Who Is Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor?

Hello! I want to personally welcome you to the Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor debut. I am very excited and want to properly introduce myself and then tell you who and what Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor is all about. Let's get started!


Who is Melissa Guthrie?

Perhaps you already know me and are somewhat familiar with my background, on the other hand you may not know me from Adam and have no clue who I am, where I came from or what I stand for. I'll cut right to it. The world of health, fitness, & nutrition has been my life's passion since I was 12 years old. You may be wondering how such a young person could determine their life's mission and purpose at that age. Let me back up a few years so you can clearly understand. In 1977, I was born into this world and I was born fat. True a lot of babies are born fat, but I was born really fat. I have two older brothers and an older sister and they recall their friends asking them why they put rubber bands around their baby sisters arms and legs. They didn't really put rubber bands around my arms & legs, I just had such pronounced fat rolls that it gave that appearance. Often times fat babies outgrow their baby fat in their toddler or early grade-school years, not me. Now to clarify, I definitely was not roly poly obese, but I was a chubby kid. I remember being very self-conscious about my body at the ripe old age of 5. I was on the local swim team and I remember looking at the other little girls with their twiggy arms & legs and bean pole bodies and then looking at my shapely body wondering why I looked so different. I always weighed more than the girls my age, typically I weighed as much or more than the boys my age and that I didn't like one bit. I was the brunt of a lot of teasing by the typical snotty nosed, freckled faced boys and to make matters worse I had to get glasses when I was six, so I was the chubby & had 4-eyes. I managed to get through elementary school without any major emotional trauma, aside from the occasional crying session when I had my feelings hurt by ignorant children making jokes and poking fun at me. As a result of my weight, I did suffer from self-esteem issues. I thought I had to be really cute and skinny to be popular and for the really cool boys and girls to like me. The funny ideas we get as children. Then I came to a transition point. I was 12 years old and would soon be embarking upon my teenage years. I decided that things had to change and I knew there was only one person who could make it happen -- ME! I was going to be different and feel different. I did not want to spend the rest of my life feeling self-conscious and having low self-esteem, nor feeling like I was out of shape and unhealthy. I decided first that I was going to officially get rid of the glasses and become a full-time contact lens wearer. I knew I also wanted to get thin, I just wasn't sure how to go about it. I was somewhat active in sports, but I did not equate sports and athletics with weight loss at this point. I also knew that my Mom was overweight and was always on and off diets -- obviously that wasn't working for her, so I wasn't going to do that. I also had enough sense at this point to somehow realize that diets were not healthy. I knew my Mom had worked out at a gym a few times, but again because she was not successful in weight loss I didn't really understand how exercise affected body weight.

The Day That Changed My Life

I was 12 years old when I had the first major defining moment of my life. I was invited by a friend Shannon to spend the night at her house. There is really only one thing that I remember about that slumber party and that was what I witness the next morning in their basement. My friend Shannon, had an older sister and she had a friend spend the night as well. That next morning Shannon's sister and friend were in the basement bright and early doing exercise in front of the TV to an aerobics program aired on ESPN. I asked what they were doing and the answer I got was that they were exercising to lose weight and get in shape. The light bulb went on for me. The next morning I began my own weight loss program. I found out what time the aerobics show was aired. Nearly every morning during the summer between 6th grade and junior high, I would wake up and do a 30 minutes aerobics program (it was actually about 5 minutes of warm up and stretching, followed by 10 minutes of aerobics, & 5 minutess of cool down and stretching and had another 10 minutes of commercials mixed in). After the show was over, then I'd do another 15-30 minutes of stretching on my own. I video taped as many shows as possible so that I could exercise on days the program wasn't aired such as weekends. I really liked how I felt after exercising and I had begun to establish a habit. To make a long story short, when I enrolled in junior high I was exstatic to find out that I could take elective courses for my physical fitness, which included an aerobics class. I signed up immediately and loved every minute of aerobicising with Jane Fonda, leotard, leg warmers, big 80's hair & soup can weights. Then the next year, I had the option of taking an advanced course which incorporated step aerobics (this is when step aerobics was the new hottest thing in exercise) and weight lifting. I had never lifted weights before and I absolutely loved it -- I felt so empowered, energized & strong physically & mentally. As well, in this course my instructors began to teach us some basic nutrition principles. A whole new world opened up to me. I took the knowledge I was gaining and I applied it, made incremental changes in my food intake and I felt great. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. I began a true study of nutrition & exercise. While the other girls my age were reading books like the Babysitters Club, I was reading books like EAT & Be Lean by Dana Thornock & The FAT book which had calories, fat, & nutrient content of every food imaginable. During the summers when others kids were glued to a TV screen all day, or laying on a raft in the pool or on a towel at the beach, I on the other hand was in the pool doing water aerobics, playing summer sports leagues, & riding my bike.

So what happened in terms of my own weight loss & fitness?

Well, between 8th and 9th grade I shed a lot of weight and became thinner than I ever had been. I was no longer one of the heavier girls, I was more of an average weight -- thinner than a some of my friends although I was not as thin & lean as some other girls. I honestly was more concerned with how I felt, how much more energy I had, how much better I felt about my self and life in general, and I knew that I was following proper methods of a healthy lifestyle that I could and would maintain for life.

The Bump In The Road

Then I faced a challenge. I was staying active and I was consistantly improving my eating habits. Despite all of my efforts, I began to rapidly gain weight toward the end of my freshman year and that summer before high school. It just so happened that at about this same time I was dealing with some adversity at home. My parents had divorced a couple of years earlier and now my Mom was dating. To top it off the guy she was seriously dating was not a cool dude. I could sense it and I didn't like it one bit, but at 15 years old what do you know about life, right? Well, I knew more than some people gave me credit for. This was not a good situation for my Mom or for the family as a whole. Irregardless, my Mom got engaged to this man and they were married during my sophmore year of high school. I slipped into a depression and despite my efforts to eat healthy and exercise the weight kept adding on. I was so frustrated. I went to doctor after doctor at the Mayo Clinic and no one could give me an explanation that was satisfactory. Of course, all of the tests came back showing that I was perfectly healthy. What I did get was every thing from " your weight is genetic look at your Mom and grandma. You will always be heavy, just accept it, " to " women drink too much juice, stop drinking juice and you'll lose weight" (now what absolutely flored me about the whole juice thing was that I didn't drink juice ever & I told the doctor that, but he seemed to either be deaf or have some fixation with juice drinkers). I went from frustrated to beyond frustrated. Yet I was not so desperate to resort to unhealthy measures, I wasn't interested in a quick fix. I wanted to be healthy and fit for the rest of my life and I knew that if I was eating healthfully and exercising that irregardless of what the scale read -- I'd be healthy. I was determined to figure it out -- I knew I just had to be missing some small thing that would allow me to realize my weight loss goals. I was eating healthier than anyone I knew especially teenagers. I was eating fresh fruit & vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, & non-fat/lowfat dairy products and my only vice was nonfat frozen yogurt. Now compare that to what my friends were eating pizza, chips, french fries, candy, burgers, & cookies, I could not understand why I was not losing weight. Finally during my senior year of high school when I had reached the heaviest I'd ever been, I set an appointment with a registered dietician. She taught me about portion control. I was eating all the right healthy foods, I was just eating too much for my caloric needs. I took the dieticians counsel, began monitoring my portion sizes and that made a world of difference.

The summer between high school and college I revamped my exercise program & set some clear cut goals. First of all, I had been introduced to the power of positive thinking and goals setting. I was currently wearing a size 9/10 and I knew that since my sister wore a size 5/6 I could too. I found a fabulous dress and I hung it up in my room where I could see it every day. I wrote my goals out, I creative positive affirmation statements to support my goal and I put a penny in my shoe. Every time I felt the penny in my shoe I'd repeat my affirmations such as "I am a lean fat burning machine" "I am a healthy eater" "I love my lean healthy body". Then I put together an exercise routine that included twice a day workouts -- 5 am cardio session and an evening weight lifting session 6 days a week. On the weekends, when my friends were going to movies and wasting time driving around town or sleeping in, I was in the gym. I began losing some weight that summer and I was excited and I felt awesome. I was a bit concerned about going to college because I had heard stories of the Freshman 15 -- college coeds gaining at least 15 lbs their freshman year from all the unhealthy, fattening dorm food. I was determined that this was not going to effect me. I was going to lose 15 pounds not gain it. I knew that I could eat healthy at the dorm cafeteria -- there was an abundance of healthy options like the fruit bar, the salad bar, whole grain breads & cereals, etc. No one was going to force me to eat pizza, french fries, pie and cookies. I ate lots of fresh fruits & vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and even had an occassional treat of frozen yogurt, fig newtons, or rice krispie treat. I definitely didn't deprive myself, I don't believe in that. But for anyone who has altered their eating habits, you know how your taste buds and cravings actually change so that you no longer crave the sugary, fattening foods. I didn't have a car so I walked everywhere, I'd even walk while I studied becaue I couldn't stand to sit around. I enrolled in aerobics class my first semester and I started running a couple of times a week. I lifted weights at least twice a week. The next semester I signed up for weight lifting and began a daily exercise program to help my friend Kristin get in better shape, I led her in aerobics in the basement of our dorm building every morning at 5 am. It was during this second semester that the fat melted off my body by the bucketfuls. I will also note that Kristin got in the best shape of her life that semester too and has continued a healthy eating and exercise routine since then and is due to give birth to her third child any day now -- Congrats Kristin & Dave!!

The Proof Is In The Pudding!

Between graduation from high school and the end of my freshman year of college, I reduced my weight by over 25 lbs and went from a size 9/10 to a size 1/2 and my body fat percentage went from around 29% to around 15%. I completely transformed my physique. I looked great, I felt great! And I have maintained the fat loss for 10 years.

Credibility & Credentials

The summer between my freshman and sophmore years of college I certified as an ACE group fitness instructor and the following summer I certified as an ACE personal fitness trainer. I have taken up competitive athletics as a runner and most recently a triathlete. I have had the honor of representing and compating for Team USA in the ITU Triathlon World Championships and am currently sponsored runner/triathlete by Team Snickers -- Snickers Marathon Energy Bar. I have received two Bachelor of Science degrees -- one in Exercise Physiology & one in Nutritional Science. I have pursued a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology with a Sports Nutrition emphasis. I have had the opportunity of working in various capacities of the health & fitness & athletics. I been priveleged to speak around the country for small and large audiences on the importance of proper nutrition and exercise for a healthy lifestyle and have taught healthy cooking classes. Some additional certifications I have are Johnny G Spinning Instructor & Body Flex Instructor. I've also taught fitness classes at Brigham Young Univeristy including Beginning & Intermediate Weight Training, Aqua Fitness, Relaxation/Flexibility, & Jogging. I loved teaching these courses and assisting fellow college students in improving their health and fitness, teaching them some of the skills to lead a healthier lifestyle, and celebrating with them in their own body transformations of fat loss and lean muscle gains and overall improvement in their body composition. One of my greatest joys comes in sharing with others correct health principles and to assist them in transforming their health and lifestyles for the better, whether it be on a college campus, at a health club, in someones home, over the phone, or on an island in the Carribbean.

So that is a little bit about me, Melissa Guthrie. I would love to hear from you and know how I can assist you in creating the optimal level of health & fitness in your own life. If you are ready to get into the best shape of your life, increase your energy & productivity, look & feel your very best, learn how you and your family can easily & naturally live an optimally healthy lifestyle and much more, then I look forward to being Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor.

What You Can Expect From Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor:

Education -- In many cases the reason that we do not make improvements in certain areas of our lives is that we simply don't know what we don't know. We do not have the education, the knowledge or the awareness to even know what steps to take to make a positive change. I will provide you with education along with the tools & resources you'll require in the areas of alternative & preventative health, fitness & exercise, general nutrition, sports nutrition, gender and age related health issues, recreational & competitive athletics, injury prevention & treatment, weight reduction/fat loss, and more. You'll find an every growing collection of healthy, delicious recipes, healthy cooking tips, exercise & training tips, reviews of diet, exercise & weight loss programs, along with credible resources, books, websites, etc.

Inspiration -- You'll hear from not only myself, but also from individuals from all backgrounds and walks of life sharing their stories & experiences of success & triumph, overcoming challenges, & incredible life transformation. Your heart will be touched, your mind will be enlightened, & your spirits elevated.

Empowerment -- You will have access to tools, resources, strategies and techniques that when applied consistently will allow you to access your immense inner power to achieve "Your Best Self & Healthiest Lifestyle."

I will post to this site on a weekly basis and often times more frequently so please visit often and email me your questions, suggestions, and any requests you have on topics specific to you and your family.

Have a very Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving Holiday!

To Your Best Health!
Melissa Guthrie
Personal Fitness Trainer, Nutrition Coach, Competitive Athlete
Melissa@yourlifestylementor.com


Check out my other Blog: www.journeytothegold.blogspot.com