My Healthy Lifestyle Journey

My Fitness Journey

My actual fitness journey started around four years ago; I was still in the military at the time. I was going through a medical board to find if I was still physically fit to serve in the military due to an injury that progressed over two years. I was exercising and eating right so of the time, but when my injury got worse, I had to stop exercising altogether. During this period, I started to gain weight and even though I was still on active duty, I still had to participate in the physical readiness test and make weight standards. At one point I did not want to step on a scale. In 2012 when I weighed in I was 186, but due to my inches, I passed standards. However, that number on the scale had me bombed out. When I transferred to DC to start my medical board process and to receive treatment for my injury, I began to gain more weight. At that time, I felt okay but I was stressed and worried about my injuries and what my future hold in the military and outside the military. One day my LPO (supervisor) suggested we try a program that was free and right down the hall from our office. It was a cardiovascular program that taught individuals who needed guidance on getting healthy and reduce heart disease. So I went into the program thinking, I am healthy, and this program is a joke, right? Well before you jump into the program, you go through a series of tests such as a full blood panel, heart testing, stress level and exercise education. When I got my test results back, I felt like my life needed to change and I did not want to be needing medicine for something I can control. The test results read I was pre-diabetic, cholesterol, and liver/pancreas levels were ridiculously in the danger zone. I did not realize how unhealthy I was. Before then I felt great! But I was killing myself internally and needed to correct this before it got too late. After that appointment, I told myself that I am going to get healthy and make the changes I needed to get back to feeling better. I went home and cried. I felt sick and angry that I let myself go. My weight at that time was 204, the highest I ever been in my entire life. I know that may not seem much to some, but for me, I felt like a fat ass that needed to get back in size. While still going through physical therapy for my injury, in my heart I knew I had to do more. After I had got off from work, I went to the gym to my house and signed up for a personal trainer. I started taking the initiative in getting my health back. I was ready to start using the information from the program, to get on the right track with my health. The program lasted for six months. I learned how to eat healthy, knowledge of trying new foods, how to relieve stress and get my sleep back. But also on the side was learning from my trainer on how to work out properly, and how to target muscle groups. My thought process on exercising was maybe I could do cardio to get the weight off, and I would add weights in later, but this trainer taught me much more. When I went back for a checkup in the program, I had to get a blood panel and weight retaken. I could not believe in that 2-month time frame my blood panels start looking better and I lost 12 pounds! I was so shocked and excited about what I achieved with my results. Since the beginning of 2014, I have lost around 62 pounds total, gained about 20 of those pounds back from muscle, but I am satisfied with my health journey and continue to enjoy the ride for the rest of my life Every since 2014 I have been living my real passion of helping others get healthy. It brings me joy that I can tell my story but help others along the way.