yeah I will say

that you know, she does know quite a bit about

cooking healthy only for the fact that It's been

a process learning at all over the last few years

And So what are you hoping to accomplish while

you're Running through this podcast week to week

or or when we get the chance to record it being

that our Schedules are hectic with two. Yeah

psychotic children. Oh, we're hoping to at least

do one a week Well, I really I want to help people

like if you have questions, I want you to ask

me questions I want to give you information on

some products that I've tried that that have

done me a light a huge difference that have made

me more energetic, that have made me feel better,

my bones better, maybe less injuries during my

workouts because I do do pretty intense workouts.

I was doing CrossFit for quite a while. Well,

let's tell them what you were doing while you

were pregnant for our first son. Just because

I did Insanity in the Morning that... he was

born doesn't mean anything and whatever insanity

is something that like a a lazy nerd like myself

couldn't make it past the warm -up stage and

she's sitting here just running circles around

me and she's like oh this is just a warm -up

and I'm like you're kidding me oh you have not

seen CrossFit yeah I don't want to come to my

one of my CrossFit classes that's way more intense

but But there are things you can do if you're

of the lazy sort that don't want to like do a

lot of exercise There's ways that you can eat

cleaner without having to Necessarily sacrifice

all of the foods that you enjoy and without having

to yeah, I'm not saying you shouldn't exercise

Because not everybody is blessed with the crazy

metabolism I have but I also should preface this

with my innards are probably not as clean as

hers It's you know, she could probably run a

mile. I'd be wheezing about halfway. Well, and

that's where people It's wrong because with society

anymore if somebody's larger or has a little

bit weight on them They automatically think okay

this person doesn't work out. Okay, this person

eats like crap and honestly Actually, I'm still

working a little bit. I'm losing a little bit

more of my baby weight from our second child

and getting back down He did more damage than

the first one. Yes, definitely. And some of that

was my laziness and my, well, I'm going to eat

a half a bar of chocolate if I want to, you know.

But which I'm working on that now. I lost the

train of thought. But she's kind of, it's easy

to lose your train of thought. My train kind

of keeps going sometimes and I forget where I'm

at. Blanchard's like, um, you were talking about

this and I'm nuts and I'm like, oh, okay. And

then, uh, but anyways, yeah. So she's kind of,

you know, she's been doing the CrossFit. She's

been kind of working out and trying to, um, add

some new, uh, selections of food and, um, kind

of things to the diet that I should also say

that it's not really a diet, it's a lifestyle.

Yes, and that's where a lot of people get stuck.

I'm on a diet. No. No, you're not. You're on

a lifestyle change. A diet you can flip, flop,

and yo -yo, whereas a lifestyle change means

that you're more hardcore into having it set

in stone. Yeah, and I really struggled this time

around with... after our youngest was born, I

had gained 50 pounds. The first I had gained

30. And so I was still far below because I had

lost 160. But it was more than I had planned

on losing. And about 30 of that came off right

away. The other 20 I was struggling with. And

so... I actually had somebody put something and

I had found that there was going to be a 24 day

challenge and I wanted more details. Well she

gave me more details and I just I wasn't sure

about it. I was skeptical and I'm like well let

me get back to you. Well then she followed back

up with me and I was still I don't know I'm checking

into it I'm checking into it and this went on

for about two months and finally she was I just

kind of tried to tell her, no, I'm just, I'm

not going to do it because we just, I don't know

if we can. And so she said, well, why don't we

go ahead and talk the business side of it? Because

I think there's something in this for you. I

really, really do. So being skeptical and I don't

like to tell people no, I have an issue with

that. So I was like, fine, I'll go ahead and

get on the phone with her. It's not going to

do anything and be done. Before I was off the

phone with her, I was signing up, I had my product

ordered, and I was ready to go. I was excited.

And now, I'm ecstatic. I'm so excited because

it has made me feel so much better because even

though I was working out, okay, I get up at 4

.30 in the morning because I have my CrossFit

class at five. And then I have my two babies,

I have work, I have the house, you know, I have

so much going on. So by the end of the day, I

am exhausted. If I didn't sleep during the day,

if I could possibly get both babies to maybe

sleep for an hour at the same time, I would just

go to sleep. Instead of doing something that

I can do for myself, I would just go to sleep.

So there I'm wasting the one hour a day maybe

that I can get. And then I was falling asleep

within a half hour after the babies are asleep.

So when do I get time to... do something like

this or spend time with my husband. I wasn't.

I was getting frustrated because he didn't want

to come to bed with me at 8 .30, which he wants,

get to bed at 8 .30. I like to game and I don't

mind hanging out, but I don't go to sleep earlier

than 10 .30 because that's just how I'm hardwired.

I'm a night person. Most of the time I'm recording

a podcast or I'm playing... Lately it's been

Battlefield 4, but... You know, it's it's not

that I don't want to go to bed. I just I can't

physically sleep. I don't mind Don't make this

out. I I so am fine with him doing his podcast

and playing his game I just like a couple nights

a week that we actually Go to bed together and

we're in bed together, you know And it was to

the point that I was going to sleep so early

There wasn't one day a week that I would get

him coming to bed with me. So I'm sleeping in

bed every single night, but myself, for hours.

And it was frustrating to me, it's frustrating

to him because he never gets to actually hang

out with me and see me. And after I got on the

Abicare products, so much has changed. The spark,

oh my goodness, I can't even imagine not going

without the spark. Even Steve loves the spark

now, which I think is hilarious because he was

more skeptical than I was. I am a hardcore hater

of things I don't understand. Which... most that

listen to me in podcasts know that because I'm,

I strike out first and then I revisit later with

an open mind. I just, to begin with, I'm completely

shut down until I see something to prove otherwise.

I will say that it started surprising me after

she started taking the stuff. And yes, this is

kind of an advertisement, but it's not really

because it's just good product. Well, it's not

even that like she Was surprising me because

she was actually awake till 10 o 'clock at night,

which is it's been like a lot I know which which

it used to be like I was surprised if she'd make

it to 9 like and I'm not saying there are days

that I still fall asleep by 9 or 930 because

I've just had a long day and I'm just tired so

It definitely is but see I was never one of those

to take energy drinks because there's just so

much horrible for them. There's There's the sugars

and there's the chemicals that they put in them,

and I'm not gonna put that in my body, even if

it's gonna give me energy, I'm not putting that

into my body, because I am a health -conscious

person. Why am I gonna put that stuff into my

body? Well, there's so much stuff in those drinks

that make you crash and burn after you've gotten

the energy boost from them. I mean, even things

such as pop, which, don't get me wrong, I still

love my Coca -Cola. Spark needs to get a Coca

-Cola flavor. If they get a Coca -Cola flavor,

I would easily switch. I love the taste of Coca

-Cola, and that's the major thing. I will say

that one of the side effects I don't like about

drinking pop is the sugar. Because you feel it

when it hits you, and it does something to your

head and your chest, and it doesn't feel right.

I like the taste, so that's the only reason I

drink it. But they have fruit punch, and if I

had to drink a fruity flavored drink, fruit punch

is like my go -to. I love the pink lemonade.

It turned orange to me, so it freaked me out.

It's just because you let it sit there. Yeah,

I did. I let it sit there. But I probably would

have been better off drinking it. But the fruit

punch one, I noticed one of the things, because

I'm... Like I said, a skeptic. I got up on a

Monday morning. I hate Mondays. They're like

the bane of my existence. I'm a rotten person

to be around on Mondays at work. Everybody knows

it. But I drank one, made sure that there was

nothing else in my system on purpose so that

I could give it a clear shot. I usually have

a fog in my head until about one, two in the

afternoon because it's actually when I fully

mentally wake up. It went away pretty early in

the morning because of drinking it, which was

actually surprising to me. And usually it just

bothers me. He told me he would have to drink

at least a two liter of Coke to get this. And

so you're saying all of that sugar, all of that

stuff you're putting in your body to even get

that fog out of his head. And I will say, too,

after I drank it, I didn't really have the urge

to drink the pop. But if I hadn't drank it, I

would have wanted a two liter of pop. That's

our bit of advertisement for the night. Anyways,

what is something that you would like to ask?

of the listeners? What is the habit? You know,

we all have that habit. My habit is sweets. It's

very difficult for me to stop eating, especially

like right now if it's... Obviously, you don't

know what time it is that we're recording this.

Well, I always tell people what time we're recording,

and then I'm like, it releases on this day. Well,

it's nine o 'clock, basically, and usually around

eight o 'clock after we get the babies down,

we both want to eat a snack, we want to snack

on something, whether it be cheese and crackers

or something sweet some of the time. And then

we sit in front of the TV. That's my habit. That's

the habit. Yes, it's in front of the TV. But

that's my habit. That's the thing I really have

to work on and I do get better And then I do

I do mess up and that's what I want everybody

to know I still mess up. It doesn't matter normal

it I'm not gonna be perfect But what is it? What

is the habit that is holding you back from your

fitness goals? Like for me, I'm I'm lazy but

like there's a lot I could do as far as the food

eating part Like I eat sugary cereals I eat pop

Well, drink pop, but I eat candy until it's gone.

I almost went through a whole bag of Smarties

last night while playing a video game. I actually

had to put them on top of my desk so that I wouldn't

reach for them anymore. That's because I was

nice and I had to go into the dollar store to

get... gift bags, I think. And I was like, well,

I'm gonna go ahead and get Steve a bag of Smarties.

That's like a very big surprise for him. If I

get him a bag of Smarties, because we don't,

I want to emphasize this, we don't get a bag

of Smarties every day. We don't do that. That's

why I eat them up. Which is stupid, because then

I could span them out and then eat them for days,

but I, yeah, I have about a third of the bag

left. So, yeah. Go ahead and answer that on this

episode post. You can obviously find this on

FitReadyGo .com under the episode post episode

1. This will also be on GeekCastRadio .com, which

is my website. I built hers as well. Yes, this

will be a cross -syndicated show across both

websites. I will be answering any questions or

reading your answers to my questions. If you

need anything back from me, then I am definitely

here to try helping others. You can get a hold

of my wonderful wife on Twitter at FitReady87.

She's a newbie to that. Be gentle. I'm trying.

I'm Facebook, but I know that Twitter is kind

of the new world. I'm just a little... It depends

on personal preference, honestly. Some people

like Facebook more and some people like Twitter.

I personally hate Facebook, but that's just me.

I like Twitter because it's kind of short and

there's less arguing room. I'm not getting into

that area. You can do direct messages on there

as well. I'm slowly teaching her how to do that,

all of that stuff. So you can get ahold of her

on Twitter there. You can get ahold of her on

Facebook through Facebook .com slash leading

others, which used to be her. It was like a health

Facebook fan page that we've repurposed to Fit

Ready Go. So that's how you can get ahold of

us there. You can email her, Mary at FitReadyGo

.com. And of course you can obviously comment

on this episode post on both websites and she

will check both websites So if she doesn't I

will make her I will because I really want to

help people and so if there's one Question out

there that I can answer for somebody then at

least that's one question I've answered and I

will say she is very passionate about this because

since she got on her Her you know, she lost the

first like 80 pounds. She was just like I really

want to do this. It's life changing. She's been

talking about it for years wanting to help other

people, but hasn't really known how to go about

it. I'm really hoping to reach people here. If

you know anybody, just get them to listen to

my show. I really want to help others because

it makes a huge difference. If you have any questions,

go ahead and contact her in all those ways. Is

there anything you'd like to mention before you

and I close the show out? I don't think so. Alrighty,

so until next time, we've been Steve and Mary

on Fit Ready Go.