sawolf01's Fitness Profile

About Me

Not sure what to say here. I'm joined gyminee to track my progress as I tried to lose 80 pounds. It started off as that kind of goal and has now transitioned into a way of tracking this very necessary lifestyle change for me. I've got obesity in my family so I've always seen myself as "big". Was teased throughout high school even though looking back, I wasn't that big (don't remember specific weight, but I was in a 36 set of pants, that's not THAT bad). Got in "good shape" early on in college then let it all go when I transferred to a college where I didn't live on campus. Got hurt pretty bad in an industrial accident (thing completely mangled right leg, basically 80% severed). Kind of gave up on ever being fit again (live every day in a little bit of pain in that leg, some worse than others). May of 2008 I was on vacation with my wife's family (a few of which are health nuts). I weighed probably 300 during this trip. I pretended like I didn't like the healthy stuff they were doing, teased them a little bit about wanting to go hiking and biking and canoeing and all that stuff "while on vacation", but deep down I knew I was jealous. Jealous because I knew I wished I could do those things and be able to walk the next day. Towards the end of the trip I wanted to kayak across the bay (we were in an ocean front house that was way back in a cove). I could barely fit in the kayak. Once I got in, I couldn't move my legs to even put my thighs in the area that should give me leverage to maneuver the kayak. It was at that time that I decided enough is enough. When I got back, I sat down with my wife and made some incentives for losing weight. We came up with 10 lb rewards that would get gradually bigger and bigger (all non food based). The 80 pound mark is a trip to Tuscany, Italy. we can't really afford to go but I figured by the time the trip would roll around we could be debt free anyway and could figure out how to pay it off later :P So anyway, that's my super personal story behind what changed my life forever, 19 weeks ago. I feel better than I have since I can remember and I am looking forward to hitting my future goals. Feel free to gymbuddy me, especially if you're on a long weight loss journey (anyone that needs to lose the kind of weight like I did knows that the journey doesn't take years, it takes forever. it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change).