Jason becomes the "Gym Wrecker"!

Me at 233 pounds Feb. 2008

Feb. 21, 2008  Okay, so I had an experience not long ago when I went shopping for some new jeans that really gave me a wake up call. To first give you some history, after I got out of the Army in late 1996, I stopped doing major physical activity and I plumped up pretty good. You could basically say that I had a 10 year plan to sit on my ass! Well, I can honestly say that I was very successful in this plan! I went from getting out of the Army at 185 pounds to popping out now at 233 pounds. Anyway, I went to buy some news jeans and found myself having to shop for size 42 waist jeans. That was it for me! So I went over to Gold's Gym here in Chesapeake to see how bad the damage was to my body. I started working with a personal trainer named Jen. the first thing she had me do was take a body age test. This test tells the actual age of my body in comparison to how old I am. I'm 37 years old and after taking this test I found out I have the body of a 46 year old and I couldn't walk on the tread mill for 6 minutes without getting out of breath. I am really out of shape! Jen has started talking about getting me into all these classes like doing some Team Training Class, Turbo Kick, and Yoga ... yeah even Yoga! I look at it this way, if it's going to help, I'm up for anything. I've also started to watch what I eat. NO MORE FRIED FOOD! This will be really hard for me cause I absolutely love french fries, but I'm going to make this work for me ... I have to make these changes in my life for me, so here goes nothing.

Mar. 4, 2008 Well, I've been at it for a few weeks now and wow, has it been a wild few weeks! I had my second weigh in today ... I've lost 4 pounds and I can already start to feel a difference! The constant heartburn is fading away. I'm able to walk for a longer time now. The Team Training classes have been pretty cool cause it keeps you body guessing, we're just never doing the same thing twice! I've also lost a little body fat and I'm feeling some more energy throughout the day. Jen's talking about trying to get me into a spinning class. I don't think I'm ready for that but maybe in a few weeks I'll be up for it.

Mar. 11, 2008 Holy Cow! I had another weigh in today and I'm now down to 227 pounds! That's 6 pounds down and I've lost a little more body fat as well. I cannot believe much of a difference I'm feeling each day. I'm  now able to tighten up my belt one more notch. My energy level is up and I just feel ... better! I'm also taking more control over what I eat. I haven't had a soda for weeks now. I haven't had a fast food burger since the beginning of last month and I've been counting my calories pretty well. I also got a heart rate monitor to track my heart rate while I work out. It also tells me how many calories I burn as well. All I know is that this is really starting to work!

Mar. 21, 2008 Okay, It's officially one month that I've been at this now and I just had another weigh in and I also took the body age test again. I've now lost 9 pounds and the results of my body age test say I now have the body of a 38 year old and if I continue on this path I could reach a body age of a 28 year old! People around the station are starting to notice a difference and have said how my clothes are looking baggy! I've even set my first racquetball game with Jen. This would be the first time I've played in over 10 years! This is just way too cool!

Mar. 29, 2008 Today's weigh has me officially into double digits! I'm now at 219 pounds which is a loss of 14 pounds! The Team Training classes are just working some major magic! I'm working my butt off, however the pay off is getting even better! I've been able to go another notch smaller in my belt, more people are noticing how my body is changing, I'm able to have more energy, and I feel like I can focus on things a bit better than I use to. I've now made it through a Turbo Kick class without having my heart rate jump through the roof, and the opportunity of being able to play racquetball again is just awesome! I'm doing more and more cardio and they even have this new thing called the Cardio Cinema. This is a room that has a bunch of cardio equipment in it and they play a movie that is projected on a big screen on the wall. I've never had 50 minutes pass by so quickly. Next thing I know, I've burned through 800 calories and I'm ready to do a little ab work and go home! The results are just getting better and I can't wait to get under 210! I know this might be a bit early but I have to say that I'm becoming a sexy bitch!

Holy Crap! My first before and after picture!

Apr. 25, 2008 Alright, I went in this morning for my official 2 month weigh in. I'm now down to 214 pounds! That's means I've lost almost 10 pounds each month! Holy cow! I posted the picture above to show off my results. I realize it's not a dramatic change but I can sure feel a huge difference! My energy level is just incredible! There's so much I want to do now where before I was content to just take a nap or sit on my fat ass and watch TV. I have to say that I still find time to watch TV but now, it's when I get home after my time at the gym.  This is going to sound really corny but this is becoming a total 180 degree turn for my life. I haven't felt this good in years. I was really heading down a harmful path and my body was just shutting down on me slowly but surely. When I first started going to my Team Training classes, my left arm bothered me cause I had a pinched nerve in my elbow. I had constant heart burn and acid reflux. I had a sciatic nerve that was just aching all the time and I just felt run down and awful. Now, I'm not saying that this was the only thing I did to feel better, but after seeing my doctor and starting to go to the gym on a regular basis I'm feeling like a new person. Anyway, Keep stopping by cause I'll have more updates as we go. I mean I'm only 13 pounds away from being out of the 200's! I can't wait! Drop me a line and let me know what you think.