Going from 180ish-lbs to 135lbs to pursue a career in stunts

L

le_squish

New member
Hey everyone! I've been a part of the forums since about 2007 and have been on a loooooong journey since then to get healthy and fit. Ever since I was little I LOVED watching action-adventure, fantasy, superhero, thriller, and horror movies and wanted to be part of that somehow. I loved fight scenes and big epic battles and wanted to be a Jedi and a Power Ranger and a warrior from Lord of the Rings or SOMETHING cool like that! I always thought I'd wanted to act because I thought that as an actor, they got to do all those cool fight scenes and flying around like Spiderman and I wanted to do that too. I didn't realize until about high school that those were all done by stunt performers who were trained and could physically DO all those things. When I looked into it more, I started reading about the kind of training a stunt person needs, and I thought there was no way I could do that! It seemed so cut-throat! I was in decent shape having played competative sports a lot of my life, but I had quit gymnastics when I was 12 and never taken martial arts (which seemed to be very important training for stunts) and had been focusing a lot on acting and theater for a while and I just thought there was no way I could become a stunt performer, although I would always want to. I started watching a lot of behind-the-scenes documentaries that are included on the DVDs of the movies I loved and became satisfied with living vicariously through the stunt featurettes. I still was drawn to the film industry, however, and studied cinematography in college and was actively pursuing that once I graduated. I was always a little bit on the bigger side growing up, but I was up to about 180 or so lbs right before graduating from college in 2009 due to a number of personal issues and wanted to start to get fit and healthy and was able to drop down to about 140-150 lbs by 2012. I was pretty proud of myself, but I had something missing in my life, I discovered. That's when I decided to seriously pursue a career in stuntwork. I figured if I had been determined enough to drop all that weight from college, I could find the determination to get the training I needed to pursue my passion, and I just might have a shot at it. I've been trying to get into fighting shape since then. It's not been an easy road at all. My weight has fluctuated quite a bit, but that hasn't stopped me from going after my goals. It seems like slow going sometimes, and I have moments where I really just want to give up. I think about how far behind I am still when I see other stunt performers who have been training in martial arts and gymnastics etc since they were babies. I never have trained like that! But I've been at it for about 3 years now with training specifically in stuntwork, and only just recently became eligible to join the Screen Actor's Guild union, which is a huge step for me professionally. Even when I decided that I would give pursuing stunts a try, I honestly wasn't sure I'd get very far (and neither were some of my friends and family). I just thought I'd give it a shot because I knew I'd regret it if I never tried to go after my dreams, as unrealistic as they seemed. Three years ago, if you told me that by 2015 I'd be where I am now professionally and physically, I would have thought you were dreaming! I still have a ways to go, though, and by no means am I finished yet! I just got done with a month-long shoot performing stunts for a independent horror film and have a few other professional stunt jobs on the horizon.

I was pretty active on the forums here in 2012 but got pretty busy working by 2013 (working in a live stunt show!) and haven't really been back until now. Last year was really rough for me, unfortunately, and I'm still trying to bounce back from some of my losses. My mom passed away a bit suddenly in April of last year (she was only 59) and I also went through a really big break-up from a long relationship. I'm still holding on to a lot of emotions, and sometimes it feels like it's hindering me from reaching my goals as it just mentally breaks me down sometimes, but I am trying to take things one day at a time and continuing to move forward. Always trying to move forward. At one point I was up to about 155lbs again. Currently I'm fluctuating between 135-138lbs. I'm looking to lose about 10lbs and get stronger, and that has been proving to be very difficult recently! I gained a lot of motivation and encouragement from these forums last time I was here, and I know I'm really going to need it now as I continue forward. I also hope that I can help however I can for anyone who gains inspiration from my story. I keep a diary in the "Weight Loss Diary" section if you're interested in reading that. Link is here: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/thre...errible-thing-to-mind-(stunt-training-edition!) Started back in 2012. I'm hoping to update about once a week.

Sorry for such a long entry! Thanks for sticking by to the end if you did! Before/during pics should show up below! :waving:
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I appreciate the fact that you are a fighter and not give up. Many people want to lose weight but do not want to give up the habit "bad" eating unhealthy. How much weight you want to lose weight you need a healthy diet without high-calorie foods. First you have established a healthy diet that does not contain "foods and fruits" damaging our body. Love that health is more valuable than life.
 
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