the photo to the left I was one big boy. I weighed in at 318 lb's and had a 48 inch waist with a 54+ chest. I could not do 1 push-up or walk a long distance without hurting for the next three days. not only that but my blood pressure was through the roof with medication it was still at 134/85. cholesterol was in the 250 range. I was definitely on the road to being a statistic on a slab in a morgue somewhere (I know to dramatic). When I saw pictures of me I would cringe at what I saw. You know when I would buy clothing I would get the expand-o pants to make me feel better about getting a size smaller than I was around the waist. A little sad I know but that is what it was like. people always said no! your not that big you carry it well. To kind to say anything bad. My friends would call me "Heavy T" as a nice way of saying your fat. It was difficult to sit in a booth at a restaurant or a seat in a movie theater. Planes were also fun! you know "hay sir could I put my leg and arm in your space so I can be comfortable and annoying to you". I think you get the point. So in December 2008 I decided this was going to be the end of this life style. I started going to Ballys ( I was a member for over 25 years but just having the card does not get you in shape ) and exercising a little 3 times a week. It helped but not a lot. I was still eating 3000-4000 calories a day or more. Grabbing a candy bar on the way home from work was not the way to loose weight and get in shape. I kept telling myself that I would not diet again because they do not work. Quite frankly I still feel this way. I new it would take more than the typical diet to get me on track. When I was 18 out of high school I weighed 155 pounds. less than half of what I weighed in at in December. I started looking at ways to get to my goal of loosing down to 220.
Now I have to tell you the idea of using a trainer scared me a little. Honestly some of these guys looked like they needed a trainer and they were going to train me? I do not think so. I checked out all of them. Some were good but their was one man who really looked like he had it together. I watched him work with other people and he seemed to know what he was doing and he was in good shape. So in March 2009 I asked Marcin to be my trainer. This was the start of something more different than I could have imagined. The first thing he said to me was "I do not want to work with you if you are going to quit". Wow he actually gave me an ultimatum. I will work with you if you commit!! I liked it and we started the journey to health.So my weight at our first weigh in was 296 Lb's! my BFI was 36.6, way off the charts. Marcin was methodical. We started slow because I could not have done anything else. Push ups on an incline, rows, squats with a Swiss ball, balance on a BOSU ball, (a lot of exercises were done using a TRX device), light weights for muscle tone and then their was the meal log. Logging every thing I ate every week.
Every week at the start he would ask me questions like "why do you eat bread stix and pizza at the same time?" or Why do you not eat any fruit or vegetables? You know when you are answering to someone about your eating habits it is hard to explain why you do the things you do. I started changing my eating habits a little at a time. More fruits more vegetables less bread less pizza. I did not stop eating I started eating things that were more healthy. Guess what, I found that I loved them. Plus I was eating 3 meals and 1 to 2 snacks a day instead of skipping meals and eating a lot late at night. Lots of water and no carbonated beverages ( well a few cocktails from time to time but not every day or every weekend).
About two months into our training he ask me to do a 5K Marathon for Autism at Oakland University. I have not ran in years(or ever), but he thought I could do it so I did and low and behold I completed the race. He ran it with me along with our Bally friends. I was at about 275 Lb's at the time and thrilled to say the least. I run regularly now and completed a 5K in 42 minutes August 21, 2009. Not fast by any means but better than I ever thought I could in the past.Every week has been an achievement. I average loosing 2.5 Lb's a week. right now I am weighing in at 239 Lb's with a 38 in waist and a 47 in chest and a BFI less than 27. I still have 19 Lb's to loose and already am smaller than I've been since I was in my 30's. My cholesterol is below 150 and my blood pressure is 120/75.This is a life change for sure. I now can do 50 push-ups, 50 squats, 50 rows, 50 lunges and a lot more and without my trainer leading me in the right direction it would not have happened.
