ASHLAND — Three members of an Ashland family have transformed themselves during the past 16 months with intense exercise and a dedication to eating healthy. Together, they have shed a combined 310 pounds and dropped 20 clothing sizes, but they aren’t done yet.

By sharing their story, and their new exercise “addiction,” the trio hope to inspire others to “get up and do something” to change their lives.

Cynthia “Cindy” Sullivan, her brother, Michael Miller, and his wife, Jennifer, attribute their ongoing success in part to the motivation they give one another, as well as finding CrossFit, a high-intensity exercise program that has both challenged and inspired them, while producing radical changes in their bodies.

It was Sullivan who began the family’s odyssey in 2011. “I was working on a project with a couple of colleagues and they were young — and I just felt old and fat and frumpy,” said Sullivan, 47. “I couldn’t do anything about the old, but I could do something about the fat and frumpy, so I decided I would. I started March 7, and I walked one lap around the park.”

Sullivan also began changing her diet, cutting out processed foods and scaling back on portions. Within three weeks of starting she began shedding weight.

Her success inspired Jennifer Miller, her sister-in-law, best friend and fellow Summit Elementary teacher, to try, too. On March 23, Jennifer Miller’s 43rd birthday, she too resolved to change her life forever.

A week later, the pair embarked on a walk around Central Park together for the first time.

“I couldn’t walk that far,” said Jennifer Miller, recalling the pair had to stop frequently to rest that day. “I didn’t realize it before because I hadn’t tried — I can run it now,” Jennifer Miller adds proudly.

Two weeks after his wife started, Michael Miller joined, too, initially training to run a 5K in September.

Then, in late May, the women attended a free exercise class that would change the entire families’ lives.

Buoyed by her weight loss, Sullivan says, “I decided I wanted muscle definition. I wanted to lift weights.” A colleague at Summit Elementary, Dinah Houston, had long been touting CrossFit, which her son, Ger Sasser, had recently gotten certified to teach. When Sasser put on a free class at a local gym, Sullivan went and took Jennifer with her.

“I didn't know what it was,” Jennifer Miller recalls.

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program that combines movements from a variety of exercise discipline in short, constantly varied high-intensity workouts.

“I was scared to death and it was so hard. We did kettle bell swings and then we had to run, carrying a med-ball (medicine ball). Then get down and do pushups. … It was so hard,” recalled Jennifer Miller, describing that first day. “I cried the whole way home. It was just emotional because I realized what shape I was in, but I decided on the way home, that that was what I needed If I was going to make a complete and total change. I needed to do this kind of thing, not just a little bit of walking ... I needed to do those kind of things.”

Despite being sore from their “necks to their knees” the pair went back for more. Then they did it again, and again and again.

By the end of September, after completing his first 5K, Michael Miller was CrossFitting, too.

Nearly a year later CrossFit is now a daily part of their lives.

CrossFit has become such a shared family passion, Sullivan’s husband, Tim, and oldest son, T.K., are doing it, too.

“It is what we do,” Michael Miller said.

“I can’t imagine not doing it,” adds his wife.

“I’m addicted,” says Sullivan, sporting a “WODaholic” T-shirt. WOD is short for Work Out of the Day in CrossFit terminology. Sullivan has dropped six clothing sizes and shed 70 pounds and now is working to maintain her weight.

“I’d much rather be addicted to exercise than food,” adds Michael Miller, who alone has shed 110 pounds and dropped five clothing sizes. He plans to drop another 30 to 35 pounds before he’s done.

“It will change your life,” said Jennifer Miller, who’s lost 130 pounds and dropped eight clothing sizes. “I tell people it’s the hardest thing I’ve done in my life, but I’m very proud of what I have done. And I’m not done yet.” She is working to drop another 70 pounds.

Along with the hard work that goes into eating right, CrossFit has worked for them, they say, because it is easily scaled and modified to an individual’s levels of fitness and strength.

For example, if an individual can’t do a proper pull-up, he or she can modify it by doing jumping pull-ups or using sets of large rubber bands.

That’s the beauty of it, they say.

“You are working your butt off and you are working to your capacity. You are going to get stronger and better,” Michael Miller said. “There are so many things that you don’t think you can do that you wind up doing.”

The atmosphere at CrossFit Countdown, the gym Sasser has since opened, where the trio now belong, is also a major contributing factor to their continued success, the family members said.

“Everybody there says: ‘You can do this,’” said Michael Miller, describing the doubt that often precedes daily workouts. “That type of encouragement is what you get at CrossFit. I don’t care if you can’t do anything the way the workout is prescribed, you are going to get encouragement and people are going to help you. I have not heard one negative thing out of other people’s mouths when you are working out and trying to get stuff.”

“When we are in the box, there are people cheering you on. And I think, too, if I didn't show up someone would be calling you saying ‘Where are you?’ So, there is accountability there, too,” Sullivan said. A “box” is what an affiliated CrossFit gym is called.

Their advice to others?

“You can do it if you really want to,” Jennifer Miller said.

“But you have to really want it,” said Sullivan. “But CrossFit is the way to do it.”

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.