Introduction 350 to Triathlons

Well, I started this blog as a reminder to myself how hard it was to lose over 100 pounds and maintain that weight loss.

This is the short version:
I had the opportunity to play college football at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. I was an offensive lineman that weighed around 295lbs and for the life of me, I could never get over the 300lbs mark. When I graduated in 1999, I continued to live the same life as a college football player, but I had cut out all of the exercise. I quickly shot up to around 350lbs and loved it b/c I was the big guy that was the life of the party and I knew I was in perfect health (or so I assumed).

I honestly continued this lifestyle for the next 5 years. During this time, I met my amazing wife Laura and she accepted me for the goofball that I was and never once asked me to change my lifestyle. The only thing she asked me to stop was dipping, and for the most part I did that without any issue.

In 2006 we had our first child Natalie. She was a true blessing to us and continues to be the same blessing (a little more challenging) to us today. Throughout the 18 months of her life I still didn't realize I had any issues with my weight, but the signs were starting to appear. I had multiple surgeries on my knees, I was constantly getting sick and my energy level was at an all time low. I made empty promises to my grandmother regarding my weight loss and told my parents that I would try my hardest, but would go straight to a fast food place and grab something for an afternoon snack. The only person that never hounded and stood by me without question was Laura. Most likely she would tell now that she should have pushed a little harder earlier, but I wasn't ready to change.

We had the opportunity to come to Austin, TX when Natalie was 18 months old to help open my companies first branch office, and we jumped at the chance. The first week I was in Austin, my life would forever change. After moving our stuff into a temporary apartment, I was sitting all alone while Laura and Natalie were still in Dallas and I suddenly had a chest pain near my heart that scared me more than anything in my life. I called Laura the next morning and told her I was on my way to the gym to get a trainer and get my butt back in shape. I had talked about doing this in the past, but never followed through so I am sure Laura thought I was fixing to waste a bunch of money on this, but she agreed and I started the search for my trainer.

As random and spur of the moment as the decision to get a trainer was, my decision on the trainer I was going to use was no different. I joined the gym and decided to go swim some laps. While in the pool, Rene Adams was working with another client on swimming, and I knew I found a great match. B/c of my size, time in the pool was my best opportunity to start improving my cardio and I thought I found the best person for that. As I would later find out, Rene was very new at this and I would be her lab rat in the gym. My old desire and love for the weight room and physical punishment quickly came back and I let her push me harder than I had been pushed since college, and the results were amazing. Almost 60lbs in 6 months, and at that time I decided it was time to put this full lifestyle change into effect and do it on my own.

I had changed my diet and started working out not only daily, but sometimes twice a day. It was great and I was seeing the results from all the work. With all of the results coming in, I decided I needed to set some new goals, and triathlons were it. Last summer I competed in 4 triathlons. 2 sprint series, 1 Olympic Distance (6 weeks after our son JP was born) and 1 adventure race, and for 2010 I have a goal of at least one event per month once the season starts. The final goal is to compete in a 1/2 iron man - 70.3 in October. The goal is lofty, but that's what goals are supposed to be.

This is a very quick review of the last 2 years. I will go into more detail about the diet and exercise and how I changed my ,lifestyle and how I have been able to maintain over the last 18 - 24 months since I started this.

I am hoping this blog helps remind me of the challenges I faced in the beginning as well as hopefully provide some motivation to someone out there trying to find a way to get started. If you think you need to lose 10lbs or 200, the overall lifestyle change is what matters. The long term change is what matters, and this will be a way for me to describe what has worked for me and could hopefully work for you.