Been going since May 9th, 2017

Hello all, I'm Bill and this is my story on how I came to Myfitness pal.

Been on here since May 9th, 2017 but this is my first post. I'm 42, from Northern California, and I have been in a public service career for the past nearly 25 years.

In May I had a physical for work, and it was dismal. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, failed my treadmill stress test, weight at 184 (190 on my home scale), etc. I was embarrassed. However, I half expected it as over the past few years I hadn't exercised, ate like crap, and generally haven't paid attention to my health.

That day I made the decision that enough is enough and together with my wife effected major changes in our lives.

Since then, we have completely revamped out eating habits. We are (healthy) part time vegetarian now (can't give up meat completely ) and use a ton of recipes from eatingwell.com. That alone has made a huge difference. I log everything I eat and am VERY mindful of calories, cholesterol, fat, sodium, etc.

I also exercise every day. We started slow with 2 mile walks every day, but have steadily progressed. At first, exercising was a struggle with so many years of not doing ANYTHING. I now do strength training every day as well as a minimum of 40 minutes of cardio including a 5 minute warm up and cool down at the end, punctuated by an ever increasing 30 minute run in the middle (increasing speed and distance ran). This was all culminated last weekend when my wife and I both ran a 5k (our first each) while out of town in Oregon on vacation. To our surprise, my wife placed third in her age group (30-39 year old females) and I WON my age group (40-49). For someone who got winded in May walking 2 miles, I'm pretty proud of that.

I've also lost 23 pounds to date. My blood pressure is now better than when I was in my 20's, my cholesterol is down to a healthy normal, and I feel great. I re-took my stress test for work and CRUSHED it with the Doctor saying I am in great shape for someone my age. This just a few months after embarrassing myself.

Anyways, that's my story. A little willpower, drive, and dedication worked for me. Myfitnesspal was a great tool that I'll continue to use. I've got a great family that I hope I'll be around to be with for a while.

Take care and keep working hard!

Bill