Team Beachbody Guest

I was born with epilepsy, and it has been controlled with anti-seizure medication so I am able to live a normal seizure-free life. My last seizure was in 1996, and I have lived a seizure-free life since then. I never let my epilepsy get in the way or stop me from living my life.

I was a pretty slender kid growing up. 5’7", 120 pounds, 30" waist, built like a rail. I did not workout or go to the gym. I was always active either at school, gym class, riding a bike, or taking a walk. I have scoliosis in my upper back and kyphosis of my lower back. But despite that, I lived. I did theatre for seventeen years. I sang in choirs, choruses, church choir, a barbershop chorus, and a barbershop quartet. I also taught third grade CCD for a year. I also ran a singles group with my church for a year and a half.

At 18 when I started college, I was slender. During the first year, I did not eat in the cafeteria and chose the convenience of the snack bar. Fried foods, greasy foods. I gained fifteen pounds during my first year of college. At age 20, my total cholesterol was over 200. So, my doctor prescribed cholesterol medication. Although I took the cholesterol medicine daily, I continued eating unhealthy foods throughout college, choosing the easy way out instead of choosing healthier meals. When I graduated college, I was a 34 waist and almost 150 pounds. I became self-conscious of my middle and love-handles, and wore baggier or looser clothing to hide it (which didn’t work).

After college, I joined a gym for a little while and signed up for a personal trainer. I did that for a year. But I ran into one problem. When a person works out, they burn energy. My fear was that I would burn anti-seizure medication, provoking a seizure. I didn’t want that to happen, so I changed my approach. I would take my medicine during dinner, wait two and a half hours for it to be metabolized, then I would go to the gym and workout. It seemed like a good idea but proved counterproductive. The late workouts kept me up at night, which affected my sleep habits. I lost my motivation and stopped going to the gym.

In 1999, I took the martial art, tae kwon do, for a year and a half. I signed up for a black belt program. I made it as far as purple belt, but was not able to continue because the punches and kicks were painful on my joints. After stopping tae kwon do, I returned to my old habits, gained more weight, and my waist got bigger.

In 2005, I started ballroom dancing. I tried it, enjoyed it, and went dancing every weekend for 5-6 houers per night. By New Years Eve 2005, I was 153 pounds.

The following year, I only went dancing whenever I had a dance lesson, and didn’t go social dancing anymore. I rarely went to the gym. My parents told me, "You’re fine just the way you are, we love you just the same." Comforting, yes. However, each time I looked in the mirror, I saw how I wanted to change my physical appearance. By December 2006, my waist was 39.5", I weighed 176 pounds, my total cholesterol was 319, my blood pressure was high, and my thyroid was elevated. I HAD to do something.

In 2007, I completely lost my motivation and thought, "maybe I should be this way", but deep down inside, I knew that something had to be done, but the question was - what?

On a first date with someone in March of 2007, I openly told her about my epilepsy and how I wanted to improve my physical appearance. I saw she had a collection of Beachbody exercise videos. I didn’t know who Beachbody was at the time. I saw a picture of ShaunT on the cover of Hip Hop Abs and I asked her if I could borrow it. That day began my Beachbody journey.

I began on June 12, 2007, by trying Hip Hop Abs on and off. On July 1, I took it seriously.
I took my day one photos, my first set of measurements, and I began Hip Hop Abs. That was the day that my life changed. When I looked at my day one photo, I could not believe what I had done to myself. I knew that I had to do something. I started working out hard, pushing myself. Over time, I added the weighted gloves to Hip Hop Abs. After completing Hip Hop Abs, I bought Hip Hop Abs Ultimate Results from Beachbody. Once I completed this, I wanted a change. I borrowed Power 90, and I did Power 90 AND Hip Hop Abs Ultimate Results TOGETHER. After the first month, I kept borrowing Beachbody workout videos to mix it up. During the 90 days of Power 90, the other programs I borrowed were: Turbo Jam, Slim In Six, Power Half Hour, and Ho’ Ala Ke Kino.

When I saw the promo for P90X, it was something that I wanted to work towards. So I worked my way up. I completed Power 90, then I purchased Power 90 Master Series. During the second round of the Power 90 Master Series, I visited my doctor. My total cholesterol was 256. He said,
"Whatever you’re doing, just keep doing it, because IT’S WORKING!"

During the Master Series, I was in a group chat with ShaunT one night, and he created a challenge for the people on the message boards titled - ShaunT’s Rockin’ Hoppin’ Summer Challenge. Everyone was excited about it. ShaunT asked, "Who’s going to be my assistant?" No one volunteered. I volunteered. That night, ShaunT called me and we talked about the challenge. Every week for 13 weeks, ShaunT would email me the challenge, and I would convey it to the people on the message boards. That was cool!

My diligence in working out benefitted me in March 2008, and I never expected it. I was working out in WOWY with a workout from the Power 90 Master Series. My coach called me one day saying, "OMG OMG OMG!! YOU WON!!!!!" I won a Sony Handycam Camcorder in the Million Dollar Body Game JUST BY WORKING OUT!

Then in May 2008, I took the next step. After almost a year of using Beachbody workouts, I began P90X. I began with the Classic schedule. After completing classic, I began the Lean schedule. During the Lean schedule, I added Turbo Jam during month three. When I started Doubles, I added Turbo Jam Fat Burning Elite. Between P90X and Turbo Jam, I was getting a very hard workout. I really enjoyed it, but I burned out too quickly. So, I took a step back.

In March 2009, I did a Power 90/Power 90 Master Series progression. I stuck with the progression. (1-2 series, 3-4 series, 5-6 series = 90 days) Over time, I became stronger, leaner, and healthier. Once I completed that, I began my fourth round of P90X.

In April 2009, I went for a quarterly visit at my doctor. My vitals were good, but my health statistics were outstanding! Blood pressure - normal, thyroid - normal, total cholesterol:
184!!!!! In less than two and a half years, I LOWERED MY CHOLESTEROL ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE POINTS!!!!! But that was just the beginning, because I needed to determine my why.

What is my why? What is my reason for working out? Originally, my reason was "I’m working out for the future, for the unknown factor, for the time where I’ll need to be able to do...."

One night, while listening to Anthony Robbins’ audio book, "Lessons In Mastery", Tony Robbins asked, "What’s the one phrase you can use to describe your life? What one phrase will describe who you are?" I thought about this for the longest time. I thought about why I’m working out. Then I thought about my persistence when I worked on the newspaper in college, how I would work late at night on video projects before posting them on the web, of times when I stage managed theatre shows on how I was the first on there and the last one to leave.

I thought to myself - I refuse to quit. BAM! Everything changed. Everything that I’ve accomplished, everything that I’ve achieved flashed across my eyes in a matter of seconds, bringing me to the point that I am at today. And that motivated me more than anything else in my life.

Now, when I think about quitting and giving up, I always look back at my day one photo and that keeps me motivated. When I think about not eating right, I remember what my cholesterol used to be and that keeps me focused. Whenever I feel like "not today", I remember my energy levels five years ago and how I used to sit on the couch for hours watching television.

My refusal to quit has motivated me in so many ways. I changed my WOWY name, I changed my blog, I changed my website. In addition, my refusal to quit has taken my accountability to an entirely different level. The social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linked In) have helped me remain accountable, daily, for my nutrition and my fitness.

The day before my 40th birthday, I wanted to do workouts I've never tried before. I did P90X+'s Kenpo Cardio Plus, OneOnOne's Just Arms, and Chalean Extreme's Extreme Abs. It was an intense way to end my 39th year and begin my 40th birthday.

The day after my 40th birthday, I completed my fourth round of P90X. I took the P90X Fit Test, and showed progress in 90 days. I also took the Rev Abs fit test. The following day, I began Rev Abs. In addition to doing Rev Abs, I've also added yoga and cardio workouts.

I'm logging my experience with Rev Abs on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, youtube, and my blog. So you can always see what I'm up to.