Husband and wife Alexander Burishkin and Lynne Santini didn’t always see eye to eye when it came time to improve their health and lose weight, however, they easily agree about what veered them off track.
“Oh, it’s his fault,” laughs Lynne, jokingly referring to her husband of five years. “He cooks really well, and I love eating the meals he makes.”
“Yep, and I enjoy cooking,” Alexander sheepishly chuckles. “Safe to say we had to make a few lifestyle changes.”
The wheels of healthy change were first set into motion in February 2014 when Lynne made the decision to join Weight Watchers. At the time, she was nearly 100 pounds overweight and living a “very lazy life.”
“Weight Watchers was really great because it’s a straight-forward program that can easily be modified,” says Lynne. “I was able to select bits and pieces of the program that fit my personality and that made it much more effective, in my opinion.”
Most importantly, the program provided Lynne with a clear set of nutritional dos and don’ts to help spur Alexander to modify his deliciously decadent – but admittedly unhealthy – cooking style. And true to character, he embraced Lynne’s new diet.
“Although I wasn’t completely onboard personally with health and fitness yet, I saw how important it was to her,” says Alexander. “So I started using more whole foods and ingredients and changed the way I cook to fit her program. I always support her health goals – she’s inspiring.”
After four successful months on Weight Watchers, Lynne decided it was time to put her membership at the Center for Health & Fitness to use and enrolled in the maiden cycle of Small Group Training, an eight-week group exercise program CHF was debuting in June 2014.
Though admittedly difficult at first, Lynne persisted and quickly grew to relish the reps, sweat and motivational instruction from class trainer Aidan Acuff. Each time an eight-week cycle – which includes a combination of free weights, resistance training and cardio – would conclude, Lynne eagerly re-upped for another. Before long, her excess weight began to melt off and Alexander’s interest in exercise started heating up.
“I noticed how much weight she was losing and how much happier she was with herself, and it motivated me,” he says. “Plus I’d just hit my heaviest weight in years (255) and those two things were the wakeup call I needed.”
Following his wife’s lead, Alexander joined Small Group Training with Aidan in July 2015, though he opted for a different class on a different day. And much like his wife, save one week of illness, he hasn’t missed a cycle or class since.
“What I like about Small Group Training is you can workout at your own pace,” says Alexander. “You do as much as you can every day and compete against yourself – nobody else. And Aidan is great at keeping you focused only on the reps and exercise at hand.”
No surprise: coupling proper nutrition with consistent exercise has paid off for the husband-wife tandem. To date, Lynne has shed nearly 100 pounds, and Alexander has dropped 25 while simultaneously packing on muscle and increasing his stamina. Most importantly, their benefits don’t stop at physical gains – the pair report their relationship has been enriched as well.
Prior to losing weight, the couple – who share a passion for adventure and travel – would carefully plan and evaluate their outings to include activities that they could “comfortably complete,” according to Lynne. But now with fewer physical limitations holding them back, she says they’ve adopted a “go-for-it attitude.”
“It’s so freeing to be able to say, ‘sure let’s give that a try!’ or ‘yes, let’s go there and explore all day,’” says Lynne. “We even put in at least four miles of walking last weekend to and from the Hermosa Fiesta because we parked so far away ... didn't even give a second thought to do so. It's hard for me to not pack every weekend with fun activities now that I feel so good!
“And we certainly want to continue with our good health in mind -- maintaining our weight, working out to be in the very best physical condition and remembering to take it one day at a time -- it's a journey, not a race, and we want our journey to continue for a long, long while!”
