Faith and Trust the Formula for Weight Loss

311 Pounds, blood pressure 154/108, feeling like a failure, 35.5% body fat, and praying in desperation for some motivation and help to save my life! That is where it all began December 4, 2008. This was my life and this was a picture from November of 2008.

2009 started off with God answering a huge prayer of mine over the 3 years prior to 2009. In desperation I had been praying for my health. I had lost 65 pounds in the past but I did it all the wrong way. In fact I gained it all back and then some. So when I prayed this time I asked God for wisdom, knowledge, strength, perseverance, and most of all help! Well as December of 2008 rolled in God provided for me an opportunity and the motivation to give the opportunity a shot. About mid-November of 2008 I had an impression that God was telling me to be faithful and trust Him and He would give me everything I needed to get my health back.

In Decmeber of 2008 I joined a local gym, AGMC Lifestyles. Some day I may blog on the background details but for now let's just say that this was the beginning of my LIFESTYLE change. The numbers you see above came from my opening assessment. I was HUGE and that was an understatement. I began my journey determined to lose the weight in the same way I lost it the first time (Working dumb!) It wasn't long before my perspective was changed.

I met a young man (Jason) that worked in the training department; he helped me put together my first workout. I immediately noticed that this guy knew what he was doing. Just the way he designed the first workout showed me that he understood how the body worked and functioned. As I excercised for the next month I felt strongly that I should solicit him to train me. PROBLEM! I did not have the money to pay him for 3 workouts a week so I asked him to train me one day a week (most trainers do not train a client in this manner). As he watched me workout during the time before I asked, he recognized that I was serious about getting help so he agreed to a one day a week arrangement.

The very first week I trained with Jason my idea of losing weight was turned upside down. I was used to looking at BMI (Body Mass Index) and seeing that my healthy weight was supposed to be between 155-170 pounds. This to me was completely unrealistic and not even achievable. Jason shared with me how the body worked and showed me that my percent of body fat should be what I should be concerned with. Why, you may ask?

Your body is made up of lean body mass and body fat. Every body needs some body fat (for males 10-20% and for women 15-25%). Obviously lean body mass is made up of muscle, bones, and water; all three are things you want to keep. When you overeat your body takes the extra calories and stores them as fat and this is how you gain weight.

With the obvious out of the way and fully buying into the fact that I should target losing body fat, the next logical question was how do I do that? I will be blogging on this over the next few months(if you want to talk sooner e-mail me and we can get together). The basic concept is nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. Does this mean you eat nothing? Absolutely not! In fact I eat every 3-4 hours each day. The difference is what I eat and when I eat what I eat. No magic formula existed, I did not need the Atkins diet, South Beach diet, cookie diet, or any other formulated plan. All I needed was to understand how my body uses the fuel I put in it. Once I understood how my body operated, my workouts became much more productive and my body fat dropped drastically.

Well I will blog more on this experience, but what started off as God making me a deal to keep my faith and trust in Him has resulted in (2) 1/2 Marathons, (2) 5K races, a 4 mile race for the homeless and plans for a Marathon and an Iron Man Triathlon in the future. As I sit here today I have lost 90 lbs and 13.5% body fat. Below is a picture of me now!

I would like to end by saying that I will blog tips and experiences from time to time. However the first decision is yours if you need to get control of your health. You have to be willing to give up the excuses and make a decision to be healthier. Do it for your quality of life, do it for your family's quality of life, but most of all do it because God entrusted you with your body and He even sent His spirit to take up residence in your body. Be a good steward of the body He gave you.

To Him who is able!