It all started back in August of 2009, when I was sitting around watching TV with my lovely wife and was just staring at my over weight belly. As I was finishing off a whole bag of chips and washing it down with a few cold beers, I then realized - my gosh - it has happened to me, I actually let myself get out of shape, and it felt like it was over night too. Funny thing was that night we rented the movie Wolverine X-men Origins.
After watching this movie I felt even more out of shape, but the movie definitely got me motivated to work out. I am a bit of an extremist too, so not only did I really want to get back into shape, I wanted to do my research and ask people that take working out seriously, and get their input on what and how I should go about doing this the right way.
Weird how these things fall into place when you least expect them to. My wife is in a networking group and it happens that one of the people in her group owns a fitness training facility, and was having a free class that Saturday. So we both went to this class called "Boot Camp." I'm thinking "Boot Camp??!!" hmmm, what am I getting myself into here, is there gonna be a guy screaming in my face telling me to "drop and give me 20!!!" But no, it wasn't like that at all. It was a very intense workout involving circuit-training cardio and a few other things. Man was I exhausted at the end of this 1 hour class. I even felt light headed. But after taking this class, I realized that "THIS IS WHAT I NEED" So I signed up for a month, taking class 3 times a week. It took some time to get my body used to it, but now it is great.
At first working out was good, but there was something lacking on my end. What I then realized is that I really need to change my eating habits, and then I thought to myself " Does this mean no more beer?" Awe Crap!! I guess I really have to take this diet thing seriously. So the first thing I did was sit down with my trainer, Greg French, of Action Fitness, and he laid out all the right foods I needed to be eating, adding some protein shakes, eating more veggies, changing my white starches to whole-wheat and whole grain, the list goes one.
Once I changed my eating habits and changed my portions of food to smaller amounts too, I started noticing a big difference in how I looked, and felt. I felt stronger, less tired and the fact that my stomach started shrinking away was a plus. When I started this Boot Camp Class I weighed a little more than 195lbs and my waist was 36". Most of the extra weight was in my belly area. By the end of my first month of class I shrunk down to 189lbs and a 35" waist.
As I proceeded to take the class and stay true to the diet I was on, the pounds kept shifting to muscle and disappearing from my waist line. By the end of my second month I had lost almost 15 lbs and 2 waist sizes. Now I am really seeing & feeling the difference overall. A few months have past since I had started the class, now I am 175lbs with a 32" waist and 11% BF - no more love handles or belly, and I have gained a ton of muscle in places I never thought possible. One thing I will leave you with is that "motivation" gets you started, but "dedication" keeps you on the right path & moving in the right direction. I deeply suggest taking a Boot Camp class, if you have one available to you. You will thank yourself later when you’re walking down the beach without a ton of cloths on to cover up your out-of-shape body because you didn’t go to the gym to work out several months before. Live life to the fullest, and enjoy it.
