November Fitness Article
WAKE UP!
The picture on the left was my wake up call; I was 25 years old, 6′3″ and 262lbs. My little cousin Kade, pictured, is probably looking at me wondering if I am going to eat him. I was out of shape, unhappy, and not doing anything about it. Then, the day came that I saw the picture that was the day I decided to do something about it.
I really did not think I realized how unhappy I truly was until I was back in shape. I think back today and I do not even know that 262lb person anymore. And since many of you do not know me, I will explain. I will start after college, cause let’s face it; we all have stories about that time in our lives.
For a while after college, I pursued professional sports, so I was in very good shape. I have a degree in Exercise Physiology so I knew how to workout, how easily we forget. Once you do not ‘need’ to workout, after doing it your whole life, it is so easy to find ways not to work out. I started to enjoy the social scene, dining, and drinks. Which I was one of those people who ate more after a few drinks, you got to love those pizza pockets! The stupid Playstation would sit there, call me out, and beckon me to pay it a visit. Before I knew it, I had stopped working out all together. I was bitter about not making it in the NFL, alone, and had found a crutch in food. Sweet satisfaction, right?
Little did I know I was on the fast track to being the biggest I had ever been. The day came when I got the pictures back, I remember very vividly saying to myself, “what day did I wake up and decide I was going to let myself go.” But, you see that is just it; I never decided, like many of you, it just happened. I had fallen into the trap of being over weight and I decided that it was me, and only me who got there, and it was me and only me who was going to get out.
Day 1 work out, was a very humbling and epic moment for me. I did the body fat percentage, weight, and I tested myself on my mile time. I was at 20% body fat, not bad huh? I weighed in at a whopping 262 lbs. and I ran the mile in 10 minutes flat. I was none excited to say the least. But the epic moment happened without me even putting note to it. I had start the journey, started working out again, started to take back control, started.
I continued day in and day out, sweating, grunting, and sweating more. But as I knew from my schooling, things did not change because I did not change my diet right away. Two weeks went by and I had only lost 4 lbs. Granted, losing weight takes time, which I had plenty of, I was just not doing it the right way. So I made the commitment to change my diet, eat those things I used to not even buy, and stay away from anything in a box. It was lean meats, produce, oatmeal, egg whites, and fruits. Sounds good now, but then it was very hard to break eating habits.
As the months grew longer, and the workouts somewhat easier, I started to see results. On top of my diet I added in those little things like; drinking more water than I ever had. I started to look at food labels and realize how much HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) there was/is in most of my favorite foods, how much sugar was in everything, and how bad most things that taste good are for you. I started to drink green tea daily; I became a ‘regular’ person with the help of high fiber foods, greens, and the right kind of supplements. I took a multi-vitamin in the morning. At first I had thought about taking other dietary supplements that helped with weight loss, but instead I supplemented fish oil, flax seed, and green tea extract once I was sick of drinking green tea all the time. Another small thing I started to do was parking farther away from the entrance, every where I went. I would walk shorter distances that I would have driven in the past. I would ride my bike to the gym, smaller things that a car would take the place of add up if you put them all together.
My weekly workouts looked like this: attached excel sheet.
I followed this workout for 4-6 weeks at a time. I would change it after 6 weeks increasing either reps or sets on the lifting, and intensity and time in the cardio. This is what
I had to do day in and day out for 6 months to get to my goal. And it worked. Sounds easy right? Well, to be perfectly honest, it takes a large amount of self commitment. It
is a major lifestyle change, I made some major changes in my life that I will never forget because I accomplished what I had set out to do. I never thought it was possible when I
started out and had little hope. But I committed and went for it and now no one can take that away from me.
It is because I knew what I was up against, accepted the challenge, and decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and own it. With every passing day of my journey I remembered to think about the goal, the ending, and the place I wanted to be. But little did I know it was the journey itself that was shaping who I was, shaping my body, shaping my outlook, and shaping my outlook on everything else in my life. It was hard, it was not very much fun at times, and I wanted to quit just about every day, but I smile when I think about it now, because I know if I had, I would be missing out on what I accomplished and what I have now.
Since reaching my goal about a year and a half ago I kind of fell off again. I started back up in July of 2007 and will be updating you on my progress. I hope this time my results are even better. To all of you that are hanging on to the hope of one day reaching your goals, it IS possible, you CAN do it, YOU decide to do it, and DO IT!
Good luck to you all.
Cory J
