Team Beachbody Guest

I have always been into exercise in one form or another, mostly martial arts, some weight lifting and moderate running. In 1987, however, I went to Minnesota to attend graduate school and, as a manner of dealing with the cold and stress, I ate my way from 170 lbs to 235 lbs. When I returned home to Hawaii in 1990, I slowly dropped my weight to 215 lbs, where I remained until 1995. Then, in response to my doctor’s instruction to lower my cholesterol, I went on a low fat diet and managed to reduce my weight to 205 lbs. Surprised with what a strict diet could achieve, I thereafter started on a series of diets, as well as increased my exercise routine to include lots of running (5-8 mile runs 3x a week), rigorous martial arts workouts, and occasional weight lifting. I managed to drop my weight even further, but unfortunately I was at the point where I could only maintain a lower weight by intense exercise and dieting. Once I slipped up, which became more of a habit than an exception, I slowly crept back up to 185 to 195 lbs.

For more than ten years I was on a quest to reach 170 lbs. I have attempted many diets and tricks with no success. Diets I tried include low fat, low carb-high protein (Atkins & the Zone), juicing, vegetarian, the Hawaii diet, a partial meal-substitute, and two online dieting programs. I’ve also used many of the popular diet supplements, but the results achieved were always lost--usually within two to three months after I stopped. I’ve enrolled in two different gyms, as well as having tried two popular “at home” workout machines. Needless to say, after years of bouncing up and down in weight, I pretty much settled in at 185 to 195 lbs, and I started to wonder if this was simply my fate.

One day while surfing the internet I found a BeachBody website. I realized that the exercise programs were the same ones shown on television in the late-night infomercials. As I continued to research the products and read the real life testimonials it made me believe that this may be worth a try.

So I connected with my coach, and started on P90X. What I have learned, though, was that when I joined I got more than just a DVD, but an entire system geared to help me reach my fitness goals. Becoming fit is a journey . . . that starts with that first step, and continues one step at a time. My commitment is to just keep walking down that fitness path.