deleveled - time to start again

[alkaline]

This is my first time posting, but I have been a long time lurker. March of last year I heard a commercial on our local radio station for this new workout program in town called Crossfit. It had been a long time since I worked out, and after getting out of the Army in 2009, I had managed to put on almost 80lbs in just a few years. I was living life all wrong and not very happy and really needed a change. I got one of my friends and we headed down to sign up at the gym.

 

It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, my whole life changed around. They started talking about this wierd new "lifestyle/diet" called Paleo and I was hooked. In the first couple of months the weight was just pouring off and it felt like I was getting stronger every time I went to the gym. Life was good, I even convinced my wife to start coming.

 

Over the next year I was on and off paleo and going to the gym, but I never took off more than a month. In February of this year we had a Paleo challenge and I did awesome. I actually won the weight loss category with 12lbs. I had broken a huge barrier for me, and I stepped on the scale and it said 219. I had finally broken 220 and was down 40lbs in a year. This is where stuff started to go wrong. I had a knee injury, not sure if it was at the gym or something I did at home, but one day I woke up and couldn't move my knee. It was swolen and hurt like hell, so I took a couple of days off of work/gym and was hoping for a quick recovery.

 

A couple weeks later and there was just slight improvement so I went to the doctor. He gave me a cortizone shot in my knee and said I should be good to go in a few days to a week. To this day (couple months later) my knee still feels wierd and I haven't been to the gym. I managed to put on 20lbs in the last 2 and a half months, and it is a huge emotional drag.

 

I have a family beach trip coming up in a couple of weeks and I had decided that I would start going to the gym and getting back on Paleo after the trip. That has always been what I have done in the past, procrastination has always been easy for me. What could I get accomplished in a couple of weeks? How could I live this lifestyle and be on family vacation at the same time?

 

To answer those questions, I had to dig deep. Why put off til tomorrow what you can start today. So today, after deleveling for the past couple of months, I am not starting again, but instead continueing on my journey. I am not mad at myself for what I have done to my body in the last couple of months, I had some really good times. Instead I am considering it a learning moment, and I realize that I am at my happiest when I am living life right.

 

Today starts my leveling process, time to move forward in the right direction.