Team Beachbody Guest

****I WAS THE $1,000 WINNER FOR MEN 30-39 age group in October!!******

I am 38-years-old, father of two great kids and a husband to a VERY
supportive wife (screenname: WellRounded) . I am a photojournalist, and so I spend entire days at a time
lugging around many pounds of camera equipment.
You know you are desperate when you think hair plugs will ‘get your life back on track’!
I can make light of how I was feeling at the lowest point in my life because of the perspective I’ve gained since then.
I had just been let go from my job. It was NOT a good time to be out of work (as if there is ever a ‘good time’ to be out of work).
My wife and I had just bought our first house. It needed major renovations before it could be lived in. My wife’s parents invited us and our two kids and the dog to stay in their house with them until we were able to get back on our feet financially.
I started my photography business and every day after work I’d go to our farmhouse and work there until late.
With our kids in school, and sports, my wife and I working full-time, and the renovation of our house, and living in her parents’ house, our days and nights were stress-filled. Our nutrition and fitness suffered for it.
I weighed 252 lbs, the heaviest I’d ever been. I had chest pains and severe sleep apnea. We stressed constantly about money. I was so embarrassed about our situation I never wanted to take my kids to the park or go out in public.
My imagination withered. Instead of seeing possibilities I could only focus on obstacles. The playful side of me was gone. My kids didn’t bother asking me to play with them anymore. They knew the answer would be, “Sorry, I’m just too tired (or too busy)”. My imagination was gone and my family was suffering for it.
In my desperation I searched for that THING that would put my life back on track.
While watching television one night, I saw a commercial for surgical hair restoration and thought, “ Well, JUST MAYBE my life COULD be a LOT better if I just had some more hair”!
I had a vision of myself out on a photo safari being paid big money to bring back the ‘big game photo, and it was all possible because I had a head full of beautifully coiffed hair! Isn’t it crazy how desperate we get when we feel so hopeless?
Thankfully, right after that hair plug commercial, the p90x commercial aired and brought me back to my senses.
“Now this is something I can do!” I thought. I ordered p90x and TurboJam, and was so fired up that when the package arrived, what did I do? I put it away and said I’d get to it when my life got LESS HECTIC!
That day never comes…for ANYONE!
A couple months later, I saw the package on a shelf under an inch of dust. I saw the, “Decide Commit Succeed” logo on the box and thought about the things I’d told myself I’d eventually get around to doing, but never did: learning banjo, hiking with my kids, learning Spanish, and going back to school. I realized if I’d STARTED those things when I first thought about them, I’d be a happy banjo-playing, Spanish-speaking, hiking dad with an MFA now. I then looked at myself in the mirror. I was still 252 pounds and STILL depressed. It was an important realization.
Then and there I DECIDED TO COMMIT to 90-days of p90x and TurboJam.
There were hurdles: I got the flu, I got jobs on the road and had to travel at odd hours. At times I thought I was too busy to go on. But I committed.
I used TurboJam when time was short. I connected with my ‘coach’ who kept me accountable. After 90 days, I had lost 34 pounds, and I could punch, kick AND JAM like nobody’s business! My results inspired my wife to begin her fitness journey, and then my father, and then my sister, and then my best friend and his wife and so on… and in turn THEY inspire me.
I’m on my third round, and I’ve added Ten-Minute Trainer to my regimen. My business is great. I never turn down an invitation to play or go for a hike with my wife and kids, no more chest pains or sleep apnea, and I’m back in school for my MFA! My life is WONDERFUL and my new perspective helps me find possibilities…not obstacles. I decide and commit. My whole family does..
Everyone has a busy life. And SO MANY people make their ‘busy’ lives an excuse. I explain to people my transformation story is by no means exceptional. I’ve simply used the resources put before me by Beachbody to transform not only my body but my entire family’s quality of life.