In this inspiring MetPro client success story, we hear from Rosalyn Arntzen, a successful business owner who achieved an incredible 135-pound weight loss while managing a demanding career and busy travel schedule. Rosalyn shares her transformative journey with MetPro, from struggling with lifelong weight challenges to achieving sustainable weight loss and improved health in her early 60s.
Lifelong Weight Struggles From Childhood
Crystal O’Keefe: Welcome to the MetPro Method podcast. I’m your host, Crystal O’Keefe, and today I am joined by MetPro client Rosalyn Arntzen. And we are going to hear all about her MetPro Journey. Rosalyn, thank you so much for being here today. I appreciate it. So I wanna hear about your health journey, like even before MetPro.
How did you get here?
Rosalyn Arntzen: Okay. So great to see you Crystal, and nice to see you too. Look, it’s been a journey. There’s, there’s no question, and I call it that. You know, I struggled with my weight from a kid like all my life and, my mother got sick when I was two, and therefore, running outside and doing lots of things like that just weren’t part of what we did.
Recreation was watching a movie, reading a book, etc. And so I never really had that DNA to learn how to balance. And so even going into, being 9 or 10 years old, going into my teens… always a struggle. I tried so many different things over the years, like the crash diets.
There was one period when I lived in the UK and I looked back and I just cringe: 500 calories a day. Like, seriously, not sustainable! I lost weight, but it doesn’t stay off. And so many times, you look back and realize: not only didn’t I lose the weight, but then I’m higher than where I started.
And it’s just this constant upping it and the weight loss industry. And I’m such a cynic of so much of the weight loss industry now because really, they want you to get enough of the drug, but then they need you to come back because that’s how they keep earning their money. So it’s like this vicious cycle and, everybody has to do what’s right for them.
I’m lucky that I didn’t have any health challenges in the sense of something that was really impacting my ability to lose weight. So I would lose weight when I tried. But, oh my god, it’s just hard. It’s really hard.
I run a consulting company in Seattle, and that is hard work. You run a small business. The buck stops with you. So there’d be many nights, I’d be lucky if I got four hours of sleep. I can survive on that, but I now know that’s not surviving.
You have four hours of sleep… you can’t get to the gym. The gym is 15 minutes away. It all started, when a friend of mine who was just coming back from maternity leave said: “have you heard of this Peloton?”
“I struggled with my weight from a kid like all my life… I never really had that DNA to learn how to balance. And so even going into, being nine, 10 years old, going into my teens, always a struggle.”
Breaking Through Weight Loss Plateaus
Crystal O’Keefe: Yeah, it was, you lost, you didn’t gain the 15.
Rosalyn Arntzen: I was lucky I had a bike here, which at the time my husband thought I was crazy. He said you’re only coming for two weeks. Ended up, we were stranded here for three and a half months. I couldn’t get back to Seattle because there were no flights.
I’ve got a Tonal. I know you and I have talked about this in the past. I like strength training, but it doesn’t jazz me the way I do with Peloton. There’s just something about, I feel that connection with Peloton. I like Tonal. I feel good. Now stalled again, and this is the thing I wasn’t putting any weight on, but I would stall. I would plateau.
So I lost 15 pounds with Peloton, 60 pounds with this other program. And then you and Tom decided to do MetPro on the Clip Out podcast. And I was listening to this thing and there were words that appealed to me, like hacking your metabolism.
There’s something about that phrase. It was like: I know I’m better, but I know I’m not where I need to be.
And I also was getting a little concerned with the program I was on… what happens when it’s over? Like when I’ve read all the lessons, when I’ve done it, what happens now? And I’ve been there before. My local gym in Seattle, which is a huge gym, does a program where they help people lose weight because it was started by a heart specialist, this gym. And, I did that program. I lost quite a bit of weight and then they just cast you adrift. And it’s like, what do I do now? And of course, the weight went back on and more.
So I reached out, got interviewed, you know, they obviously wanna establish there’s no real health issues or anything else. And I got assigned to Jessee. I wanted to learn.
You know Angelo talks about on the podcast, the people who want data. There’s people who wanna learn. I’m somebody who actually likes tracking. I like knowing where I’m at. I follow a lot of groups, groups of the program I was on before. I’m still on their Facebook groups and everything else, and people talk about being terrified to get on the scale, et cetera.
For me, it’s almost my safe place. I want to weigh myself because I want to know where I’m at. I even have a little travel scale because it says to me now it’s just data. And I know it’ll go up and down by a couple of pounds, that’s fine. But I also never, ever, ever wanna see it creep up.
“And then you and Tom decided to do MetPro on the Clip Out podcast. And I was listening to this thing and there were words that appealed to me, like hacking your metabolism, there’s something about that phrase, it was like, I know I’m better, but I know I’m not where I need to be.”
Personalized Nutrition for Sustainable Results
And it’s interesting, I think you just did the podcast on losing that last little bit and then staying. I never wanna get to that point. So I want to monitor and, and I will do that for the rest of my life. And it’s, it’s not onerous, we went for a hike the other day exploring the island, and stopped for a nice Creole meal. It was salty. I could taste it. It was more than I was used to. Went up a few pounds, fine. I’m back down again two days later. So it’s just getting to know what you do. And I think weighing yourself every day is part of that for me. Yes, there’s other folk who go, I can’t do it because the emotion is just too much.
So again, you’ve gotta do what’s right for you to make this a long-term thing. I’m pretty much where I wanna be now. It’s been slow, but I’m seriously in the best shape of my life and feel great. And, people just look and are amazed. Someone said the other day on a Facebook post, you must know the Wicked Witch because you’re melting!
Crystal O’Keefe: I mean, Roz, I’ve seen pictures of you. You’re before and after, like, you genuinely look like a different person and you’re so, you can just see the joy on your face. Like you just, you seem a lot happier too.
Rosalyn Arntzen: It’s a funny thing you say that Crystal. I was never an unhappy person. I’m always a glass-half-full person. That’s my life. Of course, everybody has their ups and downs, but that’s been my personality. I look back now and I go, you had no idea. You had no idea.
So there’s 60 to 70 pounds I’ve lost with Jessee’s help. And there’s been a couple of, there’s been obstacles. So it’s like I had neck surgery. I discovered a herniated disc, um, that I had no symptoms and it was really weird. I’d even discovered it. I’d got a, a pain down my arm, not a heart pain. It was like a muscle pain. And, I was stuck on the island. So of course this is during the Covid period, so it was actually before I started MetPro.
Suddenly we discovered later on I had a herniated disc that was serious enough that he said: “If we don’t fix this, you could literally roll over one day and be paralyzed.” I had no symptoms. And the doctors literally said I can reverse this because I didn’t want surgery. I was terrified of surgery and all went smoothly.
I remember saying to the doctor: “You know, by the way, I’ve lost 60 pounds in the last couple of years.” He said, “Well that makes my life easier.” Yeah. I guess it was because of anesthetic and all those other things, you know.
Last year I needed foot surgery. I discovered I had, a bone spur on my big toe and it was just causing me some discomfort. Again, not huge, but enough that he said, we’ve gotta avoid this becoming a cartilage that gets dislodged.
So again, you know, and this was while I was under Jessee’s, Jessee’s coaching and it was very interesting her approach at that time because I’m still trying to lose weight, although I don’t have that. She said, “I wanna put you on maintenance.”
And I’m like, “I’m not ready for maintenance.” And she said: “This is not the time to lose weight because you won’t be losing weight.” And so she also recommended we should go to the app for a couple of months or about a month while you are in recovery because this is a short time. “I’m here if you want me, but there’s not a lot I can do. I mean, you don’t wanna lose weight because you’re in recovery and I want you to have the guidance.”
It was interesting trying the app for a couple of months. It’s great. It really helps you monitor, but it doesn’t have the personal touch. Like I’ve said to Jessee “I’m just not losing weight!” She’ll say: “I’m gonna give you more protein here and I’m gonna add something there.” I said to her last week, “I’m just getting hungry at night, after dinner.” She said, “I’m gonna give you an extra snack at night.”
The app can’t do that, right? But the app is still MetPro, there’s no question. Absolutely! The psychology and the tracking and everything is there, so, and I was like, but I don’t wanna go on maintenance. And she said, “Yes, but if you don’t lose weight, it’s going to keep adjusting because it doesn’t know why you are not losing weight. I want you on maintenance for this period. You can’t work out a lot.”
I mean, literally the doctor said to me, you can’t get your blood pressure above a hundred for the first couple of weeks. Afterwards, I’m like, I get over a 100 getting out of a chair. Right? What are you talking about? So let alone walking or anything like that, it was like I wasn’t allowed to do anything and I had this lovely big boot on as well. It was good to try it. And then, I said: “Jessee, I’m ready to come back.”
Maintaining Weight Loss Goals when Traveling
I can tell you what I would do is I packed little bags of almonds with either some dried figs or one of those That’s it. Again, what I’ve learned is almonds have both protein and fat, and then the fruit is the carbs.
So it means if I end up not eating them, it doesn’t matter. But at the same time, because Angelo says, make sure you’ve got your snacks. So if I know I’m going somewhere where I don’t know when I’ll be able to stop or have a meal, I just have a few of these little bags in my, in my bag.
If I have something out that I can have, fine, I come home with me, but I’m prepared. And again, almonds, dry fruit, I’m good. And it takes off that “Oh…. I’m gonna have a sub or a McDonald’s or whatever.” Because I’ve got that. I’ve learned for me, if I do that, I won’t suddenly go, “Oh God, what do I do now? All there is is pizza around!”
Crystal O’Keefe: You’re between your blood sugar and your, your brain. Those two things are gonna make you make bad decisions. And I say bad because it’s something that’s not according to your goals.
Rosalyn Arntzen: Yes, and then look, it’s so emotional. You get depressed, you get miserable. Then if food has been your go-to, it becomes comfort. But then you’ve put on weight. It’s such a vicious cycle. I mean, it’s very emotional. It’s not like, and I don’t wanna undermine these in any way, an addiction to smoking or alcohol or whatever. They could just say, don’t have it. Right? Unfortunately, with food, you can’t just not have it
Crystal O’Keefe: It’s facts. I mean, it’s just different. It absolutely is. And of course, those things are, are very serious and, you know, those can be very difficult addictions in and of themselves, but when it comes to food, you have to find a way to navigate it, that is healthy. Because if you don’t, you, the, the end is you’re going to have a bad, something bad is going to happen. Either you’re gonna have those consequences that you talked about, or you’re going to gain an amount of weight that is a health consequence waiting to happen. So you have to find a way to navigate it.
The Ultimate MetPro Experience: Long-Term Success and Confidence
Crystal O’Keefe: I’m curious if there has been anything about MetPro that has really taken you by surprise.
Rosalyn Arntzen: I was able to lose the weight. That’s one because, you know, yes, I had lost some along the way. But we’re now getting, actually your hubby said this, those last few pounds have seniority. And Ryan said this in the podcast that I listened to last night. He said the same thing. Those last few are hard, you know, for whatever reason they had.
I am amazed that I was able to do it and steadily do it slowly. But again, all I care is I never go back. You know? It’s like, so whether it was tomorrow or whether it was next year, I’m already in the size I wanna be. I already feel great.
So the fact I’ve actually done it, I can actually say, “Goal! Yeah!” And that I actually feel confident with MetPro support that I really will keep it off.
Now, that doesn’t mean the body isn’t, clever. You forget one day. You forget another day. As you said, you have some sugar, you have some more. Before you know it, the brain is very clever at forgetting it’s switching off, which is why I said at the beginning for me, that scale will be one of my tools to go.
Oh, you and I know, Jessee and I talked about this, about being a couple of pounds below. So I’ve got like a two or three pound window to play with. But let’s just say it starts creeping two or three pounds up. It’s like, okay for me to never have to ever deal with this ever again and just stay healthy.
I’m learning maintenance is gonna be interesting for me too because I, obviously I’ve never been there, right? Back when I had 500 calories… oh God, I can’t imagine how unhealthy I was. But, it creeped back up again. This is going to be a new experience for me of saying I am. I’m not trying to get any lower. But I just wanna maintain and learn what that looks like.
“I actually feel confident we’ve MetPro support, that I really will keep it off… This is going to be a new experience for me of saying I am. I’m not trying to get any lower. But I just wanna maintain and learn what that looks like.”
Final Thoughts: Why MetPro Works for Busy Professionals
Crystal O’Keefe: So I wonder if there’s anything else that you wanna make sure people know about MetPro? Like is there anything we haven’t touched on you wanted to make sure you had told people about?
Rosalyn Arntzen: I obviously think it’s an amazing program because, as you said Crystal, it meets you where you need to be.
I laugh when I think of Jessee saying “Wow, you do go out a lot.” “Sorry, this is my life, so you’re gonna have to help me navigate it.” It’s understanding what you wanna achieve, but at the same time, I see so many people who put those, I need to lose a certain amount by a certain amount of time, or I need to get to somewhere by whether it’s size or weight or whatever, and they put such awful pressure on themselves.
I look back at those pictures when I first went to the Peloton studio, and it’s good to remind myself. But for me, I cringe as well. You know, I was double the size of the instructor I’m standing next to, you know. But it doesn’t matter because that was part of my journey and I never wanna forget.
MetPro has given me those tools that I actually do feel confident. As long as I don’t let the brain, you know, go into its own little brain fog, which would be very happy to do, you know?
Crystal O’Keefe: Yeah. It’s quick to do that, let me tell you.
