As ages 25-26 came around, my 6-month warehouse job came to an end. Still living at home (one of a few things that make me cringe to mention), I drew unemployment and kept score at the bowling alley to maintain funds. I began piling up credits at the local community college which included my first tour of calculus, which I rather enjoyed. This kept me from thinking I was being a total slacker. For recreation I was very involved in bowling and the little community at the little bowling center I mentioned in a previous post. There was the occasional Reno or Vegas trip where I learned that this gambling stuff wasn't quite as easy as the first couple of go-rounds. But there was always a buffet close by to ease the pain of my losses or celebrate the joy of my wins. To round things out, there were a few friends to play tennis and/or poker with. Basically, I was filling up an empty life while I was filling up my belly.
In this time period my weight was hovering around 330 lbs., which significantly alarmed me. I decided to try something truly drastic in an attempt at weight-loss. A wager was agreed to with a tennis/bowling/poker buddy. He bet me that I couldn't get under 300 lbs. in 1 calendar month. So, I weighed in on the first and the bet was on. I can't remember the dollar amount or the exact weight at the beginning, but the fact was I had a mission to complete.
How I managed to pull this off without collapsing from exhaustion or malnutrition is truly a mystery. I began on a Monday and ate one meal per day and only drank water the rest of the time. On the weekends I completely fasted, drinking only water. This was my insane idea of what drastic weight-loss required. As for exercise, I worked out heavily with weights; bench presses, curls, overhead presses, whatever I could think of to do. I figured the work out was not over until my muscles were shot. Then I took a day off. Then I worked out 2 days in a row and took 1 day off. Then 3 days in a row and a day off, following this sequence for as long as the month permitted. I think it got to where I worked out 6 straight days at the end. Well, I knew I was losing weight by the way my clothes were loosening and how my muscles ached. Unfortunately, I felt like along with the weight I was also losing my mind.
The big day finally arrived and we approached the scale to settle the score. Much to my chagrin and bitter irony, the scale read exactly 300 lbs.! I had lost 30+ lbs in a month, but was not below 300 as the original bet stipulated. This was the height of frustration for a person who easily got frustrated. Fortunately, my friend had mercy on me and declared the bet a push. Looking back, I think it was a fair and sporting gesture. It would have broken my spirit to go through all that and still have to cough up the money.
So, was I able to sustain this craziness? What do you think? The very next day, I made a bee line for Carl's Jr. and ordered up. Never did food taste better than that day and time. I didn't fall off the wagon, I jumped off with a Tarzan yell! As time passed, that crazy diet and exercise routine -- along with the 300 lb. scale reading -- became not even a speck in the rear view mirror.
The moral of the story: If you want to achieve a healthy weight loss, do it with common sense and, if possible, a professional by your side to guide and educate you. Exert yourself as your body permits and eat healthy, clean foods. Hydrate! It makes me shake my head to think about my old futile attempts. Even nowadays I overhear people talk about what diets or workout programs they're on and want to jump in the conversation, but nobody's going to listen to me if I come across like a tactless know-it-all.
So, am I ever going to move out of my parents' house? (yes) Will I ever be able to support myself? (yes) Find out next time...
At this time I'm scrambling to get new pics, please bear with me. In the meantime, on with the story...
My original trainer was gone and I had severed my connection with my 3 amigos. I was on my own. I was determined not to give up. I'd come too far to quit now. Getting my arse into that gym at least 5 days per week was top priority. Each day I walked in, I didn't know exactly what I was going to do. But, by golly, I did it! And the pounds continued to drop thanks to the knowledge that had been accumulated to that point. However, there was no sense of advancement of my training. I couldn't show myself any new exercises. When was the right time to increase the weight in any certain exercise? An effective workout program calls for continuous learning, muscle confusion, and "leveling up".
Finally, I wised up and decided to ask for help. By this time, these 3 trainers had many clients to tend to as their skills became evident. Things couldn't go back to the way they used to be, so I decided to choose 1 of them, pay what I could, and elevate my "game". This gentleman immediately started to show me some new moves which were exhausting, but I knew I was absolutely back on the right track! RG, as I'll call him (ok with you, boss?), restored my balance with carefully planned workouts 3 times per week and always sent me merrily off to do cardio after each strenuous resistance session. Journal inspections came back into the mix. One move in particular I can recall was an exercise called a bear crawl. This was oh, so tough to do at that time and he made me do it regularly in ever increasing distances along the gym floor as I left sweat trails in front of all the nice ladies and gentlemen. Aaahh...lovely memories...
Eventually, FullForce Personal Training was launched and I followed. While the others fill in when necessary, RG continues to be my primary trainer to this day and I'm very proud to represent him as one of his many "never quite finished" products.
Tune in for another episode of "All My Workouts".
No comments:
Post a Comment