All,
Call this a humble brag or just unbridled excitement. But I wanted to share my physical life change with you. Just understand it's ongoing.
Back in May my family and I joined a Lifetime Fitness club at the urging of my Razorback in college. What you do with that membership is in your control. So I met with a trainer in late May to talk about everything about my exercise to diet to all in between.
From May-late July I would go there and do my thing but really didn't know what I was doing. I would exercise a lot. But the results were flat.
When I met with her again - Emily Bond an Oklahoma State grad - in late July, she and I talked again after we returned from the beach. I weighed in at 214. Body Fat % was 29. Not good. I was turning into "that guy". I was probably wearing 38 to 40 waste size. Pictures taken that time were pretty embarrassing.
So I looked at my better half Razorback and said I think I want to work with Emily to gain some perspective and figure out how I can get on top of this. I got the green light. Emily worked with me for a good month and gave me the tools about working out between cardio and strength and just my eating habits.
The change really didn't start to occur until about late September when I could get into - not great but I could do it - 36 pants. That's when I became empowered to really do this. My weight steadily dropped for those first three months.
This was NEVER a diet. I made several lifestyle eating habit changes:
>More protein
>More water
>No seconds at dinner or lunch; portion control was key
>More fruits and vegetables and better snacks
>Carbs were cut down drastically. I didn't count them but trusted my instincts.
>No eating after 8:00 p.m.
>Sweets practically eliminated (this was hard because I have sweet tooth)
I would work out 4-5x a week between cardio and strength training. I developed a schedule that I remain faithful to even to this day. Three days with strength. Two days with cardio.
On this early April morning, I can tell you that I'm down to 182. Body fat is at 17%. That's a drop of 32 pounds and 12%. My max bench is about 160. My max squat is about 220 (that's on a machine). On the free weights, I can chest press 55 and do another drill at 60. Just tried 65 the other day. My lat pull max is about 75. I can do Pikes. Bear Crawls. My max on the elliptical is 25 with resistence, 21 on the bike and 15 on the stair master.
I've hit my goals. There is still some work to be done with body fat and to increase tone/definition. I want to keep the weight where it is. I can get into 34s and probably get into 32s if I gave it a shot.
Now, it's about maintenance and staying committed. I have a lot of people to thank for this between Emily, the other trainer who helped me on strength, Ninna. Ninna pushed me to do disciplines I was reluctant to do. And thanks to the Lifetime Asst Sales Manager Becca (SFA grad) who signed us up and was also part of this journey. Most importantly, my family backed me. That resource is as good as it gets.
You hear all the time how the brain is the most powerful muscle in your body. You don't understand that until you go through this.
My story is not finished. My race is not over. As I've shared with a couple of people, this was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. But the payoff has been reached and it's humbling.
I trusted the process.
And I'm not going back!
Thanks for reading.
Call this a humble brag or just unbridled excitement. But I wanted to share my physical life change with you. Just understand it's ongoing.
Back in May my family and I joined a Lifetime Fitness club at the urging of my Razorback in college. What you do with that membership is in your control. So I met with a trainer in late May to talk about everything about my exercise to diet to all in between.
From May-late July I would go there and do my thing but really didn't know what I was doing. I would exercise a lot. But the results were flat.
When I met with her again - Emily Bond an Oklahoma State grad - in late July, she and I talked again after we returned from the beach. I weighed in at 214. Body Fat % was 29. Not good. I was turning into "that guy". I was probably wearing 38 to 40 waste size. Pictures taken that time were pretty embarrassing.
So I looked at my better half Razorback and said I think I want to work with Emily to gain some perspective and figure out how I can get on top of this. I got the green light. Emily worked with me for a good month and gave me the tools about working out between cardio and strength and just my eating habits.
The change really didn't start to occur until about late September when I could get into - not great but I could do it - 36 pants. That's when I became empowered to really do this. My weight steadily dropped for those first three months.
This was NEVER a diet. I made several lifestyle eating habit changes:
>More protein
>More water
>No seconds at dinner or lunch; portion control was key
>More fruits and vegetables and better snacks
>Carbs were cut down drastically. I didn't count them but trusted my instincts.
>No eating after 8:00 p.m.
>Sweets practically eliminated (this was hard because I have sweet tooth)
I would work out 4-5x a week between cardio and strength training. I developed a schedule that I remain faithful to even to this day. Three days with strength. Two days with cardio.
On this early April morning, I can tell you that I'm down to 182. Body fat is at 17%. That's a drop of 32 pounds and 12%. My max bench is about 160. My max squat is about 220 (that's on a machine). On the free weights, I can chest press 55 and do another drill at 60. Just tried 65 the other day. My lat pull max is about 75. I can do Pikes. Bear Crawls. My max on the elliptical is 25 with resistence, 21 on the bike and 15 on the stair master.
I've hit my goals. There is still some work to be done with body fat and to increase tone/definition. I want to keep the weight where it is. I can get into 34s and probably get into 32s if I gave it a shot.
Now, it's about maintenance and staying committed. I have a lot of people to thank for this between Emily, the other trainer who helped me on strength, Ninna. Ninna pushed me to do disciplines I was reluctant to do. And thanks to the Lifetime Asst Sales Manager Becca (SFA grad) who signed us up and was also part of this journey. Most importantly, my family backed me. That resource is as good as it gets.
You hear all the time how the brain is the most powerful muscle in your body. You don't understand that until you go through this.
My story is not finished. My race is not over. As I've shared with a couple of people, this was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. But the payoff has been reached and it's humbling.
I trusted the process.
And I'm not going back!
Thanks for reading.
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