Staffer Gretchen Parker, 35, is working out with celebrity trainer Kathy Kaehler (pictured at left; past clients include Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston) for Us' 30-Day Get Fit Challenge! She's blogging a few times a week:
I was pitched the Get Fit Challenge because my editors said I would be a good blogger — not because I could stand to lose 10 pounds. Or 20.
I think they were blowing a little smoke up my you-know-what. Of course, they'd have to do that to get me to agree to tell more than 6 million monthly unique visitors how much I weigh (for the record: 140.4 pounds as of this morning), and then talk about how hard it is to lose some of the excess me.
My life as an Us Weekly reporter revolves around celebrities — their break-ups, slip-ups, pregnancies, arrests — and Hollywood movie premieres. (I moved to Los Angeles 15 months ago from Tampa, Fla.) But my life is not that glamorous. It certainly lacks an entourage of personal assistants, managers and chefs. And unlike celebrities, my job doesn't depend on me looking good.
I work early mornings and many nights and weekends. To handle all that, healthy eating and workouts go by the wayside. I seriously doubt Jennifer Aniston eats breakfast at Starbucks five days a week. I also have a feeling that, unlike me, she probably has set foot on a treadmill in the last six months.
I have learned one thing about fitness from the celebs I've interviewed on this job. Many of them have a rule about working out and eating healthy food. They make it a priority.
And that's exactly what I took away from my first conversation with Kathy this morning. Eating well and exercising has to be at the top of each day's to-do list.
"If it's not a priority, it doesn't get done," Kathy says.
Kathy doesn't want me to focus on losing weight. She didn't even ask me today how much I weigh, although I kept trying to tell her — like it was a confessional.
She says I need to find another motivator. If I do that, I'll want to live well and the weight will come off.
Over the next 30 days, I'll be blogging a few times a week about my experience working out with Kathy, trying to follow her healthy eating plan and, of course, updating you on the new, fitter me!
Questions? Comments? Contact me at askgretchen@gmail.com.
