Living vs. Dying

This will not become an annual post that just keeps repeating itself.

Last year in the midst of some struggles I chose to join the local Y and start working out again. And work out I did! I spent up to 3 hours a day in the gym about 5 or 6 days a week but I wasn't noticing much of a change in my body. Oh maybe 10 pounds here and there but I usually ballooned back up to the previous weight. The reason? I kept on with my old eating habits which kept putting more into my system than I could burn off.

Let me give you some examples of my food weaknesses that kept me from achieving my goal: Monster Burgers from Hardees, Classic Triples from Wendy's, Hamburger Helpers (usually could eat the WHOLE box myself), Totino's Pizzas, loads of meat, potatoes and pastas. You get the point. This continued even as recently as 1 month ago.

Coming back from Tracker School, I felt this aliveness that I had not felt for a long time and I knew that it was time to begin a journey physically that would ensure that I would be around long enough to continue to feel/be this ALIVE!

My Y membership had expired and I wanted to try a different fitness center and joined one only 3 miles from our apartment. After a few weeks of getting back into the gym on my own I knew that it was time for me to meet with a trainer to work on a game plan for me to achieve my weight loss goals that have continually alluded me for almost 5 years. Accountability is the other factor that I didn't have before, the fact that I can call upon the trainer to check in with me and help keep up my intensity will only ensure me reaching my weight loss goals.

As of yesterday, I started a meal plan that will basically eliminate carbs from my meals for 5-7 days. After that, my body will enter into a state of Ketosis which means that my body will begin to use my fat stores for energy rather than stored carbs. That will last about 2 days, then I will slowly reintroduce small portions of carbs into my meals next week. The trainer also got me started on a strength training and cardio workout that even after one day I feel like I did in high school after a 3 hour wrestling practice. Part of my problem with working out before was that I was going too long for too many days. If I work out only 1 hour a day for three days a week and do cardio every other day then my body will actually be able to burn more off than if I worked out for longer periods of time.

After using a Body Fat Monitor/Analyzer (which sends an electrical charge through your body to measure correct BMI) here are the numbers.

Weight: 285 lbs.
BMI: 33%
Pounds of fat on my body: 96 lbs.
Goal weight(according to Analyzer): 189 lbs.
My Goal weight: 175 lbs.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers and even send me an e-mail or post a comment to help keep me encouraged. I really do plan to post some pictures as I progress this time so keep me accountable! Okay... I'm off to the gym!

Closing thought:
I am not living at 285 pounds. I'm dying. And the time has come to break the chains of addictions, excuses and procrastination. The inner warrior has been awakened! The time for living and being ALIVE has come!