Featured Couple-Scott and Stephanie Palzkill

Our relationship as a couple started in 2006 when we were workout buddies together. We used to go to a Gold’s gym in East Hartford, CT after work Mon-Thurs. Scott did not think it was a safe place for Stephanie to go alone so they went together (Note: Stephanie didn’t think it was that bad, but she loved that Scott was so protective). While we have not always prioritized our health and fitness, it was a very important part of how we became a couple. While we lost weight at various points during our early relationship, it never really stuck until we wanted to have kids together. In 2011, we collectively lost 115 lbs over 9 months using Weight Watchers to help us get pregnant. However, after having our two kids together, we struggled to keep it off and gained the majority of it back despite going back to Weight Watchers several times.

When we made the commitment this time around to lose the weight and keep it off, we identified other goals as well. The first time around, we quickly lost weight, but it affected our overall fitness and muscle mass. This time, we knew it may take us longer to lose the weight, but we knew we’d be making a life-long commitment to our overall health and fitness. Now, our motivation is killer arms and abs.Scott certainly has the arms and is well on his way to a six-pack. 😉

Our first difficulties with food were staying on track over the weekends. We adopted a ‘cheat day’ mentality that did not serve us well. Our first difficulties with fitness were pushing our bodies harder than they had been pushed in a number of years. I don’t think either of us took into account the ‘aging’ factor when getting back into a regular workout routine. We both worked with the FITT-RX instructors to adjust the exercises and pace to our needs at the time. One of the things we love about FITT-RX is the encouragement and support from not only the staff, but the members as well. We have not really experienced any plateaus that couldn’t be explained by our food choices. Following a macro-based diet makes it pretty obvious to see when you aren’t eating foods that serve you and fuel your body. So plateaus for us have been more hiccups and we have the tools to understand how to get past them.

Stephanie: I remember being so terrified my first class. It was one of Antonette’s circuit classes and not only did I think I was having an asthma attack during the workout, I was unable to walk properly for over a week post workout. I remember my good friend Amanda Sloan (who brought me to that first class and told me I would love it) saying to me ‘This is the one thing you do for yourself.’ I thought she was totally crazy and was convinced I would never feel that way. Within a month, I couldn’t believe that she was right and that feeling of knowing that this is something I do just for me is the mindset I still have today. Every time I sign up for my next workout, I think about that and use that commitment to myself to get me to FITT-RX 3-4 days a week.

Scott: My darling wife signed me up for my first class and told me the night before that we were going. I had no idea what “Burn after the Bird” was and didn’t want to go. While I was going to a gym at the time, I avoided any and all cardio. The 90 minute workout the day after Thanksgiving was challenging from a cardio perspective, but it was also a challenging strength class too. I left that day knowing I had to give FITT-RX a try. I was nervous going to my first 5:30AM class by myself, but it didn’t take long before I was hooked. I’ve met a lot of supportive people over the last 5 months. The 5:30AM crew is dedicated and I love starting my day at FITT-RX. Every workout is different and I can continue to make the workouts harder leveraging the talented instructors.

With a mix of older and younger kids, staying active as a family can certainly be a challenge. We are pretty busy with our teenager’s schedule and our little ones, but try to go for walks most days of the week. We also are very active on our family vacations, planning hikes, bike rides and trips where we can go exploring. In the summer time, we love to bike as a family into downtown Elmhurst or to Glen Ellyn on the Prairie Path. We also do a lot of family yard work. 🙂

We have been working with Melissa Ronda from the Honest Weigh (http://www.thehonestweigh.com) so our healthy recipes come from her! We have four that we routinely have:

https://www.thehonestweigh.com/single-post/2017/09/19/Buffalo-Chicken-Bleu-Cheese-Quinoa-Bowl – we also make this into a salad

https://www.thehonestweigh.com/single-post/2018/01/24/RECIPE-REVAMP-SERIES-clean-eating-nachos – this one we make for parties (like the Super Bowl – yummy!)

https://www.thehonestweigh.com/single-post/2017/09/18/Hasselback-Chicken – this is a staple in our house – it gives us the chance to sneak in Spinach with the kids

https://www.thehonestweigh.com/single-post/2017/09/19/Breakfast-Quesadilla – another staple – this is one of our go-to’s when we need to go grocery shopping.

There are many others including Egg Cups, Meatloaf Cups and Blueberry PowerCakes. Using Melissa’s plan, we have found ways to eat smaller meals throughout the day and curb our cravings. This also keeps us feeling good before and after our workouts.

More than anything else, we want to be fit for the rest of our lives. Each of us has a different goal and for us, they are not numbers on a scale. While we have clothing sizes we hope to wear and body parts we’d like to see toned, our focus is also to achieve certain milestones. Stephanie has signed up for the Chicago SuperSprint Triathlon this August and hopes to complete that in a reasonable time. Scott wants to continue to lose weight but his strength has been a critical goal for him for most of his life. We’d both like to do more hiking and skiing in Colorado where Stephanie’s extended family lives. These longer term goals help us focus on a healthy lifestyle outside of just strict weight loss. We want to be active as we age and retire so we can continue to enjoy life. Without proper fitness, we won’t achieve those goals.