How it all began.....

 
It all began with my love of beer that made more of me for my wife to love.....

So it's early 2008 and at 5'8" I am weighing in at a stout 210 lbs at the ripe old age of 37. I go to my doctor for a physical and she wants to put me on medication because my cholesterol is at 230. I don't do pills so I told her I would take care of it. That didn't work out so well.

Anyway, I bump into a coworker who looks great and ask him how he did it, what's the secret (we all know the answer is hard work). In a superior way he say's "Crossfit, look it up". I look it up and think holy crap, not happening. That goes on for a few months and I finally choose to look up a local box (gym) and that is where I met Matt Munson at Crossfit Champions. So this guy that looks intimidating but also very competent tells me they are going to charge me a lot of money to put me through hell to get my life back. I'm thinking that I waste money every day on complete junk that clutters my life and if I don't do something now, I never will.....so I take the plunge. The first elements session where I am taught the basics doesn't go well, I have to stop or else I will throw up. During my first couple of months which started in 8/2008 I get exertion headaches that are the worst type of headache I have ever had, sometimes they will start as soon as I begin warming up. I also wheeze and my lungs gurgle when I go to bed. The doctor says I have bronchitis, Matt says that my lungs are learning how to work again, turns out he was right. The first month or so I only lose five pounds and feel horrible with all of this work I am putting in, sore every day, which is when they introduce me to the Paleo diet (basically meat and veggies). I had heard about it and other crossfitters would say that their performance was bad that day because they ate poorly. That would happen to me too, but while I would have a beer and Mexican food with jalapeños that would want to revisit me during the afternoon's WOD they might have a sandwich. Once I got on the Paleo diet in October 2008 I found out what they were talking about. I would follow it and then cheat with some pizza and feel physically horrible, but I did lose 15 lbs that month when I first started eating correctly. My performance improved tremendously and people at work started calling me the incredible shrinking GM. I went back to my doctor after I had been at Crossfit Champions for around 4 or 5 months. I weighed in at 174 lbs, and got my cholesterol down to 175, while eating lots of red meat I would like to point out. My doctor was ecstatic, wanted to hear all about it and then get her husband to start doing the same thing. We can cure/prevent a lot of things through exercise and proper (Paleo) nutrition.

Since then I have become a Crossfit Level 1 Trainer and have been training friends and neighbors out of my garage for the last 2.5 years.  Recently the stars have aligned and I have the opportunity to work with Matt and Pam up at their gym and it feels like I'm coming home. I love to work out now unless its burpees and I still love beer and food that is bad for me. That is my biggest struggle, the nutrition aspect. My wife is the same weight as when I married her in 1992 and she doesn't feel the need to throw away everything in the pantry which I will eat just because it is there. But, she has agreed to start a 24 day challenge with me July 9th and we will see what happens. I need it to get back on board with the nutrition, she doesn't have to do it, but my hope is she will feel better and jump on the band wagon. I will really miss my Newcsastle beer, but my body/health/performance will thank me for it.