One of my great passions in life is health. See, all throughout my 20's I spent time and money getting fat! I'm serious. I had a steady diet of Taco Bell, I drank way too much booze, and I exercised but only as a means of filling time during my nearlly two years of unemployment during the great recession.
My Journey with weightloss:
At my absolute heaviest, I weighed 263 pounds. My average weight was between age 24-26 was 250 pounds and I had surrenered myself to that being my size...forever. The weight gain seemed to come out of nowhere. At the time, I was blind to the habits and lifestyle choices that were adding the weight to the scale (see the list in paragraph 1).
In the fall of 2009 I went to the doctor for a routine physical. I had started a full-time job at my first parish, and once I had health care insurance, I was able to see just how aweful I had been to myself.
Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't deliberately mean to myself. I just fell in to poor habits that equated to poor health. That meant my blood pressure, cholesterol, and waistline were all far to large of numbers to be considered healthy. Actually, the doctor I was seeing looked me straight in the eye and told me I was clinically obese. That was a shock to my ears.
Not more than a few months later was complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. Prescriptions where to be written, and dependancy on medicaiton that would endlessly need to be adjusted was about to become my normal. I ask my doctor if he thought I could get myself back to healthy and he pragmatically looked at me again and said,
"Matt, you could drop 50 pounds in what seems like no time. You just need to make sure it' a permanent change."
That's when I experienced a little divine providence in my life. My girlfriend at the time wanted to shape up for summer, and I made a deal with her that went something like this, "You buy the program and we will do it together!"
So we did.
The journey began on January 25th, 2010. I stepped on the scale, took some pictures, measured my body, and made a promise to myself, "NEVER AGAIN!" will I look like these pictures.
Begining stats-
Weight: 239 Pounds
Waist: 44 inches
Body fat %: 27.4
The first journey:
I spent 12 weeks working on my fitness and nutrition. I like to think I cheated the system because I simply followed a plan that was all laid out for me and did exactly what I was told to do. It wasn't mind work, it was mindset work.
My meals were 80% homemade, every ounce of food was prepared for my meals ahead of time so I didn't have an excuse to stop at the fast food joint and get a burger or burrito. I went out to lunch two times a week, and had dinner out on Saturdays. That was where I learned about making choices and doing things with purpose.
The After effect was impressive!
Weight: 196 pounds
Waist: 34 Inches
Body Fat %: 17.2
The rest was maintaining and progressing from here. and the evolution of tools has been fantastic.
From external controls like the Portion Fix system, to Internal controls like the 2B Mindset that help modify nutrition without eliminating your favorite foods.
To awesome programs like my favorites, Core De Force and LIIFT4, Transform 20 and a whole host of others with Beachbody On Demand that you can try for FREE!
There is something in all that content that will keep me fit an healthy for the rest of my life.
Yes, I do use nutritional supplements like Beachbody Energize and Recover, Along with Shakeology for Breakfast nearly every day. I didn't start with them. The results above are from food and exercise alone! Yet...
I have learned some things along the way maintaining my health.
One of the things I will swear by is Shakeology. Honestly, It tastes great, and keeps me full all morning long. I know its silly to think that of a shake, but the reality I experience every day is proof that its a dense dose of serious nutrition worth every penny!
The other thing I will swear by are these silly color coded containers I started using in 2015. They have taken the guess work out of nutrition and made my results pop like crazy!!!
Considering that I am 63 pounds lighter than I started in 2010, you tell me if the system works?
Considering that I have never felt so great in my life and I'm in my mid-30's is proof in the puddin'.
And if you want to get a core shaped like the one to the left? You're going to have to do what it takes below.
Now, before that little voice of doubt tells you that achieving these results is not likely, I want to be totally blunt with you. Stop telling yourself that lie, it is full of SH*T! I never, NEVER thought I'd have a body like I do now and nothing will ever make me give it up. Actually, it inspires me to help people like YOU! You deserve these results, you deserve to be healthy, and you can have it all along the journey from fat and out of shape to being #fitwithpurpose.
If you want more information on the materials I use, you can head over to the Fitness Mission page. I have three specific things highlighted there, but many more options are available.
Please, don't put your health on hold any longer if you've read this far. Let's get started over in my members area for free and see what we can do together as healthy friends.
Peace,
-Matt