Was the Frustration Really Worth it?
At that point in my life I felt like I had literally tried everything.
At 6 feet tall and 250lbs I wasn’t obese…but I was carrying an unhealthy amount of weight, especially as an athlete.
Living in Hawaii I loved the beach but was self conscious when I took my shirt off.
I was always “the big guy” the guy with a “great personality” who was a “good friend.”
It may seem superficial but what it came down to is that I wasn’t confident in myself because I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin.
University of Hawaii was one of the top coed cheerleading programs in the country, and at the end of my first year I was one of the top stunters in the country.
Cheer was the one thing that I felt 100% confident from. Then I got injured…and it all changed.
The injury became my catalyst. I knew that I had to get back to full strength, but I had no idea how I was going to do it.
With an injury that effects the nerves the truth is that you don’t know when you will make a recovery, or even IF you recover at all!
The only thing that I knew I had control over was my health, and since I couldn’t workout that means I would focus on my nutrition.
At that point in my life I knew very little about how to meal plan. Luckily one of my mentors had built me a meal plan that I had never got around to actually using.
So I dusted off the meal plan packet and I went to work…
…and it was hard.
I started out by following the meal plan exactly as written.
I ate a lot of eggs, chicken, rice, veggies, and a ton of water.
It got old really quick…
The chicken and rice got bland really quick. I got tired of carrying around a gallon jug of water. It just wasn’t something that was sustainable.
Then I opened my packet again and started to find substitutions.
I worked in other foods, and then realized that spices were okay.
Things got a little easier, but I started to crave a lot of the foods that I was “sacrificing.”
As the days went on the cravings got worse, and I knew that it was going to be hard for me to maintain this.
That is when I decided to actually look at exactly what the meal plan was trying to do.
I noticed that for every day I was prescribed a certain number of nutrients.
A certain number of Protein
A certain number of Carbs
And a certain number of Fat
And THAT is when I had my breakthrough!
That day I went to Barnes and Nobel and bought my first calorie counting book (this was before iPhones!).
The adjustment had a HUGE learning curve.
EVERY meal consisted of a notebook, a calculator, my calorie counting book, a food scale, and whatever food I was wanting to eat.
I would write out how much of each nutrient I was allowed to eat at that meal, open my calorie counting book and find the food that I wanted to eat, measure out the amount of said food, and subtract the amount of nutrients that the food supplied. Then I would repeat the process for the rest of the food I was cooking until I got as close as I could to hitting my nutrients as possible.
Sound intense? It was…
Sound complicated? It was…
Sound frustrating? It was!
But you know what wasn’t frustrating?
It was working!
Not only did I get to eat the foods I was craving, I was seeing incredible results!
Every week the scale went down!
Every month my waste got smaller!
The combination of the results and being able to satisfy my cravings made the extra work worth it! Plus I was learning about nutrition along the way.
I learned that every single diet out there was based in providing a calorie deficit! There was no “magic food” or “quick fix” it all came down to simple science.
Plus as I stayed consistent the work got easier. I started to memorize the nutrient content of food.
I found foods at my favorite restaurants that supported my goals but still allowed me to go out and be social with my friends.
I’d be lying to you if I said that the entire process was a cake-walk (excuse the pun).
I wanted to quit more times that I even remember.
I even fell off the wagon a few times.
But through the frustration and slip ups I learned a lot about myself. I developed life-systems and new mindsets that helped me get back on track and stay there.
About four months from when I started a friend of mine, who I hadn’t seen in a while, came to a performance for the University of Hawaii cheer squad.
She came up to me after the performance and just blurted out “Holy shit! How much have you lost?”
At that point I hadn’t done the math on how much I had actually lost. The it hit me, and I was almost surprised as I told her “I think I’ve lost about 50lbs!”
She looked at me for a second and said “Well damn! You look hot!”
It was nice to hear, if I’m being honest. But the best thing is that I realized that I finally felt, not just comfortable, but CONFIDENT in my own skin.
I wasn’t self conscious about taking my shirt off. People’s opinions didn’t matter because I was happy with the work I put in and I felt amazing.
My entire life I had struggled with my weight. Whenever I saw results I would revert back to my old habits and undo all the work that I had done.
This time was different. Because I was willing to put in the work, and actually go through the process, I finally had the lifestyle to maintain the results that I achieved WITHOUT having to feel like I was depriving myself from life!
Now my mission is to help people find the same success that I did. I truly believe that when you make your health and fitness a priority it improves every aspect of your life.
My gym Create Fitness, located in Kent, WA specializes in helping people develop a fit and healthy lifestyle that works with their busy schedule.
If you are reading this and you would like some support in your fitness journey shoot me a message and let’s see how I can help you!
Ways to work with me:
Book a FREE call HERE
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