8.04.08

Hello All,

So it looks like I may have made the mental decision to go ahead and become a coach for Beachbody. I mean, I have not started the program as of yet, but with all this internal enthusiasm I have got to do something productive. I love how working out makes me feel and to share that feeling with others I have helped would honestly be really amazing! SO why not!?

A little about my past. Back in high school I used to be quite the chubby kid. When I graduated from high school I was bulky and resembled a small football player. On the outside I was a really outgoing guy and had a lot of friends, but I secretly was depressed and did not understand why I was so chunky. Up until the time I hit puberty I was REALLY SKINNY. When I hit 13 and the body started to change so did my metabolism. I swear everything that I ate was stored as fat. IT WAS AWFUL. But I did not know what to do.

During college the weight gain did not stop! Instead of gaining the freshman 15, I gained 30LBS! I moved back home in the summer of 1999 and my father said to me... "J, you are looking fatter than me and I am a lot older than me!" I DIED! I know that what my father said to me was not the most motivating thing one should say, but it was something that I definitely NEEDED to hear. So literally the next day I joined a local gym and that started my journey to weight loss.

That entire summer I worked out with a trainer 4-5 days a week. I HATED this man, but he knew what he was talking about and I was committed. I worked out the whole summer and despite my awful diet, I still managed to lose 20lbs. I think the reason that I lost most of this weight was because I had never worked out before and my body was shocked into reality. By the way, when I say that my diet was awful... I would literally finish a workout and head straight to burger king because I was SO HUNGRY!

After that summer I plateaued and did not lose any weight for a few months. I got a little discouraged and thought to myself, something has got to be up! SO like most people I decided for my new years resolution, I would give up certain foods in the hopes that I would lose some additional weight. I gave up fried foods, fruit juice, ice cream, and soda. I still ate most other foods but since these were my vices, I cut them out and lost about another 10-12 lbs. I was totally excited and over the last 9 years my life has been one diet roller coaster after the next.

I am sure you are curious why my life became a diet roller coaster when I had achieved great results??

ANSWER: I have had an athletic build since about 2001 but it never felt like enough. In one of my earlier post I mentioned that I have a healthy obsession with my weight and that was not always the case. In the beginning it was VERY unhealthy because although I was losing weight and looking rather muscular I was NEVER satisfied. I called this phase "ATTACK OF THE FAT BRAIN". When I could not see the result in front of my face (ex. a mirror) I would think that I was heavy. I did not understand why the minute I walked away from the mirror I was disgusted with my body! Well after a lot of soul searching I realized that I had been chunky and unhappy for so long that I had become accustomed with saying negative things about myself. So I stopped the negativity (over time of course) and when I would begin to think negatively I would think about all the years I have been working out and the fitness goals I have reached.

I am sure some of you can relate with this and it is truly hard to love yourself. Don't let others push their negativity on you because they are unhappy with themselves and do not want to see anyone else happy. What we need to do is actually help them reach similar goals and maybe they too could learn to love themselves. Although this post was long, I kind of wanted to explain my reason for wanting to become a coach. I am actually going to embark on P90X with a friend, and I am encouraging a couple of my other friends to try some other beachbody products until they can work their way to p90X. They seem really enthusiastic and it is going to be fun to do it as a group! So this is my post for tonight!

Be well and Stay Fit!

**JK**