Alright, I've decided to start a blog documenting my efforts to become a better man. I'll start this out describing a bit about myself and then I'll go into what I hope to get out of this journey.
I am 26 years old (for now) and am married to the love of my life whom I have known since I was a freshman in high school. We live together above a coffee shop in south Philly. Our only love in life (besides each other) is our incredibly loyal four year old American Dingo, Copper. I realize that the priorities in our life may shift once children come along, but for now, our lives revolve around Copper (typing this I realize that this is probably not a good thing, but he really is quite an amazing dog). You will probably see me referencing Copper from time and time, and I am doing so to ensure I capture as much of his personality as is possible through words. My wife is a compassionate, caring, kind individual which translates perfectly into her profession as a nurse in the cardiac ICU of a Children's Hospital. It is a stark comparison to my career as a working professional in one of the largest corporations on on the planet. We work so that we can enjoy life and this is extremely important for both of us to remember.
My entire life, I have been non-athletic. I was dubbed "fat-boy" by my uncle (mostly as a motivator) but I took it on as a descriptor of who I was. I remember growing up with my brother (18-months older) following a shadow of a person I secretly knew I could never truly be like. I was lazy. Let's be honest. I don't think I tried 100% for anything in my life. I was most passionate about music and because I was relatively naturally talented, I used the little success I had as a musician to carry me through high-school. Once the crutch was removed in college (there was no honest way I could be successful being a musician) I realized how much trouble I was in.
College was easy. It probably shouldn't have been, but I got through engineering school at a top university with surprisingly little difficulty because I really only gave enough effort to get me through. I had lined up a job after school by the time I was a junior, which really made it difficult to care. So what did I do in my free time? Well i was very actively engaged in school clubs, but I think I could count the number of times I went into the (free!) gym on two hands through my entire college career. I went from about 185 entering college and in 2007 I graduated at around 221 lbs. Career had me moving a few times within the first few years, so to get into any sort of rhythm was difficult.
It wasn't until I moved to Philadelphia when I realized that I really didn't like who I was. It took a few things to give me what I will be calling henceforth my "jumpstart". The first was looking at my wedding pictures. I was blessed to have a gorgeous wife who took care of her body and self and here was this chubby dude standing next to her. I actually remember thinking..."now that just doesn't look right."
The second jumpstart was when two people in my immediate family were diagnosed with diabetes. And at age 24, I was being mistaken for my 50 year old uncle in pictures. Unacceptable. The third, as cheesy as this sounds, was my mom. She didn't have to say anything directly, but she decided to join weight watchers, and I said, what the hell i'll give it a shot. This really began my journey. WW was the catalyst that fueled the fire which made me appreciate the healthy lifestyle. Within 4 months of being on WW i dropped close to 30lbs.
I decided to run.
Then I decided to swim.
I bought a bike.
I signed up for a triathlon.
Its the same story you'll see if you search "Inspirational Weight Loss" on YouTube. Substitute my body transformation for any of those people and you've got my story. I'm not on YouTube. Because my journey is no way near complete. Just over 1-year later I am 50 lbs lighter, body fat reduced from close to 30% down to 18%, BP within normal range, new wardrobe near completion (and wallet significantly lighter). My doctor jokingly says I should be the face of WW with the improvements I've made. I disagree, most of those people are semi-attractive. I have what you'd probably say "a face for radio." Anyway, I digress.
The purpose of this blog... The purpose of this blog is not so other people can see what I am doing. I'd like to make that clear. If you stumble upon this blog, don't worry about clicking 'follow' or whatever you do to follow blogs. I am more interested in having something I personally can back to to reflect on. I realized that when I passed the 1 year mark from the start of my journey, I didn't really have documented perspective. I watched an episode of Biggest Loser, where the fat version of the contestant recorded a video for the future fit contestant. They would watch it later on an burst into tears or whatever. I realized that that type of documentation is extremely motivating. So I'll be periodically uploading photos/progress simply so I can have something to reflect on a year later.
That's it, future me. So let's see how well this works for you.
My entire life, I have been non-athletic. I was dubbed "fat-boy" by my uncle (mostly as a motivator) but I took it on as a descriptor of who I was. I remember growing up with my brother (18-months older) following a shadow of a person I secretly knew I could never truly be like. I was lazy. Let's be honest. I don't think I tried 100% for anything in my life. I was most passionate about music and because I was relatively naturally talented, I used the little success I had as a musician to carry me through high-school. Once the crutch was removed in college (there was no honest way I could be successful being a musician) I realized how much trouble I was in.
College was easy. It probably shouldn't have been, but I got through engineering school at a top university with surprisingly little difficulty because I really only gave enough effort to get me through. I had lined up a job after school by the time I was a junior, which really made it difficult to care. So what did I do in my free time? Well i was very actively engaged in school clubs, but I think I could count the number of times I went into the (free!) gym on two hands through my entire college career. I went from about 185 entering college and in 2007 I graduated at around 221 lbs. Career had me moving a few times within the first few years, so to get into any sort of rhythm was difficult.
It wasn't until I moved to Philadelphia when I realized that I really didn't like who I was. It took a few things to give me what I will be calling henceforth my "jumpstart". The first was looking at my wedding pictures. I was blessed to have a gorgeous wife who took care of her body and self and here was this chubby dude standing next to her. I actually remember thinking..."now that just doesn't look right."
The second jumpstart was when two people in my immediate family were diagnosed with diabetes. And at age 24, I was being mistaken for my 50 year old uncle in pictures. Unacceptable. The third, as cheesy as this sounds, was my mom. She didn't have to say anything directly, but she decided to join weight watchers, and I said, what the hell i'll give it a shot. This really began my journey. WW was the catalyst that fueled the fire which made me appreciate the healthy lifestyle. Within 4 months of being on WW i dropped close to 30lbs.
I decided to run.
Then I decided to swim.
I bought a bike.
I signed up for a triathlon.
Its the same story you'll see if you search "Inspirational Weight Loss" on YouTube. Substitute my body transformation for any of those people and you've got my story. I'm not on YouTube. Because my journey is no way near complete. Just over 1-year later I am 50 lbs lighter, body fat reduced from close to 30% down to 18%, BP within normal range, new wardrobe near completion (and wallet significantly lighter). My doctor jokingly says I should be the face of WW with the improvements I've made. I disagree, most of those people are semi-attractive. I have what you'd probably say "a face for radio." Anyway, I digress.
The purpose of this blog... The purpose of this blog is not so other people can see what I am doing. I'd like to make that clear. If you stumble upon this blog, don't worry about clicking 'follow' or whatever you do to follow blogs. I am more interested in having something I personally can back to to reflect on. I realized that when I passed the 1 year mark from the start of my journey, I didn't really have documented perspective. I watched an episode of Biggest Loser, where the fat version of the contestant recorded a video for the future fit contestant. They would watch it later on an burst into tears or whatever. I realized that that type of documentation is extremely motivating. So I'll be periodically uploading photos/progress simply so I can have something to reflect on a year later.
That's it, future me. So let's see how well this works for you.
