Change

I struggled with what forum I should post this. It is not a “success story” yet, but I guess it is well on the way to being one.
A few days before I started my weight loss journey, I wrote the following entry in a journal I decided to keep.

In 1997 I was living in Chicago, starting my “professional” life in a consulting firm. Living in one those massive apartment complexes filled with fresh out of college punks just like me. The same year a somewhat crappy movie came out called “The Edge”. Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin get lost in the woods and somehow walk their way out while trying not to be killed by a massive grizzly bear.

While the premise is somewhat laughable, there are a couple of quotes in that movie that have stuck with me. I guess they ring even truer now than they did when I first heard them. The first one I am copying and pasting from IMDB is: Yeah, see, they die of shame. "What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?" And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives.

Hopkins is talking about people who get lost in the woods dying of shame. The woods in my situation appear to be me. While I am not literally dying, my life in general is not what could be considered truly living. I don’t get up in the morning ready to attack the day and excited about my prospects. I seem to shy away purposely from human contact, keep my eyes on the carpet.
I feel like ****, am terribly out of shape. My clothes are tight and dumpy. I’m as fat as can be. All that being said…what is the one thing that will save my life? One word with a million implications.

Change….

Which leads me to the other quote from “The Edge” that has probably stuck with me longer then the first one I quoted. This one isn’t on IMDB, so I am paraphrasing. Anthony Hopkin’s character says “I have never known anyone who changed their life” Hopkins has been painted in this picture as an old and very wise man. When an old wise man says he has never known ANYONE who changed their life, how does that make a guy like me feel who apparently has all of the willpower and self-control of an infant? Not very good. Being the Prince of Procrastination I don’t need much of an excuse to NOT do something that requires effort, so that little nugget ringing in my ears was enough a lot of days when I was going to join a gym or eat a salad.

But here is the funny thing….later in the movie Hopkins comes out and says that HE is going to change his life. He is going to move out to the boonies in Alaska and change his life. Was this the writer/director’s way of giving the audience hope?

Fast forward 11 weeks to today. I weigh 32lbs less than I did then. I completed a grueling 8 week, 6 day a week program that involved plyometrics, kettlebells, kick boxing, yoga, a million pushups, pullups, you name it. I got up every day at 5am and drug myself into the gym. I ate veggies instead of French fries, turkey on wheat instead of cheese burgers. I haven’t darkened the door of McDonalds in months.

Not only did a finish the 8 weeks, I won my location with the most weight loss/improvement. I could do 21 poor pushups when I joined. 8 weeks later I did 65 perfect form pushups.

I have more energy than I remember ever having. My clothes fit or are too big. I wake up craving the workout and good food. I can’t imagine jamming fries into my trap.

Moral of the story? You can change your life. I did.