In High School I was very active and athletic. I was involved in all kinds of sports from soccer, baseball, track and football, to wrestling. I tried them all and mainly focused on wrestling and soccer. I was even being considered for recruitment to train with youth camps for Manchester United, and my wrestling had earned me a full ride scholarship to Boston College. I was in good health and focused on weight training my last two years of high school. After high school, though, I really just let myself go and eventually got to the point of being 190 lbs. (almost 200 lbs!). This, for someone who is only 5’5”, is not ideal.
I started having problems sleeping (sleep apnea), which affected all aspects of my life, being tired all the time, I started to get high cholesterol, triglyceride levels, and became high risk for Diabetes. I was not doing well to say the least and my doctor told me if I didn’t lose weight I was on the fast track for a heart attack, which I have to worry about because heart problems run in my family. Needless to say I was looking for something to get myself back to being in better shape. (Not round!!) I tried just switching to water and cutting out soda. I had been able to shed a few pounds this in the past but this time that didn’t work. I tried doing the old workouts I had done as a teenager, that didn’t work, primarily due to shoulder injury I sustained. I was feeling like I had no hope and was just going to end up waiting for a heart attack to happen.
My wife came across a new workout from Beachbody and signed us up to start the PiYo program. She felt that the best option was to include Shakeology in our meal plan because it is a natural plant-based form of dense nutrition. What a lifesaver! Literally! I started the week of Thanksgiving, great timing right? By the end of December I had lost 10 lbs! I went from a triglyceride level of over 600, where the maximum normal level is 150, down to just over 200! I am working to get that even lower, but what a great start! In addition my risk for diabetes lowered quite a bit, my HDL lowered, and my LDL was actually measurable, which it hadn’t been prior to PiYo and Shakeology. This is all documented via blood tests from my employer’s third party Health organization that does twice yearly blood tests and I am actually excited and looking forward to my next one, just to see my progress!
Other benefits I have experienced are that I used to hate wearing my work clothes because they were getting way too tight and I had to keep replacing buttons on my pants. How embarrassing is that? Now I can comfortably wear any of my work clothes and my shirts are actually fitting right and don’t bulge in the stomach. Before I would see the buttons strain and would get nervous. My pants don’t feel like they are cutting off my circulation anymore and I even need to start wearing a belt and buying smaller clothes! I haven’t said those words ever in my life!!
To top it off, I no longer fall asleep during the day. I used to fall asleep no matter where I was or what I was doing, now I have energy all day! I feel better when I wake up in the morning and I have the energy to run around with the kids and have even started teaching them to play soccer! Both my doctor and my employer’s Health monitoring company are impressed with my results and were fully supportive of me doing the Beachbody workouts and drinking Shakeology. I’ll be honest with you, this has literally saved my life! I can’t wait to see the continued results!
Through this I have rediscovered my love of fitness and have decided to take the results I have seen and turn them into a way to help other people see the results they need! I look forward to being able to work with you, to encourage you and to be able to be part of your journey to achieving your goals!
FitnessManCave 