She said, Brie Said... When Virtual Reality Becomes Reality
By Jennifer Sader and Brie Evans

Jen: Have you ever heard the song, "The Thrill is Gone?" That was how I'd been feeling about my exercise program. My stress level was up, my energy was down, and I just wasn't getting to the gym as often as I should. I decided to enlist professional help. Brie and I have "known" each other first from the Cooking Thin fan boards and now from the forums for a long time and have even met in person a couple of times. Since she's a real success story and has recently launched a wellness coaching business, I thought she'd be just the person to give me a little push. I sent her an SOS email and we made an appointment to meet.

Brie: I was totally flattered when I got Jen's email. I first met her on the Cooking Thin forums and knew her as "Trigirl"—the woman I idolized from across cyberspace who competed in multiple triathlons. When I was struggling to get started on my own weight loss program, I looked to Jen for inspiration and sought out her posts. To this day, 75 pounds down and counting, I continually gain strength and motivation from reading about her ongoing training.

Jen: I started to have a couple of second thoughts when I saw her coaching questionnaires. All of a sudden I had to tell Brie my height, weight, and whether I experienced digestive problems. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I looked for creative ways to stall, like playing with the format of the form on my computer instead of filling it out.

Brie: OK, OK so my intake forms are thorough.

Jen: I thought Kathleen might like a story on our meeting, so I sent her my idea. "Great! Get pictures!" Hmm. Again, not so sure about this, but it did give me a good excuse to buy a cool new workout outfit. Usually I wear ratty old running t-shirts to the gym.

Brie: Hmm, pictures? Kathleen wants pictures? I better make sure that I don't workout too hard before my session with Jen so I look presentable and don't have my clothes plastered to my body with sweat.

Jen: The night before our meeting I had a mini-meltdown. I know I've gained some weight since the last time I saw Brie, and I became very focused on this. I flipped through Thin for Life, trying to calm down. I opened the book to "stop viewing slips as personal signs of weakness." Just the pep talk I needed.

Brie: The night before our meeting I started stressing. Jen was my very first client at my brand new job, Pinnacle Fitness. My boss and the people I work for would be watching, yikes! A real live, accomplished triathlete was asking me to help design a strength training program. I spent the week preparing and putting together a program based on Jen's goals and her health history but what if I totally missed the boat with what she needed.

Jen: I have a bad habit of printing out Mapquest directions and not looking at them until I'm on the road. This is okay when I have a designated navigator, but today I was driving solo. I made it close to my destination but took a wrong turn. Luckily, Brie had given me her cell phone number "just in case." She got me going in the right direction.

Brie: When I heard my cell phone ringing, I had a bad feeling Jen had gotten turned around. As I scrambled for a pen to jot down her cell phone number I began praying that I would know where she was and could direct her to the gym. Luckily it was a quick fix in terms of direction and it gave me some extra time to prepare for our workout.

Jen: I couldn't get over how buff Brie is looking these days. She looked so much stronger than the last time I saw her. This woman knows what she's doing!

Brie: Being that it hasn't been that long since we've seen each other, I was surprised that Jen saw a difference in how I looked, "...you looked more "frail" at our last meeting." Jen looked really great—strong, energized and nary a sign of any so called "slips".

Jen: Brie was everything a personal trainer should be: Encouraging but ruthless. She said at one point, "I think you know what to do, you just need to do it!" She's right, too.

Brie: Jen's commitment was evident before she even stepped into the gym. After all, she'd driven 2 1/2 hours to meet me and was eager, enthusiastic and willing to try everything I threw at her.

Jen: I know my way around a gym, but I'd been pretty sporadic in my weight-room attendance lately. I like running better than lifting weights. I could see once we started working out that I had lost a lot of strength. On the bright side, though, I could tell that Brie had done her homework and had set up a workout that would build my strength but not aggravate my bad shoulder or tricky hip. I began to feel really excited about how much better an athlete I would be once I got stronger.

Brie: Jen is a natural in the gym. She has great form and great stamina. We went through a really long workout to make sure we hit all the muscle groups before she had to return home. It was a much longer session than I would ordinarily do with a client but being that Jen had traveled such a great distance, I wanted to be sure that we covered all the bases.

Jen: Probably the best part of the trip was going to lunch at the Mustard Seed Market in Montrose together. We had a terrific and healthy lunch. I practically lunged at the whole-grain bread they brought out before the meal but made sure to have just one piece. I was glad I saved my appetite for the pan-seared trout, broccoli, and brown rice pilaf. We had a great conversation and a wonderful afternoon. I really wish we didn't live two hours away from each other.

Brie: By the time we hit lunch, I was ready to eat the table. Thank goodness for the bread otherwise I would have started chewing on my arm. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long for lunch. My salmon wrap with herbed, oven roasted potatoes was perfect.
I had a hard time pulling myself away from our conversation but I had abandoned my family in the wee hours of the morning and they were eagerly awaiting my return.

Jen: It was tough saying good-bye, even though I knew I'd "see" Brie on the boards. I had a fond and not so fond reminder of our time together on my morning run the next day as the soreness in my legs set in.

Brie: The stronger Jen can be, the fewer injuries she will have and hopefully the better times she will have in her upcoming races.

KD: Who knew once upon a time when we first launched Cooking Thin that it would turn into this? People helping people is what Cooking Thin is all about. You never have to go it alone!