My fitness journey began way back in 1999 just after Christmas and I remember the day vividly. I was at my in-laws house for the holidays and, after eating a ton of food, went upstairs to use the restroom. The bathroom has a large mirror when you walk in and I looked at myself in that mirror and I felt bloated and I did not like how I looked or how I felt. I felt tired and overweight. I had spent my college years consuming a lot of pizza and beer and it caught up to me. Even after graduating college, my eating habits were not very good. I always ate until I was stuffed, I drank way too much beer, and my craving for sweets was unstoppable. I would often get out of breath walking up steps or long distances, I felt sweaty all the time, and I felt lazy. I was 25 years old and my weight was around 240 lbs, and lets face it, I was fat. I decided right then and there on that cold December evening in 1999 that I was going to lose weight and start a path to getting healthy.

So after the new year (2000) I joined a gym, began playing racquetball, tried lifting weights, and tried to make better food choices. I started incorporating small snacks throughout the day and tried keeping my meal portions under control. Nothing fancy, just tried to eat less and exercise more. By doing this I was able to loose 40 pounds and get down to about 200 pounds in about a 5 year span. At this point in about 2005, I sort of hit a wall or plateau, and basically fluctuated between 190 and 200 pounds for the next 3-4 years. At this point I would say that I did not consider myself fat, but I was not lean, I was soft and still had a lot of belly fat around the middle. Then in 2008 my first child was born. Exercise stopped, regular eating schedule stopped, and regular sleep stopped. Once again I started going down the path of getting lazy and eating poorly.

The beginning of 2009 I realized I needed to “get back on the horse” and get back to a more healthier program. Around this time I was introduced to P90X. This changed everything for me. I did this program for a couple of years and was able to loose 10 more pounds and actually build some muscle. This is when I really started to get interested in the health and fitness world. By doing this program I was able to get leaner. I started to see some muscles and I dropped my waist size from 36 to 34. I was able to do pull ups and push ups and was feeling strong and fit. Then I did P90X2 and continued work out regularly. But I was still stuck at the 185 – 190 pound mark and still had a small spare tire. This is when I realized the role nutrition plays into being healthy. The eat less exercise more mentality was not working. So I have been experimenting with different diet changes and reading up on diet and nutrition. Now I eat a low carb high protein diet and have gotten myself to a comfortable weight of 175. I basically try to focus on eating meat, eggs, nuts, veggies, and fruit. I no longer consume soda, milk, bread, pasta, or rice and I feel great.

Over the last 12+ years I have lost about 70 pounds and am keeping it off. What works for me is eating more high quality foods and trying to eliminate poor quality foods. Of course every once and a while my sweet tooth flares up and I indulge.

So my current program or experiment is trying the Shakeology product for breakfast everyday and using the T-25 workout program. The journey continues!