Earning Her Reward
Massage Envy member Liesl Leary found the perfect motivation
for exercise: massage
LIESL LEARY IS NOT what you'd call an exercise
fanatic. The Boulder, Colo., mom is a self-proclaimed foodie who
would happily skip out on exercise if it weren't for the health
benefits.
"I just don't like working out," the 32-year-old says with a
laugh. "I could pretty much go the rest of my life without it."
But then she found a motivator to help her commit to exercising:
massage.
Like many women, Leary's first pregnancy came with weight gain,
and a physical trainer helped her lose all but the last 10
pounds.
"At that point, I decided, 'I'm going to be fat, and I'm going
to be happy with it,'" Leary says. But then, Baby No. 2 brought a
50-pound weight gain.
"I'm only 5'2". That's a lot," she says. She wanted to begin an
exercise program, but needed a bit more motivation.
Leary's husband had given her a Massage Envy membership as a
birthday gift, but she had "mom guilt," she says. "When you're a
mom and you do something and it's not for your kids, you feel
guilty."
Still, she also knew that being healthy would help her be a
better mom. So, she started a running program-and used regular
massages to motivate her to keep going.
"Being able to enjoy that massage was the carrot that kept me
running," she says. "You go through a lot of discomfort and pain to
be a runner. If you have something that makes up for that
discomfort, you'll keep it up."
After a year of running, Leary has lost her pregnancy weight-and
then some. These days, she runs about three miles a day, three or
four days a week. She's a healthy 135 pounds, and she's sticking
with both her running regimen and her massage rewards.
"I don't feel so guilty about it anymore," she says. "I'm doing
it for my kids in the end."-By Stephanie R. Conner