Another new Rebel...

[Solid Zane]

I'm a writer, so you might fall asleep...

 

My name is Chris. I'm currently 23, 24 in January, and I've been overweight my whole life. In high school I went from overweight to obese...

 

Until about 2002, I didn't care. I had of course been bullied about being fat and I didn't like that at all, but I didn't care enough to make any changes. I hated sports, except frisbee (though I never pursued it), and P.E. was my mortal enemy. Late 2001 I joined a program called the Civil Air Patrol (The Auxiliary of the United States Air Force). It was a fun weekly meeting type thing where we dressed up in Air Force uniforms, practiced drill movements, had small "boot camps", and occasionally helped staff various airshows.

 

I was hooked. But I never went very far in the program. I was promoted once, from a "Cadet Basic", to a "Cadet Airmen". This promotion only required knowledge and testing. NOT physical testing. All subsequent ranks required passing a physical training test. I heard it all the time, "Exercising once a month with us is not enough..." I paid attention to it, but I never implemented any exercise in my life beyond the bare minimum required at school P.E.

 

It strikes me as... depressing?... that my P.E. Teachers in middle school didn't want us to push harder. I remember my mother actually asking my teacher in front of me to motivate me to work a little harder to get in shape in 8th grade. He never did... None of the teachers did any more than tell us what we were doing for the next few weeks. We'd get to the blacktop, run a quarter mile warm up at whatever pace we wanted (I ALWAYS walked), stretch a bit and then play whatever sport we had that week. The coaches didn't involve themselves beyond breaking up little fights. Otherwise they just stood in a group and talked with each other while we played...

 

So, the bare minimum was essentially show up and appear to participate... Which I happilly did...High school was a new chapter...

 

Freshman year had me in the school's Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) program, and the program's drill teams. I did a voluntary summer school with this program before hand which was quite different than the main school year. Summer School ROTC was more physical training than I'd ever done before. But I still barely did the minimum. I didn't pass the physical tests, but they really didn't matter all that much... At the end of the summer school I was able to use the credits towards either P.E. or Electives. I picked P.E. ...

 

Second semester of Freshman year I was talked into the school's Track and Field team and P.E. class (which replaced the drill team P.E. class), where I started running every day. I was told to start with walking/running 2 miles until I could run the whole 2 miles... Eventually I could run the full 2 miles. It took me about 20-25 minutes to do it, but I was there. I never did any more than 2 miles in a row, and over the course of 4-5 months in the class, I lost about 10-15 pounds... I consider the summer between my freshman and sophomore years to be when I was in the best shape of my life. Which isn't saying much... I was 5'7" and probably about 200-215 lbs at the time...

 

That summer I again did the ROTC summer school (by choice, not neccessity), For the first time in my life, I ran a mile in 10 minutes flat! I passed all tests and was happy. But I didn't need to use the credits for P.E. As far as the high school graduation requirements were concerned, I was done with P.E. ... Second semester of Sophomore year I was again in a P.E. class for elective credits, but it was middle school all over again, I didn't do anything... My mile time dropped back down to the 14-15 minute range and I was back to the old me...

 

I graduated halfway through senior year (2007-2008) and hadn't done any physical training since 10th grade... Mid to late 2009 I joined a local gym that had a very low monthly fee. I used my membership for a couple days a week for a few weeks and then just stopped. I didn't cancel the membership, but I didn't go... I was wasting money... (My excuse? I think that I didn't go because the gym was "Out of my way" I'd have to stop watching tv, get dressed in "workout clothes" and go there. It wasn't on my way to or from work, yet it wasn't terribly far from home... Honestly, I was, heck, I AM lazy...)

 

I was forced to quit my job early in 2010 and so I then stopped the membership... Then I started to go to a local community college free of tuition fees! The one perk of being unemployed... While there I took all the general ed courses I needed, including Health Science and an elective Nutrition class. I barely passed Health with a C, but I also had the toughest professor (coincidentally she taught at my high school as well...) Nutrition I passed with an A+... I'd always known what was good and bad, and how to count calories and what to do when a few too many were consumed... I just never did it...

 

Mid-Late 2011 I finally got a job at Walmart (which I consider to be working for the Empire ) I hadn't weighed myself, but I was probably around 270 lbs... After I got settled in there, I bought a weighted vest, and started wearing that while working... I work overnights as a cashier... Being an under-used cashier I also am responsible for bringing in the shopping carts from the parking lot... I was actually running around quite a bit. And I was ENJOYING it!!! So the vest ended up helping me lose about 20-30 lbs in just a few months without a diet change...

 

Mid 2012 I obtained a copy of the Insanity program after I saw the infomercial for the first time... (Ultra late, I know) I'd never tried anything like it. I'd always heard of P90X, but never Insanity. I started it up and was stuck to it (but not the diet plan) for about 3 weeks. I lost a few more pounds, but lost interest...

 

The holiday of 2012 came around and we were busier, so I stopped wearing the vest so I could move faster for the carts. I also put back on the weight I lost, plus some... 2013 rolls in and suddenly I've bought my first new-used car (2008 Smart fortwo Passion Coupe), I've got 2 credit card bills and a magazine subscription I got suckered into... Plus other family obligations requiring money...

 

Late January 2013 I started Insanity again. This time I was stuck to it. I gave up Fast Food as a new years resolution (That lasted about 3 months) and I cut back on the soda too. I was doing good. I was waking up for work at 8:00 PM sometime in February (This was to be the first day of month 2 of Insanity!) and as I sat up in bed I heard a sharp crack and felt a sudden stabbing pain in my lower back at the spine... That is the worst pain I've ever been in. I skipped work and hit the emergency room in tears and bent over two walking canes. The doctor said I'd strained the Lumbar region of my back and prescribed some pain meds and a few days of bed rest. Eventually the pain in the back went away, but now there is some slight pain in my left leg behind the thigh. (It only hurts when I move certain ways or step too far...) I feel that I've recovered from that incident... Though, needless to say, I was done with Insanity...

 

In August my parents, sister, and I all got to go to my grandfather's house and have whatever we wanted. After an hour of searching through a house that should be on an episode of "Hoarders" I unearthed a brand new TotalGym 1000! I was excited! I pulled that out and dragged it to our SUV and got it home, along with some collector's editions of all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, and the Trilogy audiobook set in a nice wooden box. And other knick knacks... I started using the total gym daily, and was feeling stronger. Luckily, August was the last payment to my stupid magazine subscription and on September 2nd, I got a membership to L.A. Fitness just across the street from my work! Along with 2 coworkers!!

 

On September 1st, I was at 290 lbs. I started going to the gym almost every day after work. 2 weeks ago a friend of mine told me about NF.com and the Paleo diet. Today is my 6th day following a mostly paleo diet. I still have cheese with some things and yesterday I did have some pizza. October 2nd was my one month mark since starting at L.A. Fitness. I'm down 15 pounds!

 

As a new gym member, I was granted a free physical trainer session. Most of the stuff the trainer was preaching was stuff I knew. "To lose a lot of fat you want to make sure you have a good cardio program" "Your diet should be balanced with Carbs 60%, Protein 20%, Fat 20%." Then he shed light on a subject I knew, but hadn't really thought through. More muscle burns more calories... Then he organized what I knew in a way that I hadn't thought of... He said, that "1 pound of muscle will burn 50 more calories a day. So if I were to magically give you 10 pounds of muscle, *poof*, you'd burn 500 more calories a day. 500 calories a day for 7 days makes 3500 calories..." Light bulb in my head turns on. "... and why is that number important?" I instantly blurted out "Pound of fat!" He was shocked that I had the answer over my 2 coworkers next to me...

 

I always knew that building muscle would burn more calories just because. But I'd also always heard that garbage about cardio being the key. So for the last 4 weeks I've made sure that when I go to the gym I spend at least half an hour, usually a full hour, in the weights section. I'll admit, I've been using the machines almost exclusively. I want to get some muscle put on first, then tackle the free weights...

 

Currently, My routine is something like this, 5 minutes cardio warm up, 30-60 minutes in weight room, 15-30 minutes more cardio... Another thing the trainer revealed to me was the power of the incline on treadmills. The difference between 3mph at 0 incline and at 10% incline is mind boggling!! I'm not running very much just yet, but that incline at 3mph is kicking my butt!

 

So, in short, I'm at about 275 lbs. I want to be at 175 lbs or below as soon as possible. My ultimate goal is to enlist in the Air Force which has a max weight requirment of 175 lbs for my height of 5'7" (67 inches)... This is something I've wanted since 2002. I just never wanted it enough. It's taken me 11 years to finally be at the point that I want it enough. Oh, and I want to be able to look good in a Superman costume!

[aikijits]

Welcome Solid Zane!

 

You said it, you can write. I look forward to you posting your progress towards your goal.

 

-AJ

[Thetemplarreservist]

Welcome to the rebellion Brother