Here’s the truth about losing weight. There is no magic pill, no magic diet, no super powered cleanse you can drink, and certainly no workout that will give you twelve pack abs in 20 minutes a week. You have to bust your ass every single day. I have worked out pretty regularly for most of my adult life. I have lifted weights since I was 16 years old. The more weight I could lift the better. I didn’t care if I couldn’t tie my shoes without getting out of breath, I was strong, or so I thought. I, like many millions of other Americans, was brainwashed that the way to train was to go in the gym, maybe walk fifteen minutes on the treadmill, then lift weights. It was a simple routine. Chest and triceps one day, back and biceps the next day, then legs, and then repeat the entire cycle over again for five days and then take two days off. Monday comes around, repeat the cycle over again. For some people that way more work…more power to you if it does. For me, it didn’t because of the way I ate.

380 pounds and miserable....

For as long as I can remember my life has centered on food. When was I eating? What was I eating? How much was I eating? Food is constantly on my mind. As I said I have worked out most of my life. How does someone who works out let their weight climb to 380lbs? It’s very easy. You eat everything in sight. No matter what it is or how much there is. If it’s there you eat it. I have some “Fat Boy” stories that could give any competitive eater a run for their money. There have been times when I ate breakfast at two different McDonalds within ten miles of each other, within fifteen minutes. I’ve ordered two large pizzas at once and ate one and saved the other for breakfast and then ate that too, and then went to the gym. Yep I did that. I used to go through the drive thru at Dairy Queen and order two Blizzards, not because I wanted them both, but because I didn’t want the kid working to think I was some fat lonely guy coming to get ice cream all alone. I would bust my ass in the gym…and then eat lunch at Beef O’Bradys or Five Guys Hamburgers. Who does that? Again, easy answer, I did. Some people drink, others use drugs, I ate.

At my very heaviest, or at least the day I stepped on the scale, I weighed three hundred and eighty pounds. I was turning thirty in a month, I was in a bad relationship, living off unemployment, and was fat as hell. I wore a size 46 pant, a 4x or 5x shirt, and had size fifteen feet. My blood pressure was high, my bank account low, and my self esteem even lower. Something had to be done. I had no job and not much to look forward too. I decided I was going to lose weight.

A day before my transformation began...

My training regimen was the same as it had been my entire life. Walk, lift, walk, lift. I lost about 50 pounds and thought I was on my way. I continued to train that way for the next three or four months. I plateaued. Then my mother got sick and couldn’t drive, so being the good son, I moved home and played chauffer. I needed a job. The bills were piling up, my truck was in repossession, student loans were in default, and I was broke, flat broke. So I took a job stocking shelves overnight in a Walmart. Slowly the weight began to pile back on. A fat guy working in a grocery store is like an alcoholic working at a bar, it’s a recipe for disaster. Two breaks and a lunch hour in a grocery is too many chances to be tempted. I ate…crap. Lot’s of it. I never slept so my workouts began to suffer or even worse, disappear. After six months I quit. Not before I had put all of the weight I lost back on. I needed a change and fast.

At this time my sister and brother-in-law, a soldier, were stationed inVirginia. Here’s where my real weight story begins. They had one month before they were supposed to move to Germany. This was in May of 2010. I decided I was going to lose as much weight as I could and then join the Army. What better way was there to get my student loans paid off and stay in shape? The Army would force me to stay in shape. So our training began.

The first time I tried to run with my sister was a complete disaster. I couldn’t run a hundred yards without my legs cramping up and killing me. The shin splints and cramps were unbearable. My brother introduced me to body weight training and this little thing called your “heart rate”. He would write six or seven exercises on an index card and we would do each exercise for thirty seconds then move on to the next. Needless to say, I couldn’t do any of them for thirty seconds.We would “Ruck March” for miles at a time. We loaded backpacks with weights and hit the road…literally. Every other day we were up at 5am, back packs on, walking.  My goal was to complete a ten mile ruck before he had to leave for Germany. I was a disaster. I stuck with it and was able to lose a few pounds but nothing drastic. We completed the ten mile ruck and I was able to gain a tiny bit of self respect.  Due to his orders my brother-in-law had to leave for Germany without my sister. So we decided to come to Michigan and stay with my grandparents until she had to join him.

My sister and I came to Michigan and continued to train. There was just one problem, my grand mother is a “Southern” grandma. She shows her love by feeding you. Good food. Lots of it, good fried food, and baked goods. We would bust our butts working out and then come home and eat. My recovery meal consisted of two sandwiches and potato chips. That’s not a good plan for losing weight. Despite all the training we were doing, I continued to stay the same weight. All this working out and I was still fat. I was finally able to run. Not well, but I could do a little. On my 32nd birthday I ran two miles. That was a huge accomplishment for me but I was still fat. My sister left for Germany and I was on my own again.

I joined a gym and continued with my usual workouts. I went back to lifting weights and the treadmill and was able to lose about twenty pounds over the next three months. Not much but it was something. During this time a new gym opened up in our town but I never took it seriously because they didn’t have any weights. I would drive by and think “What in the hell are they doing? How can you have a gym with no weights?”

I went home to Florida for a few days due to a death in the family and decided that when I came back to Michigan I was going to check that new gym out. It may have been the best decision I have ever made.  Continue reading in Part 2.