My Wife Deserves This...
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fretless1965
Posts: 26 Member
My wife is a wonderful women and has loved me unconditionally for our entire life together. We have a spectacular marriage, but I have never been in good shape, and I always felt like she deserved a healthy husband. It took a long time, but I finally had the epiphany I needed.
In July 2011, my Dad invited my family and my brother and his family to go on a vacation to Yellowstone. We rented a condo at the base of the Grand Tetons in Teton Village. One of the days we were there, just my brother and I went on a hike into Cascade Canyon, above Jenny Lake in the Tetons.
That hike was the beginning. While on that hike, I realized how much I enjoyed hiking into places of such beauty, and knew that I wanted to keep hiking any chance I could get. I also realized that I would not be able to do that at 5 ft 10 inches, 220 pounds and 30% body fat.
When we returned from that vacation, I already had a plan to lose weight. I knew I had to do it through diet and exercise, and I knew I wanted to have a three-tier goal:
1. Lose 15 pounds. This would put me in the overweight range on the BMI charts rather than obese. I considered this to be the bare minimum I had to do for the sake of my family and my own health.
2. Lose another 15 pounds. This would put me at 190 pounds which was the lowest weight I had ever reached as an adult. This is something I really wanted to accomplish; if I could achieve a stable weight of 190, I would consider myself a complete success.
3. Lose yet another 15 pounds. This was the dream. I really didn't think it was possible, but I thought I should dream big or go home. 175 pounds. Me? Yeah, right.
I started tracking calories and doing a lot of walking. Sure enough, the weight started to come off. I passed the first tier goal of 15 pounds by the end of September. By December, I had lost my second 15 pounds. In February 2012, I started doing P90X, at least most of it. I kept that up until June, when I asked a track coach friend of mine to help me learn how to run. Over the summer I did a fair amount of swimming and biked everywhere, even to go grocery shopping.
When summer ended I stopped biking and swimming, but instead started to run distance. I am registered for my first half-marathon at the end of this month.
So after the end of this 21 month journey, I had a pleasant surprise yesterday. At my work we have annual wellness checks performed by the local hospital staff.
My weight is 171 pounds.
My BMI is 25.0.
The scale measured my percentage body fat as 10.4%. I'm not sure I believe that, but it hardly matters. Last year at the same time the same scale measured me as 13.0%.
The best part about this is how I feel. I feel better than I have since college, and I am more physically capable than I have ever been. Period. Here's some of the things I can do now that I never thought I would be able to do:
20 decline pushups
20 wide-fly pushups
20 butterfly pushups
4 pullups
6 chinups
Run four miles in less than thirty-six minutes
Run twelve miles in less than two hours
The most important thing to success in my experience is to simply continue and to not let yourself go backwards.
My profile pic is current, I haven't posted any before pics yet.
I have been reading these success stories for a long time now, and they motivate me. Hopefully, mine will do the same. Thanks everybody.
In July 2011, my Dad invited my family and my brother and his family to go on a vacation to Yellowstone. We rented a condo at the base of the Grand Tetons in Teton Village. One of the days we were there, just my brother and I went on a hike into Cascade Canyon, above Jenny Lake in the Tetons.
That hike was the beginning. While on that hike, I realized how much I enjoyed hiking into places of such beauty, and knew that I wanted to keep hiking any chance I could get. I also realized that I would not be able to do that at 5 ft 10 inches, 220 pounds and 30% body fat.
When we returned from that vacation, I already had a plan to lose weight. I knew I had to do it through diet and exercise, and I knew I wanted to have a three-tier goal:
1. Lose 15 pounds. This would put me in the overweight range on the BMI charts rather than obese. I considered this to be the bare minimum I had to do for the sake of my family and my own health.
2. Lose another 15 pounds. This would put me at 190 pounds which was the lowest weight I had ever reached as an adult. This is something I really wanted to accomplish; if I could achieve a stable weight of 190, I would consider myself a complete success.
3. Lose yet another 15 pounds. This was the dream. I really didn't think it was possible, but I thought I should dream big or go home. 175 pounds. Me? Yeah, right.
I started tracking calories and doing a lot of walking. Sure enough, the weight started to come off. I passed the first tier goal of 15 pounds by the end of September. By December, I had lost my second 15 pounds. In February 2012, I started doing P90X, at least most of it. I kept that up until June, when I asked a track coach friend of mine to help me learn how to run. Over the summer I did a fair amount of swimming and biked everywhere, even to go grocery shopping.
When summer ended I stopped biking and swimming, but instead started to run distance. I am registered for my first half-marathon at the end of this month.
So after the end of this 21 month journey, I had a pleasant surprise yesterday. At my work we have annual wellness checks performed by the local hospital staff.
My weight is 171 pounds.
My BMI is 25.0.
The scale measured my percentage body fat as 10.4%. I'm not sure I believe that, but it hardly matters. Last year at the same time the same scale measured me as 13.0%.
The best part about this is how I feel. I feel better than I have since college, and I am more physically capable than I have ever been. Period. Here's some of the things I can do now that I never thought I would be able to do:
20 decline pushups
20 wide-fly pushups
20 butterfly pushups
4 pullups
6 chinups
Run four miles in less than thirty-six minutes
Run twelve miles in less than two hours
The most important thing to success in my experience is to simply continue and to not let yourself go backwards.
My profile pic is current, I haven't posted any before pics yet.
I have been reading these success stories for a long time now, and they motivate me. Hopefully, mine will do the same. Thanks everybody.
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Replies
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Your story is great and the profile picture shows a man in shape! You did it! I am so happy for you and your family. My husband and I are hikers, so I understand your desire to be healthy so that you can continue doing the things you love!
Amazing job!
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what a great journey!! congratulations.....0
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Great job!0
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Aw this is really lovely Congrats on all your achievements, your dedication is admirable and inspiring! 0
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Fan-freaking-tastic!0
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Great post. Congrats on your achievement!0
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What a great set of goals you had, and you smashed through them all!
You should feel so proud.
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Well done and congratulations to the lucky lady!0
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You deserved it to good job0
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Great job, and it's wonderful to read about spouses who love one another 0
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Awesome work! Enjoy the first half marathon, the feeling of accomplishment at the end is the best!0
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VERY well done. Congratulations and thanks for sharing your story.0
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congrats on your success, and thanks for sharing!0
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In the voice of Peggy on the Capital One commercials..."you inspire me" Seriously, Nice job, I am in very much the same with the same stats. I am down to 194 and I hope to accomplish what you have. BTW, thats a nice Ric.0
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Well done!0
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Great story and great job! Congratulations!0
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Awesome! Although you say your wife deserves this, it sounds like you really did it for YOU! And your wife is reaping the eye-candy rewards
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Great story. I love that you explained your motivation for your success as well. Keep it up!0
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Fantastic job, dude!0
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well done!
the sky is the limit! keep flying!0
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