team-d
Well-known member
This is a long read but had to share it with you guys. Dan is one of our team members and has just surpassed the 100 POUNDS LOST mark this past weekend. It's never too late or impossible to make the change… no excuses.
My Success Story…A Work in Progress
Hi, my name is Dan and I am a very fat man or I was on February 28th 2012.
It’s be said that in order to make a real, meaning positive and definitive change you have to hit bottom, you know really hit the low point in order to realize that you need to make a change. My low point occurred at the beginning of 2012. I have known that I was fat, not “well I could lose a few pounds”, or “yeah I should probably work out more” kind of fat. This was the “holy $%^* what the hell happened to me” kind of fat that you see roaming the United States in a disturbingly large number. It’s the kind of fat that frequents the chains of all you can eat buffets and fast food restaurants that dot the countryside. Anyways, like I said, I am fat. And it creeps up on you when you either don’t pay attention to your expanding waistline or you just ignore the fact that you pants are getting bigger and bigger and wow they don’t carry your size here.
In addition to being fat, at the beginning of this journey, and that’s what it’s become for me, a journey, I was 302 pounds and I smoked. Now 302 pounds if you’re a NFL linebacker is not so bad. 302 pounds when your 5’10 and have no aspirations of playing in the NFL is a serious problem. I am sure that I was heading for a heart attack. I had to make a change, not just for me but for my wife, and my kids.
So the journey began without much fanfare. I quit smoking on New Year’s Eve, and turned 40 on January 14th. I figured it was a start, I mean at least I was not smoking anymore. I was however still very fat and unhappy about it but I needed a kick to get going. That kick came in February when my partner, called me up and asked me if I wanted to do the Warrior Dash with him and his niece and nephew. My first reaction was that he should stop drinking so much before he calls me because he gets these crazy ideas, however after thinking about it I said yeah I would do it. This was the kick in the ass that I needed.
I set the start date for my program at March 1st and looked at what I had to use in my quest to get unfat. Now this was not my first attempt at trying to downsize my persona, most of us at one time or another has thought that “maybe I could drop a few pounds and feel a little better”. In 2002 I made an attempt and ordered the Tony Little Gazelle Free Style elite machine. I hate running because it made my knees, ankles, back, ego and lungs hurt so I only ran 4 times a year because work made me. Did I mention that I am a federal law enforcement officer? Anyways, I had the gazelle in my basement. In another failed attempt in 2009, I ordered the Power 90 Program, P90X and the chin up bar. Oh I was serious about it this time. Well I did lose some weight, 24 pounds and kept it off for the summer but gained it back over the winter plus some extra which was my body’s way of saying “what the hell were you thinking???”
So I had the Gazelle, Power 90, P90X, (but I was too afraid to open the box, it’s all black and scary), and the myfitnesspal app on my phone. This time, on March 1st I was going to do it. I had to do something because August 25th was the Warrior Dash that I had signed up for and paid to participate in. So I started out doing the Power 90 Program and doing the Gazelle 3 times a week. Doing both programs was for the lack of a better word, exhausting however as you go from doing nothing to doing something you begin to see changes. First thing, clothes that were getting tight start fitting better. I was in 46 waist jeans that were getting kind of tight. After a week, I had lost 12 lbs. I was moving forward.
Like I said earlier, I am a federal law enforcement officer and 4 times a year the agency that I work for insists that me and the rest of my colleagues take a physical training (PT) test to show me just how physically sad I had become. Granted when I started on the job in 2002 I was weighing in at 245 and I was feeling like that was not so bad. I knew that as I got older I would continue to grow and I was always big anyways so 245 seemed like no big deal. So the PT test is 4 times a year and consists of a minute of pushups, sit ups, pull ups and just for fun, a timed 1.5 mile run. I did not look forward to the PT test 4 times a year.
At my worst, and probably my heaviest weight I did no pull ups, 39 pushups, 42 sit ups and did the 1.5 mile run in slightly under a week, of it was like 23:50 something but it felt like almost a week. Plus that feeling, the soreness and everything stayed with me for a week afterward. The first PT test I took after I began my program was in May and I had lost 32 lbs. I did 0 pull ups, 43 pushups, 43 sit ups and did the run in 16:03. That in my opinion was a pretty good finish. To put it bluntly I was stoked as I had not done that well in 10 years.
The Warrior dash was on August 25th and I was down 64 pounds when I woke up on that morning. At 1130, my partner Steve, his niece and nephew and my buddy Charlie who was still smoking and heavy and I goaded into doing this race with me took off from the starting line. To anyone who is not familiar with the Warrior Dash, it’s a 5K, or 3.12 mile obstacle course where you and a bunch of other crazy people pay like $75 to run the course. It benefits St Jude’s Children’s Hospital so it’s a good cause and gives you a reason for being there besides the medal, the Viking helmet and the smoked turkey leg and free beer that you get for finishing. I highly recommend doing one of these races as it was a blast. Well if you trained for it, it was a blast. My buddy Charlie wanted to kill me after the first quarter mile for getting him into this madness.
I felt great and was ready for the race so when Charlie crumpled up at the quarter mile point wheezing and saying to “go on without him” I figured I should probably not leave him lest he stroke out and his wife kill me. Steve finished the race in 1 hour 2 minutes and Charlie and I finished the race in 1 hour 18 minutes. I was not even winded and this was a wakeup call for Charlie who has already decided that we are going to break an hour next year when we do this.
The next day I was back at work flying from Chicago to Baltimore. Little did I realize that the blond woman in the seat next to me would become so instrumental in my journey to getting unfat.
So the flight is boarding and the last open seat on the plane is next to me. Here comes this small blond woman who says “you must have been saving that seat for me”, which I was happy about because she was small and I usually get the guy twice my size sitting next to me so this was a nice change.
Anyway I was getting fidgety and my legs were twitchy from the race yesterday and while I was shifting around in my seat I bumped into my seatmate. I apologized for bumping her and explained that I was sore from doing the Warrior Dash the day before. I also introduced myself and learned that her name is Heather. She was in Chicago visiting her new grandbaby and trying to get home to South Carolina but she had missed her original flight and wound up on this one. Strange how sometimes things just happen.
So now my new friend Heather and I get to talking about the Warrior Dash and I mentioned how I had lost 64 pounds to do the race and how I did it using the Beach Body Power 90 program, the Gazelle freestyle and the myfitnesspal app on my phone. She proceeds to tell me that she is a coach with Beach Body and how my progress was great. She also encouraged me to start using the P90X program that I already had but was too scared to open. She also showed me the P90X phone app which I downloaded as well. She also invited me to join her ‘Bringin It” group on Facebook. She is now my coach on the Beach Body website and gave me the kick in the ass that I needed to start using P90X.
On August 30th I had to take another PT test for work. I was 65 pounds lighter and I made it my goal to really do it. I mean I was looking forward to doing the PT test. My results were surprising for everyone, my boss, the training guys, my coworkers and to me especially. I did 2 pull ups. 2 PULL UPS!!!!! In its own right that was amazing to me as I had never done any before but what followed was the real shocker. 50 pushups, 50 sit ups and I did the 1.5 mile run in 12:56. That was flying. That was the fastest I had moved since I was 18 in basic training where I ran 2 miles in 13:10. This weight loss thing just keeps getting better and better.
On September 1st I started doing the P90X Lean program. I started P90X at 237 pounds. On day 30 I weighed in at 221 pounds. Today is day 34 of the program and I am well on my way. I am still using the myfitnesspal app, the gazelle and hotel elliptical machines 3 times a week and I have never felt better. I have gone from tight 46 jeans to comfortable or slightly lose 36 jeans. My wardrobe is too big for me and I have shrunk out of my wedding band. My wife, Malinda, who married me at 260 pounds, is amazed at my transformation. She is one of those naturally thin people that fat guys like me hate. As of today, I have lost a total of 81 pounds. My goal weight is 200 pounds, however I am getting greedy and think that I may want to get down to 190. When I got out of the Army in 1995 I was 189 pounds which would be great however If or I should say when I get down to 190 pounds I will have lost 112 pounds total which is almost one of my wife.
Well, that’s my success story which is still in progress. I have to thank Heather and Matt for everything that they have done for me both in person, and via the internet, sending me the samples to try and offering me positive feedback about my progress. The kick in the ass from Heather to get me started with the P90X program has been one of the pivotal moments in my life and I encourage anyone that is willing to read this or to listen to my story start the P90X program. If you can do the program in person with Heather and Matt I encourage you to do it and envy your good fortune for having the opportunity to participate in a class that they teach. This will change your life. Oh one more thing, always, BRING IT!
Daniel A. Rich,
Sheffield Lake, Ohio
October 4, 2012
My Success Story…A Work in Progress
Hi, my name is Dan and I am a very fat man or I was on February 28th 2012.
It’s be said that in order to make a real, meaning positive and definitive change you have to hit bottom, you know really hit the low point in order to realize that you need to make a change. My low point occurred at the beginning of 2012. I have known that I was fat, not “well I could lose a few pounds”, or “yeah I should probably work out more” kind of fat. This was the “holy $%^* what the hell happened to me” kind of fat that you see roaming the United States in a disturbingly large number. It’s the kind of fat that frequents the chains of all you can eat buffets and fast food restaurants that dot the countryside. Anyways, like I said, I am fat. And it creeps up on you when you either don’t pay attention to your expanding waistline or you just ignore the fact that you pants are getting bigger and bigger and wow they don’t carry your size here.
In addition to being fat, at the beginning of this journey, and that’s what it’s become for me, a journey, I was 302 pounds and I smoked. Now 302 pounds if you’re a NFL linebacker is not so bad. 302 pounds when your 5’10 and have no aspirations of playing in the NFL is a serious problem. I am sure that I was heading for a heart attack. I had to make a change, not just for me but for my wife, and my kids.
So the journey began without much fanfare. I quit smoking on New Year’s Eve, and turned 40 on January 14th. I figured it was a start, I mean at least I was not smoking anymore. I was however still very fat and unhappy about it but I needed a kick to get going. That kick came in February when my partner, called me up and asked me if I wanted to do the Warrior Dash with him and his niece and nephew. My first reaction was that he should stop drinking so much before he calls me because he gets these crazy ideas, however after thinking about it I said yeah I would do it. This was the kick in the ass that I needed.
I set the start date for my program at March 1st and looked at what I had to use in my quest to get unfat. Now this was not my first attempt at trying to downsize my persona, most of us at one time or another has thought that “maybe I could drop a few pounds and feel a little better”. In 2002 I made an attempt and ordered the Tony Little Gazelle Free Style elite machine. I hate running because it made my knees, ankles, back, ego and lungs hurt so I only ran 4 times a year because work made me. Did I mention that I am a federal law enforcement officer? Anyways, I had the gazelle in my basement. In another failed attempt in 2009, I ordered the Power 90 Program, P90X and the chin up bar. Oh I was serious about it this time. Well I did lose some weight, 24 pounds and kept it off for the summer but gained it back over the winter plus some extra which was my body’s way of saying “what the hell were you thinking???”
So I had the Gazelle, Power 90, P90X, (but I was too afraid to open the box, it’s all black and scary), and the myfitnesspal app on my phone. This time, on March 1st I was going to do it. I had to do something because August 25th was the Warrior Dash that I had signed up for and paid to participate in. So I started out doing the Power 90 Program and doing the Gazelle 3 times a week. Doing both programs was for the lack of a better word, exhausting however as you go from doing nothing to doing something you begin to see changes. First thing, clothes that were getting tight start fitting better. I was in 46 waist jeans that were getting kind of tight. After a week, I had lost 12 lbs. I was moving forward.
Like I said earlier, I am a federal law enforcement officer and 4 times a year the agency that I work for insists that me and the rest of my colleagues take a physical training (PT) test to show me just how physically sad I had become. Granted when I started on the job in 2002 I was weighing in at 245 and I was feeling like that was not so bad. I knew that as I got older I would continue to grow and I was always big anyways so 245 seemed like no big deal. So the PT test is 4 times a year and consists of a minute of pushups, sit ups, pull ups and just for fun, a timed 1.5 mile run. I did not look forward to the PT test 4 times a year.
At my worst, and probably my heaviest weight I did no pull ups, 39 pushups, 42 sit ups and did the 1.5 mile run in slightly under a week, of it was like 23:50 something but it felt like almost a week. Plus that feeling, the soreness and everything stayed with me for a week afterward. The first PT test I took after I began my program was in May and I had lost 32 lbs. I did 0 pull ups, 43 pushups, 43 sit ups and did the run in 16:03. That in my opinion was a pretty good finish. To put it bluntly I was stoked as I had not done that well in 10 years.
The Warrior dash was on August 25th and I was down 64 pounds when I woke up on that morning. At 1130, my partner Steve, his niece and nephew and my buddy Charlie who was still smoking and heavy and I goaded into doing this race with me took off from the starting line. To anyone who is not familiar with the Warrior Dash, it’s a 5K, or 3.12 mile obstacle course where you and a bunch of other crazy people pay like $75 to run the course. It benefits St Jude’s Children’s Hospital so it’s a good cause and gives you a reason for being there besides the medal, the Viking helmet and the smoked turkey leg and free beer that you get for finishing. I highly recommend doing one of these races as it was a blast. Well if you trained for it, it was a blast. My buddy Charlie wanted to kill me after the first quarter mile for getting him into this madness.
I felt great and was ready for the race so when Charlie crumpled up at the quarter mile point wheezing and saying to “go on without him” I figured I should probably not leave him lest he stroke out and his wife kill me. Steve finished the race in 1 hour 2 minutes and Charlie and I finished the race in 1 hour 18 minutes. I was not even winded and this was a wakeup call for Charlie who has already decided that we are going to break an hour next year when we do this.
The next day I was back at work flying from Chicago to Baltimore. Little did I realize that the blond woman in the seat next to me would become so instrumental in my journey to getting unfat.
So the flight is boarding and the last open seat on the plane is next to me. Here comes this small blond woman who says “you must have been saving that seat for me”, which I was happy about because she was small and I usually get the guy twice my size sitting next to me so this was a nice change.
Anyway I was getting fidgety and my legs were twitchy from the race yesterday and while I was shifting around in my seat I bumped into my seatmate. I apologized for bumping her and explained that I was sore from doing the Warrior Dash the day before. I also introduced myself and learned that her name is Heather. She was in Chicago visiting her new grandbaby and trying to get home to South Carolina but she had missed her original flight and wound up on this one. Strange how sometimes things just happen.
So now my new friend Heather and I get to talking about the Warrior Dash and I mentioned how I had lost 64 pounds to do the race and how I did it using the Beach Body Power 90 program, the Gazelle freestyle and the myfitnesspal app on my phone. She proceeds to tell me that she is a coach with Beach Body and how my progress was great. She also encouraged me to start using the P90X program that I already had but was too scared to open. She also showed me the P90X phone app which I downloaded as well. She also invited me to join her ‘Bringin It” group on Facebook. She is now my coach on the Beach Body website and gave me the kick in the ass that I needed to start using P90X.
On August 30th I had to take another PT test for work. I was 65 pounds lighter and I made it my goal to really do it. I mean I was looking forward to doing the PT test. My results were surprising for everyone, my boss, the training guys, my coworkers and to me especially. I did 2 pull ups. 2 PULL UPS!!!!! In its own right that was amazing to me as I had never done any before but what followed was the real shocker. 50 pushups, 50 sit ups and I did the 1.5 mile run in 12:56. That was flying. That was the fastest I had moved since I was 18 in basic training where I ran 2 miles in 13:10. This weight loss thing just keeps getting better and better.
On September 1st I started doing the P90X Lean program. I started P90X at 237 pounds. On day 30 I weighed in at 221 pounds. Today is day 34 of the program and I am well on my way. I am still using the myfitnesspal app, the gazelle and hotel elliptical machines 3 times a week and I have never felt better. I have gone from tight 46 jeans to comfortable or slightly lose 36 jeans. My wardrobe is too big for me and I have shrunk out of my wedding band. My wife, Malinda, who married me at 260 pounds, is amazed at my transformation. She is one of those naturally thin people that fat guys like me hate. As of today, I have lost a total of 81 pounds. My goal weight is 200 pounds, however I am getting greedy and think that I may want to get down to 190. When I got out of the Army in 1995 I was 189 pounds which would be great however If or I should say when I get down to 190 pounds I will have lost 112 pounds total which is almost one of my wife.
Well, that’s my success story which is still in progress. I have to thank Heather and Matt for everything that they have done for me both in person, and via the internet, sending me the samples to try and offering me positive feedback about my progress. The kick in the ass from Heather to get me started with the P90X program has been one of the pivotal moments in my life and I encourage anyone that is willing to read this or to listen to my story start the P90X program. If you can do the program in person with Heather and Matt I encourage you to do it and envy your good fortune for having the opportunity to participate in a class that they teach. This will change your life. Oh one more thing, always, BRING IT!
Daniel A. Rich,
Sheffield Lake, Ohio
October 4, 2012
