-What was your life like before you started your journey to better health?
I would always just take diet pills to lose weight and I never lifted weights. I was scared of them. Instead I would just b-line to the ellipticals and call it a day.
-What motivated you to make a change?
Pregnancy for sure. Right before I became pregnancy I was thinking that I need to step up my fitness level. But then I was so incredibly sick my first timester that I was barely able to leave the house for a walk. Then my second trimester came around and I got moving and started eating healthier! I started walking every night (still not lifting for some reason). Once I had my baby girl, I made a vow to become healthy and strong for her and myself.
-How do you involve your family in your journey?
My baby girl is only 7 months old so she can't workout with me... yet. She loves flying baby, so I try to hold her above my head for as long as I can to get that extra burn in for the day. My husband compromises fat and flavor at dinner time. :) But I do my best to change up the meals often and boost the flavor while still remaining healthy.
-What is your biggest accomplishment so far?
Push ups!!! I'm in the Air Force, and part of our physical assessments are push ups. I've always been horrible at them but after I had the baby I couldn't even do one... but 6 months after baby I went for my test and was able to do 37 in one minute!!! One month later I can do 40 now.
-When your in a slump what do you do to shake it?
That is where I am at now. I lost the 30 pounds I gained during pregnacy plus I lost another 5 but I've been stuck for 6 weeks now. I'm not seeing the muscle that I want. So, I went back to basics. I just started following Jamie Eason's LiveFit Program.
-What future goals do you have for yourself?
I want muscle, muscle, and more muscle. I wouldn't care if I didn't lose another pound, just as long as I had some visible muscle. My triceps bother me the most so that is my main goal for now.
-How did you do it?
3 weeks after giving birth I went straight to the gym. I went to my go to cardio, Mr. elliptical, but this time I would set goals like to burn 800 calories in 45 minutes. I also started lifting and I fell in love. But my work had a different agenda. They wanted us to workout together during work hours. I kept up 2 a days for probably a month. But a guy I work with introduced me to beast workouts. This is not something you can find on the internet, these are just workouts that we created on our own. We would do them outside at work. We used sand bags and chains as weights, a sledge hammer, truck tire, and pretty much anything heavy that we could move around. We realized that we incorported Crossfit into our workouts without even knowing. We also took it to the road and would run... a lot. We would also sprint suicides in between sets. It got me to a 13 minute 1.5 mile (Air Force assessment also). Then we went to our gym on base and took the intro to Crossfit class and fell in love! We do that at least once a week.
-What is one of your favorite recipes?
My comfort food is my favorite recipe! I sprinkle a raw tuna steak with seseme seeds and sear it on all sides with a cast iron skillet. I steam a little bit of jasmine rice and I make a dipping sauce made from rice vinegar, Mirin (sweet rice seasoning), and low sodium soy sauce. I also steam zuchini and squash to complete my perfect meal.
Krisse can be found on Facebook HERE. Check her out and like her page!
-What motivated you to make a change? I first started to make my change around my junior year of college, I was 21 years old. I was not playing sports in college so I had really put on some pounds and I could see on the scale and in pictures but also in the fit of my clothes and my mood. At that point I just started eating healthier things and making it a point to get the campus gym in between classes each day during the week and I was successful for a while until I got married and moved to Florida. My husband and I would cook all the time and I didn't add a ton of weight back, but it was definitely noticeable and then I got pregnant and I was one of those people who had that thought "oh I am pregnant so this is a free pass to eat whatever I wanted and just to sit around and relax". (Never time around, I will have a totally different outlook!!) So then I had my son and when he was about 3 months old I still had a lot of weight on my body. With the pregnancy I gained about 50 pounds and at that 3 months mark I had only lost about 20 of it, so that is when I made the decision then to make a change not only for myself but for my son and husband. At that point I was extremely out of shape so I started walking with my son in the jogging stroller everyday and I would slowly increase the amount of time I was jogging and I would do some light lifting at home with hand weights. After that I decided I needed more so I joined a gym with one of my friends that offered childcare while I worked out, this gave me more time and more options when it came to working out. I also really concentrated on my food and picking healthier options.
-How do you involve your family in your journey? Now that my son is two and is really active, I take him to the park at least twice a week and run the 1.75 loop around the park with him a couple times with the promise that he gets to play on the playground after and he loves it and I get a great workout in. When it comes to my husband I just had to explain to him what my goals were and how he could support me because when it comes to him he is one of those people that have a really high metabolism and he can eat whatever he wants and do whatever and still remain skinny. He has been very supportive with helping me cook healthier meals and watching my son so I can go to the gym. And as our son gets older we are trying to incorportate more active activities into our lives as a gamily.
-How did you do it? At first just running with my son and doing at home workout videos and light lifting. Now I continue to run with my son but I also go to the gym and cross-train on different cardio machines and weight light 3 times a week. Food wise I tracked all of my food at first to see the types of nutrients that I was consuming and how many calories I was consuming. Now I just make healthier choicess and really examine everything before I eat it since I have more knowledge on more foods.
Push ups!!! I'm in the Air Force, and part of our physical assessments are push ups. I've always been horrible at them but after I had the baby I couldn't even do one... but 6 months after baby I went for my test and was able to do 37 in one minute!!! One month later I can do 40 now. 
What motivated you to make a change? Well, I started my journey in September 2010 for the first time at the weight of 181 ...and I admit back then it was for the wrong reasons..I just wanted to get skinny then. I didn't even consider fit. By December 2010 I was down 29 lbs but in January 2011 found out I was pregnant with twins. While pregnant I changed my whole outlook. I researched fitness & healthy eating..I was very motivated to get it right this time. After I had my twins August 19th, 2011 I walked out of the hospital at 183. I was motivated bigger than life!! I had 6 weeks of C-section recovery time and it was HARD to keep myself recovering! Haha. Having my daughters changed everything for me. I wanted to get healthy for them..I wanted to set an example for them. I never wanted to be too out of shape to keep up with them! So..this time..I did it for the right reasons..my daughters!
Though I do most of my workouts during school hours, there are times I utilize the family fitness room at our gym. My five-year-old son will often stand beside me using the small dumbbells and telling me about his big muscles. He has witnessed my transformation from the start and enjoys looking at my pictures with me and telling me how I'm shrinking. Also, being fairly new to clean eating myself, I am striving to slowly change the eating habits of my children to match my own. There is a lot of trial and error, and they do have the occasional happy meal, but I am looking to help them strike a balance so that they do not struggle with food addiction the way I have. 
Many people inspire me but I'd have to say that my two-year-old daughter takes the cake. I look at her, so young and so openminded, and know that I have to set the example for her. It is my job to teach her, and my son, how to find balance so that they can enjoy life while living it in a healthy way .
Well, I enlist family support to give me time to run while training for a half marathon. I couldn't do it without my "village". My kids are a part of the everyday..they go to weight watchers meetings with me, help me prepare healthy meals and snacks, etc. Their current favorite thing: roasted veggies!
-How do you involve your family in your journey?
