Team Beachbody Guest

I was always pretty thin growing up. I was a big time endurance runner in high school, and even placed third in State in the 1 mile run back in 1990. I continued on to the Marines following high school and built on my already established fitness level. I was in the Marines from 1992 through 1996 and I remained physically fit up to this point in my life. I never had to worry much about the food I ate or about my physical appearance. I was young and lean and had never felt bad about my body or my fitness level. I weighed about 180 and I was still cut and happy with my body.

After finishing up my four years in the Marines, the constant drive I had to workout and remain fit was lost. I no longer “had” to be fit, and found myself spiraling downward into a lifestyle of lethargy and weight gain, something that up to this point in my life, I had never known. I was still living in San Diego, right outside of Camp Pendleton where I was stationed during my service. I wasn’t happy with my life at the time and decided to move back to my home state of Texas…with an additional 20 pounds around my waist. I had packed it on and was up to 200 pounds (losing muscle tone as I went.)

At this point, my fitness level was definitely waning away. I felt like I didn’t have much direction in my life. I was no longer running, which was something that was always a passion of mine and a big stress reliever. I was moving from job to job. I couldn’t even find a career that I enjoyed. I tried a stint in Boston, after getting transferred up there for work. This didn’t work and left me even more confused about where my life was going, and left me a little heavier according to the scale. Finally, I was back in Texas and decided that I had to find a career that offered passion and a way to help others. This is when I started testing for Firefighter and got hired on with the Garland Fire Department just outside of Dallas. Finally, some happiness was brought back into my life. This was a career that I absolutely loved! However, there was something missing.

In 2003, I found myself in the middle of a divorce, dealing with high blood pressure which had NEVER been a problem in my past, and once again, packing on the weight. The stress of the divorce was evident every time I stepped on the scale. I was now 235 pounds with no tone left to my body.

This is when I met my wife. She was a soccer player in college and had a past pretty similar to mine in regard to fitness. Our relationship worked in the way that many do, we were infatuated with one another and found ourselves eating out and spending time with one another and away from the gym. I continued to gain the weight. It was in 2006 that I said, enough-is-enough! I was sick with the way my body looked and the feeling I had of being overweight. I had been put on high blood pressure medication at the age of 32, and it was obvious my health was suffering due to my sedentary lifestyle. I was squeezing into a size 36, with my belly rolling over. I rarely worked out, and my wife and I ate out close to 6 nights a week. This was my breaking point. Something had to be done.

I started eating a healthy diet and found that soon some pounds started to come back off. I was losing weight, but still wasn’t excited about the way my body looked. I would look at pictures of myself back in my Marine days and wish that I could have that tone back. I was working part time at a surgery center, when a co-worker started telling me about his experience with the P90X workouts. He had noticeably changed over the past few months and I inquired about what was bringing him such good results. He was completely sold on this P90X. At first, I thought, “just another ploy to get my money”…I had never been too keen on video workouts. They never seemed like they pushed me hard enough. Finally, I decided to do some investigating into what this P90X was all about. My co-worker was getting more cut as he went, and I needed something to push me further into my transformation. Nothing I was trying was getting me the results I desired. I went home and looked up P90X online, and found myself amazed by the transformation stories I was reading. People just like me, all over the U.S., were changing their lives with these workouts. I must have spent 6 hours that night, just reading stories, looking at peoples’ day 1 and day 90 photos. I was sold! I ordered P90X that night.

I had decided to dedicate myself entirely to this way of life. I molded my diet around the Fat-Shredder plan at first, and I hit it hard with the workouts. I fell in love with P90X, and my body was showing it. Pre P90X I was weighing in at 212 with No tone and no drive to work out. Now, 152 days after I started P90X, I am weighing 185 pounds, I am wearing a size 31 waist, and I am FINALLY cut again and feeling better than I have in 10 years. I went to the doctor last week and he took me off of my blood pressure medication. I find myself walking past a mirror and feeling good. Man, I haven’t been able to say that in forever! My wife laughs at me because I am flexing for her every time she turns around! I just cannot thank P90X enough for giving me my life back. I’m confident in my body, my health and my life. We have a 1 year old and I’m keeping up with him like I was 20 again. I can sincerely say that P90X has changed my way of life. I find myself excited to work out again. I have that passion back for running that I had lost years ago. I’m just high on life right now and I owe it all to P90X. This really is a lifestyle that you fall in love with. I know that with the community that P90X is built around, I will never find myself back where I started. Every time I log onto Beachbody I find nothing but encouraging words and support. It’s funny, I wasn’t a believer when my co-worker first approached me back in August, but I am spreading the word like wild fire now. I want everyone to be able to feel as amazing as I do now! Thank you, P90X, for changing my life!