I decided I needed to write this down so that I can remember the events that are leading me to a healthier life. I figured that if I post this online I will not only be writing down my journey for myself but I can serve the dual purpose of helping others know that:
- You are not alone if you are or feel overweight
- You can lose weight without doing a crazy diet
- You don't need to pay money to get healthy
- You should find your own rhythm to losing weight
The last and most important thing to know is that... I have lost 60 pounds since I began my journey and sadly... It is still not easy for me to stay on the path of health. I also need encouragement and help. Even seeing the success that I have seen. That is why I decided to make this a blog... I am going to report to the world my success... but also my struggles.
To start off, I have never believed in "dieting". Why? Well, I have grown up being "Big Boned" and I was always just assured that that is the way my body was built. Yes, I know there is actually some truth to that. However, there was also a nice giant coat over my big bones. HA!
Here I was a few years ago. Sitting with my lovely wife in a family photo.
Ya, you are right... I am not the biggest guy you have ever seen. I do have my cap that I would hit and then I could eat whatever I wanted and the effects slowed down. In this photo I am 265 pounds of pure big bones.
Fast forward about 4 years and that puts us in 2012 right at the first of the year. I am still Mr. 265 and still managed to keep a beautiful wife that loved me for me, and then I added a first kid and this year added kiddo #2. I love my family so much. They mean the world to me.
Here is the embarrassing story of what snapped to get me going:
I had a birthday in 2012 (undisclosed date of course) that lasted about 3 days. The first party was just my immediate family, second party was with my wife's parents, and then the last party was with my parents.
I LOVE FOOD!
And, it was my birthday. So I was going to eat as much as I wanted. Which I did. 3 days straight. It was such good food. When I went to bed on the last night I couldn't even lay flat because of how full my stomach was... Did I mention that the food was good? Sadly, I had to use a pillow to prop myself up and sleep half sitting that night. I sat there uncomfortably and looked at my wife and thought about my kids and realized. What the crap am I doing? I am making my life shorter. I am a fun dad and take time with my kids and love them so much, but I don't have ALL the energy I want. I drink at least 64 oz. of Mountain Dew a day. I am heading straight to Diabetes or possibly full on heart failure.
I woke up the next morning early. I fished around in my pocket for my keys and looked at a small tag that had been sitting on them for about 2 months that read, "The Sports Academy". You got it, I had a gym membership that I had never used before.
Sub Story: My beautiful wife was very active before and during her pregnancy and she begged and begged for a gym membership. I was so cheap I kept saying, "I don't want to spend that kind of money!" She talked me into it one day and they gave us a huge discount if we both joined... Yes, I foolishly bought that sales pitch.
So... here I sat. Staring at this tag. I wondered, "Does it still work?" I had been paying for it since I bought it, so of course it worked. I got on some gym shorts and an XXL T-shirt that was kind of tight and headed for the gym. I arrived. I looked around at the place and thought, "I should run! I used to do it all the time as a kid. In 4th grade I ran so much! I used to big a big driving force in the race to run around Utah in my class! I took second in a fun run! I even earned some spiffy shoe laces and some beads that meant that I was a runner."
I made my way to the treadmill and turned it on to walking speed. That was too easy. I was a runner after all. So I turned it up to 6 miles per hour! 10 minute mile! Now we are talking! My legs pushed as fast as they could. I was doing so awesome! After a while my legs started to hurt really bad. That was to be expected. I hadn't run for so long, and I had been going for a pretty good amount of time.........
Then I looked at the display face. Oh man... 2 Minutes and 50 Seconds. ... .23 Miles... Not funny then... I thought I worked so hard! I was beat. My legs were all sore, and my shins killed. My back was burning. And I was hungry. I got in the car and went home.
My wife and son were still asleep. So I got online. What is going to motivate me? Maybe I will have to diet...
I googled Diet apps for my smartphone. #1 recommended at the time was an app called MyFitnessPal EVERYONE RAVED ABOUT IT! Maybe it will work for me. I downloaded it to my phone and got my profile all set up and it told me how many calories I could it. It was about 1800 calories to lose 2 pounds a week. For some people, it is hard to even eat 1800 calories. For me that would be done by about 1pm daily. I started playing with the app. I plugged in my morning "run". 2 minutes... 50 seconds... I burned a very small amount of calories. I don't remember exactly. I don't even think it was 100. So I googled foods for 100 calories. I found that most fun sized candy bars run about 90 calories! I had burned enough (or almost enough) for a candy! I was so excited! I started that day following the app to the letter. My philosophy was, "THIS IS NOT A DIET. I CAN EAT WHATEVER I WANT. I JUST HAVE TO EARN IT." The 1890ish calories were gone around 5pm and I came home from work around 8:30pm STARVING. I kept opening the fridge and saying. Not until this counter resets tomorrow. I sat with my wife and told her about my excitement about this app and how good I was going to do! She was very supportive and said, "I know you can do it! But, if you don't just know that I love you." Best thing she could have said. #1 I was happy that she would still love me. #2 She knew I could do it... but didn't think I had the drive to change my life and I had to prove her wrong! That is what husbands do right? Prove their wives wrong! (I know she believed in me the whole time. She has been my rock... I just thought she didn't believe in me at the time. I know I wouldn't have.) I told her that exercising was so hard. That night we studied for tests and I googled some more. I searched for my challenge.
A TRIATHLON! The all encompassing event that proves you are athletic enough to push to the limit of awesomeness! YA! That is what I will do. So, I told my wife that, that is what I would be doing later this year. "That is great honey! I am sure you will make it!" she said. There she goes again thinking I can't do it. HA! I'll show her!
We went to bed around 10:30 and that night I cried worse than a child that you take a sucker away from. "I AM SO HUNGRY! MY LEGS ARE KILLING!" I was a baby. My wife said, "I know you can do this. But if you can't just have a small snack." SHE THINKS I CAN'T FREAKING DO THIS! I'll show her! So I stopped crying and went to bed. I woke up early the next morning and the day was the same as before but worse! I started in pain and left in more pain. Otherwise the crying and determination were all the same. I cried for about 4 days in a row before I finally solved some of the issues I was having. I will write more posts on what I do specifically for reference later.
Remember the fat guy up at the top of this post?
Ya that guy!
I was going to eliminate him and create a super hero for my children and a more involved husband for my wife!
The story here will be the future posts about what I did daily and what I still do daily! However, for now I will skip the nitty gritty of what I did and summarize with this:
I ate under my calorie goal and I exercised by running, biking, and swimming to prepare for a triathlon.
July 2012, I had lost 60 pounds since I set my goal at the first of the year! I woke up one day and realized that I was afraid to do a triathlon. I wasn't ready. I needed more time to prepare. "NO!" I told myself. Then I jumped online and paid for the event and registered myself to race. Here we go... In August... GULP!
August 17th 2012- I was freaking out. This was the day before the big race and I was wigging out inside. Scared out of my marbles! I went to the store and bought a few last minute needs, but I generally just planned to complete the race with what I already had. Some decent goggles I bought to train with, a $29 pair of running shoes from Walmart that I bought to train with that were already falling apart, and a Mountain Bike... It had done great to get me to and from my classes in college, but was on its way out the door. Although it is a very cool looking bike if you ask me. HAHA!
August 18th 2012- I wake up and head to parking area for the race. I had to coast in on my bike from the parking to the starting line. It was mostly downhill so no biggy. I check in and get all marked up with my number. I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest. I listen to everyone talk about how scary the swim is. People kept saying, "This is one of the toughest swims because this is a qualifying Tri event." OH CRAP! What did I get myself into? Death maybe?
I get my goggles, my swim cap, and my earplugs and slowly walk to the edge of the water. That is when I see my gorgeous wife, my two kids, my mom and dad, and my sister and her husband walking toward me. I was so happy to see the love and support from them. I took one look at my kids and that was it. I was ready! I am their Superman. I waded in and the announcer said, "GO!" I stood there about 10 seconds because I just wanted to finish this thing and had no intention of getting kicked in the face and losing teeth just to pull ahead. I started in. I was moving so fast. I caught up with a lot of people and passed so many of them. I was doing so good and then... I panicked. I was moving just as fast if not faster than the people around me. However, when I pulled my head out of the murky water the orange buoy wasn't any closer to me than when I started. (At least it seemed like that) I put my head back in the water and then the murk started to freak me out! Am I going the wrong way? How would I know! I started to slow down. That is when I started feeling people hit into me, kick me, and someone even swam over me. I got my breathing together and thought, "FINISH." I sure took my time. I was breathing too quickly and would release too much of my air too quickly and needed to breath more. So I was turning my head and slowing down WAY TOO MUCH. I went the wrong way for a bit a few times and had to correct when I checked above water. I was passed the first buoy. On to the second. It took a long time but it seemed a bit better. I made it to the third. I figured, "I am going to touch this one so that I can say that I did that." So I slapped it as I swam by. I was about 2/3 of the way back to shore when my right leg cramped! That should have scared me, but I had trained for that luckily. I stretched it out and put all my arm strength into it. I still made it to the end and when I felt my finger scoop mud I stood up and heard the announcer yell, "Show us if you can hear us!" I raised my hands in the air in victory and realized... I can do this I just swam half a mile in open water! I ran to shore to meet my wife. She could tell I was pooped. However, I am great on a bike. I jumped on and off I went to endure the 13.something mile bike ride. I made up my time from swimming here. I started to pass a few comrades that I recognized from the swim. Not a lot of them but a few went behind me. I pedaled like a mad man! My wife said an official sitting next to them said, "That is one of the fastest guys on a mountain bike I have seen." There were only about 5 people with mountain bikes out of the 500 competitors overall. Most were on some awesome looking road bikes. That didn't concern me. I did what I came to do and climbed the hills excellently and quickly. Made it back to the transition area and jumped off my bike and ran over to get a quick drink and off I ran! One step out and I realized... My legs are like jelly... They were everywhere. Running has been so good for me. How could this be? I lightly ran and found my family all cheering around the .5 mile marker. I ran just past them and then slowed down... I saw a water booth ahead and thought. Only slow until there. I grabbed a drink and started to run again. My Quads were on fire! Around 1.5 miles I stopped to walk and when I stopped the thought passed through my mind, "OWWW!!! I DON'T EVEN THINK I CAN WALK! I AM DONE FOR!" Then I took a few more steps saw that there was a tiny downhill slope in front of me. Slapped my legs and said, "Come on!" I started running and picking up speed. The pain left my legs. I ran the rest of the way, up the hills, around the campgrounds, over the wood bridge and walkways, and right into a clearing where I could hear the announcer. I rounded the corner and saw the big red arch! I ran through and felt the emotion hit. I didn't cry this time. (Probably because I saw that food was coming.) However, I felt so much joy that I can't even begin to describe the happy feeling that was there. This kind of life style will mean so much to my children and to my wife. I got a sweet medal for finishing. (The medal had absolutely nothing to do with overall performance. Trust me! HAHA!) I had a cookie and a bagel and a banana! Hugged my family and realized I did what I set out to do this year!
This is my day of rest after the big day and this is where it all begins! I have achieved my reason for getting healthy so I need to do more to keep going! I am still 25 pounds away from my final goal and I have slipped a few times and gained 5 pounds so quickly. I am going to write my progress to keep myself motivated. Plus, ever since I started, I am obsessed with talking about health and this is a way that I can talk whenever I want!
I hope you will enjoy following along! I would love to hear from you! Feel free to comment. All comments are moderated for obscenity, but feel free to say what you think or feel and keep it clean.
Thank you for letting me relive that journey tonight, and I am excited to have more adventures like the past 6 months or so have been for me. I also hope you feel inspired to be better. I want to help you in anyway that I can. Let me know if I can help with any of your goals!
Oh ya... The fat guy?
He is now a Triathlete!
