Meet the Trainer Edmund Araya

Personal Trainer/FitKidzRock Director

Edmund is AFAA Certified Personal Trainer and is also CPR/AED Certified. He is the Group Fitness Instructor for FitKidzRock! Cardio Classes. He has his Associates degree in Desktop Support Technician as well as a BA in Design Mechanical Engineering.

His specialties are:

            - Creative & Challenging Exercise Programs for Both Adults and Children

- Muscular Strength and Endurance

- Strength Training and Conditioning

I believe that when it comes to fitness one always must begin with the end in mind. With the proper balance of training, nutrition and motivation, anything is possible. When you feel good about yourself, it reflects on everything around you; family, friends, lifestyle and profession. Believe in yourself and you will succeed!

Meet the Nutritionist Alicia Moskal

Alicia Joy Moskal, Holistic Health Counselor studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. Having studied all the major dietary theories, she understands there is no one way of eating that works for everyone, so instead she focuses on building the right lifestyle for the individual to ensure long-term success.

My Approach

A different approach
I practice a holistic approach to health and wellness, which means that I look at how all areas of your life are connected. Does stress at your job or in your relationship cause you to overeat? Does lack of sleep or low energy prevent you from exercising? As we work together, we look at how all parts of your life affect your health as a whole.

A health coach (or health counselor) is a wellness guide and supportive mentor. Together, we’ll work to achieve your goals in areas such as achieving optimal weight, food cravings, sleep and energy. Through working with me, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of the foods and lifestyle choices that work best for you and implement lasting changes that will improve your energy, balance and health.

Bio-individuality
The concept of bio-individuality is that each person has her or his own food and lifestyle needs. So, when the experts say, “dairy is good for you” or “fat is unhealthy,” it doesn’t apply to everyone. One person’s food is another person’s poison, and that’s why fad diets tend to fail in the long run. Working on the principle of bio-individuality, I’ll support you in making positive changes that are based on your unique needs, lifestyle, personal preferences, and background. Instead of prescribing one fix for all people, I use a personalized, holistic approach that is based on your needs.

Everything is food
We are not only fed by food but by other factors in our lives. Healthy relationships, a fulfilling career, regular physical activity and a spiritual practice are essential forms of nourishment. When these “primary foods” are balanced, what you eat becomes secondary.

Integrative Nutrition Pyramid
The Integrative Nutrition food pyramid focuses on nourishing food and lifestyle choices. Our wellness pyramid emphasizes the importance of high quality vegetables, fruits, complex carbohydrates, proteins, healthy fats and water. To complete the picture, the pyramid is surrounded with lifestyle factors that create optimal heath: relationship, career, physical activity and spirituality.

Mission
Integrative Nutrition’s mission is to play a crucial role in improving health and happiness in America, and through that process, create a ripple effect that transforms the world.

Meet Jonathan

Imagine for a moment that you are a singer, not a great singer but a good one.  You’ll never perform an aria onstage at the Met. You’ll never be a platinum-selling international pop star.  You’re a good singer, who enjoys singing and works hard at it.  Imagine that you are the president of a choir that has been given the opportunity to premiere a requiem at Carnegie Hall.  Well, I’m Jonathan Manning and back in 2008 that was me.  I stood on stage at the great Carnegie Hall with my choir.  This was it.  My shining moment as a singer, surrounded by many of my friends, I was on one of the most famous stages in the music world.  This was my crowning achievement as a singer.  I should have been overcome with happiness and a feeling of accomplishment.  Instead I hated myself.  I spent the entire performance thinking that every eye in the place was on me and that all these people were thinking “what is this fat slob doing up there.” “He doesn’t deserve to be up there.”  I hated who I was.  I hated that I had let myself balloon to over 500lbs.  I hated that I spent every moment on that stage in physical agony that my knees, ankles and back were in so much pain I couldn’t concentrate on what I was singing.  This should have been the greatest moment in my life, instead I was hitting rock bottom.



Me age 5 around 80lbs.



As I said I’m Jonathan Manning I’m 30 years old and I was raised in the small town of Mulvane Kansas, which is just south of Wichita.  My entire life I have been the fat kid.  I was never terribly popular growing up, plus my parent’s home schooled me so I spent a lot of time with my family.  I have an older brother and a younger sister.  I have some family members, like my father and brother that are also overweight.  I also spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a kid.  And as a kid she was my best friend.  She was and truly has been the only person that I’ve ever been able to share my true feelings with.  She always accepted me for whom I was, and always made



me feel like I was important and loved.  She was always very obese and when I was 15, she passed away from complications that were mainly due to her obesity.  I did not handle her loss well; in fact I have never been the same since.  I went through a lot of depression and even had thoughts of ending my life.  I decided that I couldn’t do that, but if I was going to live this life I was not going to take of myself.  I gave up on myself. I lost interest in life.  I once was a great piano player; after she died I found no enjoyment in that any longer.  I also found no interest in being healthy.  By the time I graduated high school, I was over 300lbs. and I really didn’t care.  When I’d go to work or church or a college class I’d put on my happy face and act like all was good.  I would even joke a lot about my weight.  I enjoyed making people laugh about it.  I was Big Jon; I actually got to a point where I thought I was cool because I was fat.  As the years passed, I continued to slowly put on more and more weight.  At times I would try and lose weight just because people wanted me to, and deep down I knew I should.  As the years went by I continued to be the happy guy, but inside I’ve been angry and I’ve wanted to change, I just didn’t know how to truly do it.  For a long time my weight wasn’t an issue, but by my mid twenties I had high blood pressure and constant pain in my knees, back, and ankles.  I also couldn’t do my job the way I wanted.  From 2004-2010 I worked in an emergency shelter for kids.  Mostly I worked with teenage boys and on several occasions I’d be trying to talk to a kid about making better decisions and I’d be told “Fuck you, you don’t take care of yourself, why should I listen to you?”  They were always right; I wasn’t taking care of myself.  I wasn’t a good role model for these kids. But the thing that bother me the most was when my brother moved back to Kansas from Washington and brought back with him his two daughters Emily and Kayla.  They came about three years ago and I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with them and they have become my world.  I love these girls more than anything, and they love me unconditionally.  I started to think about what it was like for me after my grandmother had died and how much pain I went through and how much it screwed me up.  I got to thinking at 500lbs. I’m probably not going to make it to 40.  What would that do to these little girls, who love me so much?  I can’t do that to them.

Me around age 16 and 300lbs.

Back in the summer of 2009, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do to lose this weight.  My sister-in-law and I decided to try out for the biggest loser.  I took a day out of work and drove to Kansas City with her.  We stayed in a crappy hotel and didn’t get any sleep.  She got called at 3am and was told her mom passed away that night.  We stood in line at the casting call for half a day for a short interview and then drove all the way home exhausted.  Surely god put us through all this to reward us.  No.  No call back.  I was angry and depressed, feeling that I was going to get nowhere.  So I went back to life until November, the call that changed it all.  Producers calling me about an at home weight loss show and they wanted me to try out.  I was excited, but cautious.  I decided that I had nothing to lose.  I went through all their junk and was told right after Christmas I was going to LA as a finalist.  A week in LA was surreal.  I spent it having so much fun with an amazing group of people that I could relax and be myself with and they didn’t judge me.  I became close with a few of them.  One particular was Mike, plus one who has become like another sister and yes we do fight like brother and sister.  Mike was great.  My twin brother separated at birth.  After we left LA we kept in touch almost on a daily basis.  We helped each other through the anxiety of the “Wait.”  Only to find out we didn’t make the show.  I was angry and bitter about not making it.  I felt betrayed because I put so much into it for nothing.  It was in the midst of all this pain and bitterness that the thought arose what if did this ourselves?  What if we worked our asses off on our own, filmed it, and then show people that you can do it on your own.  Use it as a way to inspire other people to do the same.  So Mike went to work and found people to help us.

After a lot of Soul searching I decided that I needed to make a major change.  I had to give up this life I knew and start fresh and brand new.  I gave up my full time job of over six years.  I packed up whatever I could fit in my car.  I left my family and all my friends to leave Kansas the only home I’ve ever known to move to Massachusetts.  Now I’ve lived by myself before, but never more than 20minutes from my parents.  On New Year’s Eve 2010, I arrived over 1600 miles away from them.  No job, no prospects, less than $2000 in my bank account and a car filled with my possessions.  I was to live with this one friend Mike, with only a dream that I came here to save my life.  Some people called this brave, some called it ballsy.  I wasn’t sure what it was, it may have been flat dumb!  The first few weeks here were extremely hard.  I missed home.  I missed my family.  I wasn’t comfortable here.  We started meeting with our Nutritionist Alicia Moskal.  She’s been great.  Not only has she taught me to make healthier choices with food, but she has been there for me to talk about my fears and feelings about making this great change.  Also, the thing that has made this go so well is that we’ve been making changes to food without making it feel like a diet.  I have to enjoy what I’m eating or it will never work.  Diets have always made me feel like I was eating crap I hated.  I am now eating good tasting food that is healthy for me.  After getting started with Alicia we went and presented our plan to Gold’s Gym in Tewksbury, MA. They agreed to help us out. We got hooked up with Edmund.  Now I may cuss this man out every one of our workouts, but this guy is awesome.  He’s getting me to do things I never thought I could.

Me around 507lbs.

So I finally started a full time job, I’m totally on my Road 2B it.  I’m at full speed and I’m rockin’ and rollin’.  Not sure how long this Road goes for, nor do I know exactly where it leads.  I know I’m ready for the long haul.  I know it will take a while to get fit, but I didn’t get to 507lbs. overnight and I sure as hell won’t get skinny overnight.  But I’m ready to go balls to the wall to get it done.  Mike and I are going to show that anybody can live a normal life, plus lose the weight they need to.  If a couple of 500lbs + men can do it anybody can.  I’m taking a major detour to follow the Road 2B Fit.  Hopefully, if you follow us on our journey, you’ll be inspired to take this Road too.

Meet Mike

Life’s a bitch… it’s the truth you can plan how you want it to go but sometimes it doesn’t work out.  I know how I got to be almost 600lbs. but I couldn’t tell you why I let it happen.  I had been big my whole life but it wasn’t until the last twelve years that my weight had skyrocketed to the extremely dangerous levels they are at.  My name is Mike LaPlante I’m 29 years old and here’s a little story about me.



Front and center with my cousins and sisters around age 12



I have been a big kid my whole life as I had said in fact I can barely remember not being overweight.  In attempts to hide my shame I went with it and made fun of myself before others could.  I became a big party guy the life of the party; I was the person you called to find out what was up tonight.  I never gave people a chance not to like me.  I was a fun person, I drank more, ate more, and out moronathoned anyone I could.  I was the party on the outside but I was a wreck on the inside.  What people never knew was the pain and shame I felt and the fear I masked that if I didn’t do these ridiculous things I would have no one and I would be alone.  Being accepted was the most important thing in my life.



Age 20 my Grandmothers Birthday



When I got into my late teens early twenties my weight really got out of control.  My friends and I for a short stretch worked out religiously daily.  The lightest I can remember being is around 317lbs. when I was 19-20 years old.  We would work, go to the gym and then drink and party all night long.  We eventually stopped working out as we started to party more and more. The Superbowl in 2007 I was up to 565lbs. that was the day my mom, sisters, and I joined weight watchers.  I had some good results I lost 85lbs. in four months mainly because I worked out feverishly not changing my diet at all.  My weight loss ended when I suffered a knee injury and couldn’t work out anymore.  Since my diet had never improved my weight eventually shot back up.

My sister Lori who also has been over weight her whole life decided that she was going to have weight loss surgery and opted to have the lap band operation.  I decided that maybe that was my last option and I also enrolled in the program.  I went to their mandatory meetings and appointments.  The Doctor told me I had to lose 100lbs. in three months to have my surgery in September of 2009.  They put me on a liquid diet where all I could eat was these 500 calorie meal replacement shake 3 times a day for the next three months.  I made it two weeks on the diet constantly hungry.  I couldn’t do it I was in constant discomfort.  I loved food and three months without it was not practical for me.  I only managed to lose 20 lbs.  They refused to do my surgery and told me my outlook was grim.

I’m not sure if that was rock bottom but it was pretty darn close.  I was told by doctors that the only solution for weight loss was surgery now I was told I was too fat to have that surgery.  My whole life I have had a fear of death but at that point I did not care. I wanted to die… I didn’t know if I could do it myself if I could commit suicide but I definitely became a more reckless person.  I didn’t hang out with friends anymore became a shut in.  Death had become my only option and it couldn’t come fast enough.



Me around 550lbs



Have you ever had one of the moments that completely changed your life very unexpectedly?  Like a tree falling down on a road that blocked you from crossing a bridge that was about to collapse. Mine tree came from a very unlikely source.  My sister Amy who can be kind of bitchy called me saying that they were casting for a weight loss show in Boston.  She said it was like biggest loser and I should look into it.  I was skeptical I had auditioned for the biggest loser and it had never gone anywhere.  I went online to look it up and it turned out it was different the show was going to incorporate your life while you lose weight.  I thought yeah why not try I had nothing to lose.  I went down to the casting call and the place was packed.  My interview I thought went horribly the other girl wouldn’t shut up.  Even when I was asked question midway through my answer she would cut me off to say how what I was saying she could really relate too and then turned it back to herself.  When I did get answer a question it seemed by the expression on the interviewer face that my answers were wrong or dumb.  I left there with the real feeling that really sucked the big one.  I hadn’t even gotten home and my phone was ringing they wanted me to come back tomorrow for a secondary interview.  There I am pulled over on the side of the highway writing down the information that would change my entire life.  The next interview went really good they kept calling me giving me little hoops to jump through and things I had like 8 hours to get together but eventually I was told I was a finalist…

January 2010 could possibly be the most important month of my life.  I was out in Los Angeles where I met some of the most amazing people ever.  It was the first time in my life I had ever truly felt comfortable as a person.  Hanging out with 18 people who were just like me was unbelievable.  It made me so relaxed it was the first time I had taken my shirt off in public since before kindergarten.  That week in LA I had never laughed so hard or have been so happy in my entire life.  I met a girl who since has absolutely taken my heart like no other girl had before.  I met two people that will be in my life forever, they will all be there but these two are like family to me.  Jonathan and CC are like my brother and sister and the two of them argue like that too.  I love them very much but as Jonathan would say not in “gay” way.  I left LA in a waiting game for well over a month.  It was a very stressful time but my new friends really helped me get through it.  I don’t remember how long it took to get the NO from the network but it seemed like an eternity.  In that time I grew really close with a group of 5 fellow contestants one in particular was Jonathan.  Hanging out with Jonathan was like being with my twin… I’m cuter though.  We both ended up being rejected by the show and were pretty pissed off.  We had missed out on a huge opportunity to lose weight but also inspire others to do the same to save their lives.

Through that rejection an idea was born.  The show we didn’t get wasn’t looking the way it was advertised so Jonathan and I decided maybe we could do it ourselves together as a team.  We would create a program that would show that you could live your life and just making some changes you could also save it. That if two guys that weigh over 1000lbs could do it then any one could do it.  We would seek the help of professionals and work together to achieve greatness.  The idea was simple we would work our jobs but make the changes to our diet and exercising that were need to make us healthy and fit.  We would document the process and put it out there as proof that it could be done and anyone could do it. 

With that the Road 2B Fit was born.  Getting it off the ground was not easy Jonathan had to move from Kansas to Massachusetts and we had to find the right people to help us.  I can truly say that I am blessed with the support I have gotten.  I was introduced to Alicia Moskal.  Alicia is a holistic life coach with a back ground in nutrition.  With her help Jon and I would learn not only how to eat better but how to make those food enjoyable to eat.  She stressed that it was not a diet but a life style change.  Diets don’t work as a fat guy I have tried them all and I would get success with them but they would never stick because I didn’t enjoy them and could not see myself eating that way the rest of my life.  The problem with diets is you reach your goal and you stop and you end up on that roller coaster fat people live on.  Working with Alicia I learned more than what to eat but how to cook, why we eat, and how to eat.  It was a lot of looking into yourself and figuring yourself out which is scary but amazing.  Being accountable to yourself because that’s who you got to do it for you have to know you are worth it.  I’m not perfect but every day I try to get better.  Pick a goal and shoot for it.

We next needed to increase our physical activity.  What you eat is the most important part of this program but working out will increase your results.  We approached Gold’s Gym in Tewksbury MA and told them what we were doing.  They introduced us to our trainer Edmund.  Working with him is tough but I fight through the pain and so can you.  It’s amazing that everyday things become a little easier.

Jonathan and I realized something that there is no magic pill to lose weight.  That it was going to take a change on our side to get this done.  There is over 1000 pounds between the two of us but we found out its amazing the things you can do when you can put your mind to it.  Ask for help there are amazing people out there but you have to make the first move. 

Jonathan and I are going down this Road 2B Fit we will give you the map we are using and show you what we are going through and experiencing.

So this is the map and it is here to start your own Journey….

Well Here we go

The Road 2B Fit has been along time in the making even longer in getting this blog started.  My name is Mike and I am one of the founders of the Road 2B Fit with my good friend Jonathan.  This is our journey to lose the weight that has become a burden on our lives.  I guess I should start at the beginning of the adventure and catch you all up.  I met Jonathan in California as we were both finalist for a weight loss reality show.  Through our week in California and after we left i became really good friends with Jonathan, we became a kind of support system for each other as we awaited or fates for this show.  After finally hearing the rejection we both went into a state of anger and resentment.  We had come to the realization that it was time to do something about our weight before it was too late and we would be extremely sick or worse dead.  We wanted to lose weight but we also wanted to do it in a way that could help inspire others to do the same thing.  Its not every day that you can save your own life but at the same time possibly help save someone Else's.  The major problem was Jonathan lived in Wichita Kansas and i lived in Boston Massachusetts.  Jonathan decided to make the Sacrifice of leaving his family behind and to move east and I began putting the plan and team together.  We wanted to approach this project with a realistic goals.  We wanted to prove that even though we had jobs and had our lives two guys that weighed over 500lbs each could lose the weight.  For all the good the reality shows on weight loss do for people its not really practical for people.  Life gets in the way allot, that's how we got to where we are today, and if we cant change ourselves in our own environments the possibility we would fall right back in is very high.  First we had to get our eating in check.  We brought in the help of Alicia Moskal who has a background in nutrition.  We weren't going on a diet we were changing our lifestyle.  We next approached Gold's Gym in Tewksbury Massachusetts with what our plan was and asked for there assistance.  Gold's Gym introduced us to Edmund a personal trainer at the gym.  Now with our team assembled and Jonathan in town we were ready to start.  To begin I should introduce the people involved more.