Hello All,
I just wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little about my journey. My name is Eric and I'm 39 years old (I'll be 40 on 11/26). I've been married for 13 years and have a wonderful son named Andrew who's 12 years old. I've always been "big" throughout my life but have played many sports and have kept in fairly good shape. When I hit my mid 30's I let myself go and at age 37 I had a heart attack. My Dr. said it wasn't a huge heart attack but it did require a stent to be inserted into my Circumflex Artery. During the heart attack I weighed in at 240 pounds, which at the time was an all time high for me. I lost weight after my heart attack and got down to about 225, and I felt good about it so I figured I could control my weight and use portion control to manage my diet. Well, that didn't work and I gradually put the weight back on. About 10 weeks ago I weighed in at a new all time high of 267. I wasn't happy and was depressed. I knew I was putting myself in jeopardy but didn't know what to do. One day my wife and I were running errands and while we were on our way home we passed a Bally Total Fitness and I decided to pull the car over and stopped in the parking lot. At that moment I decided I was going to do something about my health...so I joined the gym. I not only joined the gym I signed up with a Personal Trainer to help me. During my first workout with the trainer I almost passed out! Looking back at it, the workout wasn't hard, it was just because I was so out of shape that I couldn't even do stretches without feeling winded and dizzy.
My trainer and I sat down and went over diet and put together a workout plan. He had me download an app called Spark People that helps me track my calories as well as workouts and helps me keep on track towards my goal. I work out twice a week with my trainer and run cardio 3 days a week in between (I take the weekends off). I try to burn at least 500 calories a day with my workouts. I've changed my diet to eating A LOT more vegetables and leaner meats (chicken & turkey). Instead of munching on chips, I'll snack on some almonds. I'm happy to say that I weighed in this morning at 238 pounds. I've lost 29 pounds and I feel so much better! My blood pressure, Cholesterol and Sugar levels are lower and I'm no longer taking meds for them because of my diet and exercise. I've still got a long way to go for my goal of 200 pounds but for the first time in my life I'm motivated to keep going.
I've signed up for my first "marathon" taking place in March. it's a team relay so it will only be 7 miles but it's a start for me.
I'm making a lifestyle change and I've never felt better in my life.
I'll try to update this weekly.
Thanks for listening!
Eric
I just wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little about my journey. My name is Eric and I'm 39 years old (I'll be 40 on 11/26). I've been married for 13 years and have a wonderful son named Andrew who's 12 years old. I've always been "big" throughout my life but have played many sports and have kept in fairly good shape. When I hit my mid 30's I let myself go and at age 37 I had a heart attack. My Dr. said it wasn't a huge heart attack but it did require a stent to be inserted into my Circumflex Artery. During the heart attack I weighed in at 240 pounds, which at the time was an all time high for me. I lost weight after my heart attack and got down to about 225, and I felt good about it so I figured I could control my weight and use portion control to manage my diet. Well, that didn't work and I gradually put the weight back on. About 10 weeks ago I weighed in at a new all time high of 267. I wasn't happy and was depressed. I knew I was putting myself in jeopardy but didn't know what to do. One day my wife and I were running errands and while we were on our way home we passed a Bally Total Fitness and I decided to pull the car over and stopped in the parking lot. At that moment I decided I was going to do something about my health...so I joined the gym. I not only joined the gym I signed up with a Personal Trainer to help me. During my first workout with the trainer I almost passed out! Looking back at it, the workout wasn't hard, it was just because I was so out of shape that I couldn't even do stretches without feeling winded and dizzy.
My trainer and I sat down and went over diet and put together a workout plan. He had me download an app called Spark People that helps me track my calories as well as workouts and helps me keep on track towards my goal. I work out twice a week with my trainer and run cardio 3 days a week in between (I take the weekends off). I try to burn at least 500 calories a day with my workouts. I've changed my diet to eating A LOT more vegetables and leaner meats (chicken & turkey). Instead of munching on chips, I'll snack on some almonds. I'm happy to say that I weighed in this morning at 238 pounds. I've lost 29 pounds and I feel so much better! My blood pressure, Cholesterol and Sugar levels are lower and I'm no longer taking meds for them because of my diet and exercise. I've still got a long way to go for my goal of 200 pounds but for the first time in my life I'm motivated to keep going.
I've signed up for my first "marathon" taking place in March. it's a team relay so it will only be 7 miles but it's a start for me.
I'm making a lifestyle change and I've never felt better in my life.
I'll try to update this weekly.
Thanks for listening!
Eric