After nearly one year since my "Day of Decision" to lose weight and aging control of my health, I am still on target.
My son and coach, Matt Garwood - see him at his website http://anysizefitness.com - has been such an encouragement as he has totally transformed himself. His adventures with P90X and now P90X2, and Insanity has impressed me to no end. He is currently exercising as if he were a professional athlete. And if you look at his pictures you will see HIS transformation story. For crying out loud - just LOOK at this guy!
The biggest enemy to my personal health is my eating habits for the last 30+ years.
As I have tried to educate myself about nutrition and exercise - especially as it relates to a man closer to 60 than 50 (I will be 56 in April of this year) - I am learning that I NEED nutrition that pretty much only Shakeology can give me. I have learned that MY secret to overcoming cravings for the junk I have been tossing down my gullet is to satisfy my body's nutritional needs. I have learned that my cravings for the McDonalds, Wendy's burgers, fries etc was my mis-interpretations of what my body was telling me it needed. It NEEDED protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals .... gosh it coulda been a thousand things. But after eating HUGE fast food meals, I was hungry again within an hour or two. How could that be? The simple answer is that though I fed myself, my body didn't get what it needed. So I was "hungry" again soon after eating all that junk food.Enter my son and his introducing me to Shakeology. The super nutrients, along with the umpty-zillion other nutritional blessings in that powder gave my body all it needed. How do I know that? I drink a Shakeology shake in the morning, and I am not hungry in an hour or two. Cravings went away - now I wave at the fast food joints as I drive by, rather than turning in to buy a meal. Also, mysteriously enough, I found myself drinking water - and LIKING it!!!! I still can't explain that one.
In April of last year, I also bought and started ChaLean Xtreme - an incredible workout routine using slow movements, small weights... and consistency. Between April and August of 2011, I lost 30 lbs. I started the school year (I am a teacher) at 235 lbs (down from 265 in April).
Knowing my schedule, I made the decision to back off exercising as much. I know - not what you would expect - but I know me. Once the school year gets into full swing, I am rocking and rolling from sun up to sundown 6 to 7 days a week. I was still going to exercise twice to three times a week, but nowhere near as intensive as my summer months were. I decided to really concentrate on my eating and finding out what really worked for me. I knew I would have to adjust my diet to account for less exercise, and that is what I did.
The result? I maintained my summers weight loss throughout the Fall and the holidays! I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, eating Christmas goodies - all of it! On January, I was still around 235. Starting in Mid-January I started out to gear it up a bit and work on losing more weight, ratcheting the exercise back into my life and focusing on my diet even more. I went Dairy and Gluten free in January. My sinuses started drying up... wow. I started losing weight again. After 45 days, I had a "dairy" day - cheese, milk at each of my three meals. My head plugged up like crazy! Guess what? Dairy is not good for me, so it is pretty much gone for good.
So that brings me to today... 11 months from the day I set my determination and started to change my life. I have lost an additional 10 lbs since January 1st - I am now at 225 lbs. The school year will be gearing down over the next 6 weeks. I am setting my sights on another season of more extensive exercising and making the push to lose the next 25 lbs. I want to be at 200 lbs by August of this year. Stand by - a new Paige emerged from last summer. A newer Paige is gonna be here in August.
My son and I are different - that kid looks like a professional football player - and he is training like one! I am very excited to see his progress. Me? I am going to be a healthy 56 year old man, wearing smaller clothes, able to carry my own gear to and from gigs, move furniture at my wife's behest and able to walk 18 holes of golf. I think being able to run/walk a 5k would be incredible. None of that was possible a year and a half ago. Yeah, Matt and I are different.... but I am proud to say this tree didn't fall far from the apple.... I know - screwy play on an old analogy. But my son has become my mentor in this phase in my life - neat and rewarding turn of events. To quote Darth Vader "The student has become the master...". We are both getting healthier and stronger. Gonna be a great year.Blessings!
Paige
