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Success Stories

Take us back to when you were at your heaviest:
At my heaviest weight I was about 270 pounds.  I was active in high school with sports and weighed right around 200 pounds, but it was more muscle back then.  Then I went off to college and started to add weight with not being so active and not working out.

When did you decide to make a change?
It kind of came to a head early in February of last year.  I wanted to get back in shape so I could go play baseball somewhere and try out.  I played in high school and was recruited in college but decided to stick around here and pass on it.  So that was kind of a catalyst for me, but I think it takes some outside influence to really propel you in the right direction.  It was just a real shock to me.  Being scared that you aren’t going to be attractive, or aren’t going to be able to do certain things…those were all exterior motivators for me in the beginning.

How did your diet change?

My diet consisted of cutting out pop, the easy stuff.  I definitely cut down on the amount of bread I was taking in, because a lot of the meals I was eating were really bread dominant.  Another big thing for me was portioning my food.  Making sure that I’m eating that small meal in the morning to get me going, then budgeting my meals throughout the day.  

What did your fitness routine look like?
When I started I would kind of go in to the gym and just do whatever I felt like doing.  I had never really worked out much in the gym much before. I’d feel like everybody was looking at me at first – but the place I went was for people that hadn’t worked out in a while, so it made it a bit easier.  But any situation where you aren’t looking your greatest or feeling your greatest, it was really difficult.  I was one of those people reading the labels on the machines trying to figure out what this weird looking thing actually does!  But the more I got into it the easier it was.  I started breaking workouts into muscle groups, and doing lots of cardio.  I have a hard time burning fat so it’s a lot of work for me to do it.

What advice do you have for someone at Day 1?
Setting your alarm clock an hour early and just getting out there and doing it for any length of time that you can is so important.  If you can just stick with it at first, it’ll go from being a burden to something that is really rewarding for you. It’s just getting out there and sticking with it.  Also, set attainable goals. My long-term goal was to get down to 200 pounds - It was hard to imagine how I was going to get there.  But then I set short-term goals, like being able to run a certain distance or lift a certain amount.  But as long as you keep those goals in focus, you can make it happen.