Down 73 lbs. in 3 months: Ops Shirtless and Shameless

Easy to say, not so easy to do. I've been trying my best for about 5 months and have lost nearly nothing due to my thyroid issues. It's MUCH more than diet and exercise for some. Just my two cents.

Again “respectfully” For me it wasn’t easy to share my shame, despair, and personal ignominy in dealing with my weight issues in a public forum like this. I’m a very private person so to disclose the pain I felt when dealing with these weight issues took a whole lot for me to do. It felt good to get it out there in addition to the response, but for me, it was truly “hard to say”.

To accomplish the task was even harder; although I personally don’t have thyroid issues, many in my family do in addition to coronary heart disease (another major reason for this undertaking). A few of my relatives whom actually do deal with that issue (thyroid) in particular (women) have been able to realize success just in subtle changes in their diet….and these are some big southern gurls, who love to (and did) eat (everything).

We all have personal challenges, and I would never discount yours, but I DO firmly believe with the right type of motivation, anything can be accomplished. My own personal struggles are back injuries from being deployed in Iraq jumping off the back of 5 – ton trucks with a 50 – 70 lbs. ruck sack on my back in addition to a host of other injuries obtained during my enlistment in the armed forces and playing football; not to mention being severely flat footed and now (recently) developing a painful heel spur due to my terrible weight condition at 363 lbs. The heel spur (did) make it painful to get out of the bed and walk much less run (since the weight loss the pain has subsided tremendously). These are only the “physical ailments/impediments” that were in the way. Not to mention I’m married with a full time career, 2 kiddos (8 and 5 y/o) whom love daddy’s attention constantly, and I’m in school with 3 courses per session (8 weeks).

I only say this to show you can accomplish your goals once you “try” to eliminate all excuses. People blame careers, kids, school, anything. Me personally, I have to take my kiddos to school in the morning before I go to work, so I get up an hour and a half earlier than everyone to work out before they wake up. Not only to get it out of the way, but do I don’t take away from any of their time they want to spend with me. I usually walk for a short period at my job on my lunch break so I don’t remain stagnant all day. Once I pick my kids up after work and get home, my wife’s commute is way farther than mine, so often times I have to prepare meals for the kiddos (in between after school activities and helping them with their homework). I just do it…planning, get them squared away and then get me a second workout in, all of this without even mentioning my homework, doing what I have to do to keep my wife happy (honey-do’s/at least trying to keep her happy LOL) and making sure the kids are ready for the next day…

The thing is…if I don’t take care of myself and make “right decisions” I won’t BE HERE to take care of my kids and see them grow…and NO other man is putting his imprint on mine!!!!!

That career, if I dropped dead because of bad health, they’ll just find someone else to do it, and that education, if you are in bad health or die because of self-inflicted injuries due to a bad diet, what’s the purpose of the education.

I firmly stand behind my statement of ain’t nothing to it but to do it, you just have to believe you can achieve and want it bad enough. Hope this wasn’t too off putting but I only wrote it because I know it’s hard and I do care.