TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE YOU MUST FIRST CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE

        I remember several years ago when I was grossly out of shape. I used to look at other peoples Instagram‘s who had made a transformation and I used to be so jealous. Asking myself what made them better than me? How could this guy who was nearly 325 like me end up losing over 150 pounds? Besides having personal issues and doing absolutely no physical training I was headed towards the ultimate end at lightning speed. One day a friend of mine called me up and asked me what was I doing. I replied nothing and he told me he was coming to pick me up. He drug me into Max Fitness Gym and the rest is history. This was in the end of 2012 and at the time I was a heavy soda drinker, and knowing what I know now when it comes to eating, my eating habits were out of control. 12 to 18 hot wings were the norm along with large fries and a 32 ounce Coke. And with my Mary Jane habit this might happen three times a day on a regular day. Not to mention a heavy drinker, Remy being our drink of choice. So in a nutshell living a lifestyle where I was smoking weed (the good shit) and drink Remy Martin with Red Bull and probably consumed anywhere between 3200 to 4000 cal a day you can see how a once athletic young man weighing around 175 could balloon over 300 pounds in his mid-30s. And with being said, that day my friend took me to the gym change my life but change didn’t come overnight.

        I would never forget my first day in the gym. One of my friends homeboys was there and he kinda gave an assessment of what he thought. He told my friend that was no help for me, that’s how bad I must have looked to this guy. My friend just don’t know how much that motivated me when he told me that. Wesley Snipes told you in the famous line, always bet on black. With black being my nickname, I was determined to prove my friend friends wrong. But like I mentioned change didn’t come overnight and after a couple of months in the gym I noticed I was getting stronger but the weight really wasn't dropping that fast. So in the spring of 2013 the majority of my transformation began. I started running. I wasn’t a stranger to running. Like I said once upon a time I was a pretty fit fellow. But being 300 pounds plus was a whole different ball game. The first day I went running I told myself I was going to run 1 mile. Fat chance, no pun intended. In reality I probably ran about a quarter of a mile and the other three fourths of a mile were used to pump oxygen into my lungs after I nearly died running that quarter. That next day my legs were sore, my lower back was sore but I went back out there. As the days turn the weeks and the weeks turn into months a change began to take place. I remember taking photos at the beginning of my journey. I look so horrible that I haven’t took any sense at that point time. One morning before my run I was like let me take some photos and compare. I was in awe, my belly had shrunk, my face had got narrower and you could see more of my neck. I can’t explain how seeing the side-by-side comparison boosted my confidence.

        I spent the majority of 2013 and 14 just running and periodically still going to the gym. And I lost so much weight, I really did. Although I tweaked my eating habits I still was a dirty eater and I still indulged and other activities hint hint. But getting down to around 230 pounds had me thinking that I had the formula. I lost over 100 pounds, little did I know that was the easy part in retrospect. Like I said I was in the best shape in years but I still wasn’t satisfied with my body. My man boobs had disappeared in my chest but I still have love handles and I really wanted to get more of a lean look instead of solid. And in the midst of all that during 2016 I fell back in love with the gym. I began hitting the weights like there was no tomorrow. My favorite body part to work is my back. It is an array of exercises you can do to build your back. I would spend hours in the gym just working back alone. But it came at a cost. I’m self-employed as a freelance photographer/videographer. Editing video takes up a lot of my time and doing photo shoots is also time intense. So while I was at the gym, my cardio sessions which kept weight off of me throughout the last couple of years and allow me to basically eat what I want it became nonexistent and even though I was building muscle slowly but surely I got a little bit heavier not much but I definitely put on another 10 pounds. Thinking I was some kind of workout guru I was perplexed. I quickly realized that the absence of cardio what is the reason I was gaining weight so once again I went back to what I was used to and started running and spent less time in the gym.

        Fast forward to the end of the summer in 2017. I’m running about four times a week, my weight is hovering around 200-205 which is not bad but I am not where I want to be. As hard as I work there has to be a reason I am not leaner than what I am. Over the last year and a half going to the doctor I was told that my blood pressure was high and my doctor recommended lose some weight. I work so hard by increase my mileage from 3 to 5 miles and I started running 6 to 7 miles. Most of my bad habits I’ve since abandon. No more Mary Jane ☹️ and I wasn’t eating so dirty these days. I remember right after my birthday I want to go see the doctor again and my blood pressure was in the acceptable range. It was no longer high and I was so relieved, this to motivated me to take my fitness to another level. Besides running a little longer and tweaking my diet the single most important thing that I did towards the end of 2017 was start working out with a trainer. This is the piece of the puzzle I was missing. There were so many times where I was awesome in the gym but I suck at cardio, there were times when I was beasting in the gym but I let cardio fall to the wayside. Having a trainer to oversee my fitness regiment, advising me and giving me a sense of accountability has eliminated the plateau status which I found myself in and it’s motivated me in a way which I really can’t explain. All that I know is I am over the hill and headed towards the finish line when it comes to achieving my ultimate fitness goal which is to have rock hard visible six pack abs. I know it may sound vain but I always imagine myself in the mirror with six pack abs and I wonder how would I look, how would I feel. Having a trainer has definitely put me closer to those goals and that brings us to where we are now.

        In closing I realize that fitness and being in shape is something that you can’t half ass do. If you are out of shape and you wanna make a change then you have to list of all of the factors that have you out of shape and make a change. If its three things that have you out of shape, you have to change all of those three things or the journey will be a long. Trust me on this I know from personal experience. By curving my eating habits, consistent cardio sessions & 3 to 4 weekly gym sessions I am in the best shape of my adult life and closer than ever to my ultimate goal.